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St Francis Sports Medicine has Another Dominant Year

It’s becoming pretty apparent that the most dominant sports program at St. Francis High doesn’t play on Friedman Field or inside the school’s gym, but, rather, can be seen on the sidelines and near the bench.

The St. Francis Sports Medicine and Athletic Training Program just completed another dominant postseason that began with the Golden Knights being awarded a second consecutive National Athletic Trainers’ Assn. (NATA) Safe Sports School award.

The accolade was followed by the school winning its fifth consecutive Alert Services National Championship, which included 12 members earning All-American honors.

“It’s been exciting to get both honors and gratifying that the program is up to the highest standard,” said St. Francis certified athletic trainer Eli Hallak, who runs the program. “The guys have put in a lot of hard work and the Alert Services Championship was a real challenge.”

The Golden Knights were informed of their NATA award in late May. St. Francis was one of 23 schools in California to take home the honor and earned first-team recognition.

According to the NATA, first-team honors are awarded to, “schools that have acted on all recommended and required elements of the Safe Sports School checklist.”

“We applied for it immediately and each award certification lasts for three years,” Hallak said. “We had a three-year stamp from 2013 that was ending in May and we were basically following all the requirements and more to be recognized on the first team. So, it was expected.”

The NATA checklist had many requirements that included educating students and parents on the benefits and risks of a specific award, providing or facilitating nutritional counseling and providing a permanent area to treat and evaluate injured athletes.

As for the Alert Service National Championships, the final scoring was announced Friday and the Golden Knights won the school’s fifth championship with a final team average of 65.33.

The Alert Division (schools whose enrollment is no higher than 999 students) average of St. Francis bested runner-up Cheney High (58.08) of Washington and Village Christian (57.37).

“This is a total team effort,” Hallak said. “It’s not easy or automatic winning this championship, but we had a committed team. It’s not just the All-Americans, but all those in the program who prepped.”

St. Francis senior Dylan Hankins took home the top spot in the division, while Casey McCreary was fourth, Charles Greeves was fifth, Patrick Dionisio was sixth and Alexi Garcia took seventh.

Other St. Francis All-Americans were Colin Keenan (tied for ninth), James Oka (11th), Nick Bass (14th), Spencer Gindraux (tied for 17th), Gabriel Tajima-Pena (tied for 17th), Marcos Friedman (tied for 17th) and Colin Triedler (tied for 21st).

The three-day National High School Sports Medicine Competition Championships took place from May 16-18 and each participating squad was allowed to have between eight and 15 students.

The competition was broken into two components.

The first part was a 300-question exam administered over two hours that consisted of topics such as first aid and CPR, emergency procedures, medical terminology, legal issues, physiology and anatomy.

There was also a 30-minute physical exam component that was graded and observed by a certified trainer.

“I’m proud of the effort from this team because every year the test gets more and more challenging,” Hallak said. “If you look at this program since it started in 1999, it’s just grown and become an athletic staple at the school.”

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congressman ryan costello presents safe sports school award

Recently, Congressman Ryan Costello, co-sponsor of the Secondary School Student Athletes Bill of Rights was able to attend the “Safe Schools Sports” recognition ceremony for Spring-Ford High School. NATA “Safe Sports Schools” have demonstrated a commitment to go above and beyond to provide a safe environment for student-athletes.

Harrisburg, PA (PRWEB) November 19, 2015

The Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers’ Society (PATS) announces 27 schools have received the National Athletic Trainers’ Association(NATA) Safe Sports Schools. Why have these schools and their respective members of each Athletic Health Care Team decided to pursue this award? The answers vary from school to school but the consistent theme has been to promote a positive image of both the school and the Athletic Trainers (ATs). According to Mr. Alex “Sandy” Zettlemoyer, LAT with Mechanicsburg High School, “We were one of the first schools in the state that applied for this award. We wanted to increase the positive exposure of Athletic Trainers and our Athletic Training program in general. Another aspect was to demonstrate how Athletic Trainers have an impact in all facets of the extra-curricular athletic program.”

Spring-Ford High School was a recent proud recipient of the NATA Safe Sports School Award (1st Team Designation). The award recognizes schools that meet ten criteria designed to keep students safe and injury free. Spring-Ford Superintendent David Goodin said “It’s a great honor and we do put a lot of emphasis on making sure our students are safe; either before an incident or after. This recognition validates those attempts.”

