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Olsen will be Cards’ head athletic trainer

Adam Olsen has been promoted from assistant athletic trainer and physical therapist to head athletic trainer for the Cardinals, replacing Greg Hauck, who resigned recently.

Olsen, 38, has been  a member of the team’s medical staff for the last 10 seasons. Chris Conroy will remain as an assistant athletic trainer although general manager John Mozeliak said on Wednesday that further changes to the medical staff still would be made.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinal-beat/olsen-will-be-cards-head-athletic-trainer/article_b3512ea0-b2ef-5146-bfea-2f15106339af.html

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Cardinals Athletic Trainer Calls it quits

Greg Hauck has resigned as the Cardinals’ head athletic trainer after five seasons in that role and six as an assistant, general manager John Mozeliak said on Friday.

Mozeliak, who said his search for a replacement would extend both internally and externally, said Hauck had cited “the wear and tear of travel,” as a reason for his leaving.

Hauck later in the day said, “I had great years with the Cardinals but after 24 years in baseball, 13 with the ( Oakland) A’s and 11 with the Cardinals … I was missing a lot with my family and my kids. I was at a point where it was a time for me to make a change, to be a dad who’s at home.”

Hauck and his wife, Carrie, have a 10-year-old son, Garrett, and a 16-year-old daughter, Courtney. But he said trying to balance a demanding job and home life was “exhausting.

“I’ve been wondering off and on about this,” he said. “In talking to my wife … we decided, ‘What am I waiting for?’”

Mozeliak said, “Overall, he enjoyed the experience. And the Cardinals are grateful for everything he did for us.

“He certainly moved the needle on where that (medical) group is. He should be commended for how he pushed to modernize that team downstairs.

“I admired him as a trainer and appreciated his innovation and creativity. I was happy with his work, absolutely.”

Mozeliak added, “It does create an opportunity as well to look at outside resources that might help improve the team.”

The Cardinals were ravaged by injuries this season, one of them a repeat variety of Matt Holliday’s quadriceps strain. But, Mozeliak said that Hauck’s decision to leave was “not a decision that was based on this past year.”

The injury blitz, said Mozeliak, “is not something you can answer in a vacuum. Some were acute. Some were over time in terms of how you manage them and how you try to get players back. I feel, as a medical staff, they gave us good advice.

“Certainly, the players have to take some ownership in (the injury area) as well as the medical team.”

Hauck, 49, who plans to stay in town and hopes work in a sports medicine capacity, seconded that the litany of injuries this year had no bearing on his decision.

“There’s nothing to that point at all,” he said. “I shocked Mo (when he said he was going to quit). I don’t think he had any idea. But nobody ever said it. . . was the medical staff’s fault we had all those injuries. You always try to do your best from a preventiveness standpoint. But there was a lot of (bad) luck involved here, especially when you have freak injuries like an Achilles’ tear (Adam Wainwright) and a hip flexor muscle (Matt Adams).”

Assistant athletic trainer Chris Conroy will remain with the club, said Mozeliak, as well as assistant athletic trainer/physical therapist Adam Olsen. Mozeliak’s quest for a replacement already has begun but he said, “In the meantime, we’re in capable hands.”

ORIGINAL ARTiCLE:
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinal-beat/cardinals-trainer-resigns/article_ce558c55-6c19-5751-bc3e-2800bb9e0dfe.html