Tag: North Carolina High School Athletic Association

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North Carolina’s best High School Athletic Trainer

Article reposted from The Times News.com
Author:  Conor O’Neill

There’s still a degree of skepticism for T’Keyah Henry as to whether Eastern Guilford athletics director Randall Hackett knew why the Wildcats athletic trainer was invited to the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s year-end awards banquet.

“They sent me a letter saying that I was invited to the annual meeting, but they didn’t say what it was for,” Henry said. “My AD kinda hinted it was an award, I don’t know if he actually knew or not. He claims he didn’t know.”

The invite was for Henry, 24, being named the NCHSAA’s Elton Hawley Athletic Trainer / Medical Professional of the Year. It’s recognition that comes as Henry is wrapping up her third academic year working with Eastern Guilford athletes — though she has been involved in state-wide events since 2011.

Henry serves as Eastern Guilford’s trainer through an outreach program by Guilford Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Center. She has worked as an athletic trainer at girls’ tennis state championships, track and field state championships, softball state championship series and girls’ and boys’ basketball regional championships since 2014, and has worked the state wrestling championships since 2011. Henry is from Denver, Colo., and graduated from Greensboro College in 2014.

At Eastern Guilford, Henry says other athletes jokingly accuse her of giving football players preferential treatment. But there’s more to it than that.

“All my kids claim I love the football players more, but it’s just I like fast-paced kind of, always doing something. With football there’s never a dull moment,” Henry said. “We’ve had to suture a couple of noses in the press box, I’ve had to wrap a couple of hips in the middle of a huddle.

“You know, it’s kinda weird asking a kid to drop his pants in front of his teammates and wrap his hip, but you know, you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. But I’m sure they’ve seen worse.”

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Athletic trainers hard to come by in north carolina

While the North Carolina law mandates a first responder or a licensed athletic trainer stand by at all high school football practices and games, finding enough trainers is hard to come by.

Que Tucker, interim director of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, said part of the issue is finding trainers to work in smaller, more remote high schools.

“In remote areas of the state, people are not interested in being in smaller counties,” Tucker said.

Paying licensed trainers to be there for games and practices is also an issue because not every school has the financial resources to do so.

According to the North Carolina Athletic Trainers Association studies show:

  • Three times as many catastrophic football injuries occur in high school as opposed to college
  • North Carolina High schools have had nine student athlete deaths since 2008.
  • Of the 48 high school athletes who died nationally in 2010, more than half were cardiac related. Other causes included three head injuries and heat-related injuries.

Even if there is no licensed trainer at a game, first responders should be able to deal with most situations, Tucker said.

“They have to be CPR certified. They have to have taken first aid course specific to athletes,” Tucker said.

Ambulances are not mandated to be stationed at games. Schools must pay for one to be on the sidelines.

“In Charlotte/Mecklenburg, they pay to have a vehicle at every one of the home contests,” Tucker said.

At other games in rural areas, some EMS will do a standby.

“In a small system where there is only one high school in the county and it’s the only thing going on on a Friday night, that ambulance will station itself and they becomes the dispatch point,” Tucker said.

Currently the NCHSAA is in the beginning stages of s study to see how many of its member schools have certified trainers available.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://wncn.com/2015/10/19/athletic-trainers-at-nc-high-school-football-games-hard-to-come-by/