Spring-Ford Athletic Director Mickey McDaniel and Athletic Trainers Dan Holman, Kate Daniels and Riane Casper were presented the award by NATA District 2 Director AJ Duffy. Also in attendance were Eastern Athletic Trainers Association (EATA) Secretary Michelle Monaco, and PATS President John Moyer and Executive Director Linda Mazzoli. The day culminated with remarks from Congressman Ryan Costello, co-sponsor of the Secondary School Student Athletes Bill of Rights. Costello stated, “Competing is why we all play sports. At the same time we want to make sure we’re not competing and putting student athletes at risk, when they shouldn’t be on the playing field. Today was highlighting Spring-Ford for the great job that they do.”

“It’s an awesome honor,” said Spring-Ford Principal Pat Nugent. “I just know the amount of work and time and effort our athletic trainers put into the whole entire athletic program.They basically live here. From 2 o’clock on, there’s somebody here constantly. I’m really proud of them; they work hard.”

Safe Sports School award winners receive a banner to display in a prominent location to show the public their commitment to athletic safety. Many also use the logos on letterhead and in electronic communications. Demonstrating this to the public is great, but not all benefits are clearly visible. A great deal of the world of Athletic Trainers happens “behind the scenes” and this is where the true benefit of this award lies. Mr. Rick Guinan of Central York High School shared the following, “The application process for this award was very beneficial to our overall program. It forces you to look at all of our existing protocols from A-Z, make updates or changes, and gauge the effectiveness of what we do and how we do it.”

Nationwide, 607 schools have received this prestigious award to date and the 27 in Pennsylvania represents just over 4% of this total. Why such a low number for a state with a strong heritage of Athletic Training? Mr. Guinan states, “Many people believe that it’s simply too much work to apply. I disagree with that thinking because we all have this information in our files, but it may not be organized into one complete file. Applying for this award allowed us to compile the documentation we already had into one complete file, demonstrating that A-Z concept mentioned earlier.”

PATS supports this initiative as well and has offered to pay the $150.00 application fee for the first 30 schools within the Commonwealth that apply. At this time 10 grants remain unclaimed. For more information on this opportunity PATS members can contact their regional representative. Contact information can be found by visiting http://www.gopats.org.

The following Pennsylvania schools have received the NATA Safe Sports Schools Award:

Avonworth High School: Pittsburg, PA
Big Spring High School: Newville, PA
Cedar Crest High School/Middle School: Lebanon, PA
Central York High School: York, PA
Cocalico High School: Denver, PA
Danville Area High School: Danville, PA
Emmaus High School: Emmaus, PA
Gateway Senior High School: Monroeville, PA
Harriton High School: Rosemont, PA
Hickory High School: Hermitage, PA*
Keystone Oaks School District: Pittsburgh, PA
Lower Merion High School: Ardmore, PA
Manheim Central High School: Manheim, PA
Mechanicsburg Senior High School: Mechanicsburg, PA
Muhlenberg High School: Reading, PA
Pen Argyl Area High School: Pen Argyl, PA
Penn Trafford High School: Harrison City, PA
Plum Borough High School: Pittsburgh, PA
Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy: Boalsburg, PA
Sullivan County High School: Laporte, PA
The J.P. McCaskey High School Campus: Lancaster, PA
Twin Valley School District: Elverson, PA
Warwick High School: Litiz, PA
West Shamokin Jr.-Sr. High School: Rural Valley, PA
William Penn Charter School: Philadelphia, PA
Wilmington Area High School: New Wilmington, PA
Wilson School District: West Lawn, PA

For more information regarding this topic or to schedule an interview with PATS President John Moyer LAT, ATC, please contact Linda Mazzoli MS, LAT, ATC, PATS Executive Director.

The Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers’ Society, Inc. is a progressive organization of licensed health care professionals who work under the direction of a licensed physician. Our society continues to increase public awareness and education regarding Athletic Trainers and the Athletic Training profession while serving as the premier source of information for public safety, injury and illness prevention, early intervention, patient care, and healthcare delivery for the physically active in the Commonwealth.

“The Keystone to a Healthy and Physically Active Life”

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/11/prweb13091399.htm

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North Carolina Schools Declared Safe

With high school athletes accounting for an estimated 2 million injuries each year, south Charlotte parents of high school student-athletes can rest easily knowing their children attend “safe sports” schools.

The National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) announced 19 Charlotte-Mecklenburg high schools, with North Carolina High School Athletic Association athletic programs, received the Safe Sports School Award, and some south Charlotte high schools made the mark.

Ardrey Kell, South Mecklenburg, East Mecklenburg, Myers Park and Providence high schools earned the award, which recognizes the importance of providing the best level of care, injury prevention and treatment.

“This award recognizes the contributions and commitment of schools across the country that are implementing safe sports policies and best practices to ensure athletes can do what they love best and have the appropriate care in place to prevent, manage and treat injuries should they occur,” NATA President Scott Sailor said.

The award was launched in March 2013 as part of the Secondary School Athletic Trainers Committee of the NATA. Schools pay a $150 fee and apply for the award on an ongoing basis.

“The school must have a comprehensive athletic health care plan, promote safe and appropriate environments, provide proper sporting equipment, develop injury intervention strategies, rehearse an emergency action plan and promote a culture of safe play,” said Ellen Satlof, NATA public relations manager.

The U.S. Centers of Disease Control reported organized sports are on the rise, with nearly 30 million adolescents participating in youth sports in the U.S.

“There has been an increase in competitive sports, which are, unfortunately, not without risk. Brain injury/concussion, cardiac arrest, heat stroke, cervical spine fractures and other injuries and illnesses are potentially life-threatening,” former NATA president Jim Thornton said in a news release.

CMS partnered with Carolinas HealthCare System (CHCS) in 2011 to provide certified athletic trainers and help bridge the gap between health care providers and student-athletes in response to a growing concern nationwide about injuries among student-athletes, particularly concussions and cardiac deaths.

High school athletes account for an estimated 500,000 doctors visits and 30,000 hospitalizations each year, according to a study conducted by doctors and certified athletic trainers John Powell and Kim Barber-Foss.

“CMS values our longstanding partnership with Carolinas Healthcare System. The NATA Safe Sports School First Team Award achieved by our high schools is due in large part to our partnership with Carolinas HealthCare and the effort of athletic directors and athletic trainers in each school,” Susan Doran, CMS athletic director, said in the release. “We’re committed to providing quality care for our student-athletes, as well as a safe environment for them and their families. This award recognizes a standard of care provided to our student-athletes that ultimately improves their ability to perform at their highest level and enhances the environment in which they compete.”

Kevin Hinson, athletics director at South Meck, said the partnership has been a “load off of him” to ensure the safety of his student-athletes.

South Meck was one of the first four schools to receive a CHCS athletic trainer and Hinson said it’s made a big difference. Previously, schools would have to find a sports medicine teacher, who also was a certified athletic trainer, to head the departments’ athletic training, which Hinson said could be difficult to find.

“Having (CHCS) as a partner has been really huge for all schools so that we have an equal availability,” he added. “There is always a risk with athletics and to know that we have somebody qualified, who is really good with communicating with the parents, makes a difference.”

Brian Knab, athletics director at Ardrey Kell, said the school, which has more student-athletes than Queens University of Charlotte, would not be able to ensure the safety of its athletes without the athletic trainers in place.

He said Jacqui Frithsen, the school’s head athletic trainer, helps athletes even before practices with preventative care.

Leigh Ann Caldwell, manager of sports medicine with CHCS, believes some parents might not realize all athletic trainers’ tasks and the qualifications needed to take on the role.

“Athletic trainers are education and trained to recognize evaluate and treat injuries,” Caldwell said. “That’s what they go to school for.”

She explained an athletic trainer must attend a four-year program at an accredited university, pass a national board exam and obtain a state license.

“This is not something you can get over the Internet in 30 minutes,” Caldwell added. “It’s an incredible background and experience.”

All Charlotte-Mecklenburg high schools have a Carolinas HealthCare System-certified athletic trainers that work with the school year round

“It’s great recognition for CMS to show their parents, athletes and families that (the athletic trainers) put the care and health of their student-athletes first,” Caldwell said.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:                                                                         http://thecharlotteweekly.com/education/2015/07/athletic-departments-receive-national-recognition-for-athletic-trainers/