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Marietta College Grad Receives Athletic Training’s Top Research Award

Article reposted from Marietta College
Author: Tom Perry

Tom Kaminski writing on erase board

Tom Kaminski ’84 was a serious student who made a strong impression on Paul Spear, the longtime chair of Marietta College’s Athletic Training program.

“He was a bright student. He was one that challenged what we were teaching back then,” said Spear, who retired in 2000. “I can remember that he was always very interested in research, and he loved how we brought the medical aspect to our program back then, which was called Sports Medicine.”

Kaminski’s penchant for quality research and hard work were recently recognized by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), which presented him the Medal for Distinguished Athletic Training Research — the organization’s highest honor.

“I was honored just to be nominated because it is such a prestigious award,” said Kaminski, Professor of Kinesiology & Applied Physiology at the University of Delaware. “What makes it even more special is that I share this honor with the past recipients, which include two Marietta College graduates and my mentor David Perrin (Dean of College of Health at the University of Utah), who was my academic advisor for my doctoral dissertation at the University of Virginia.”

Scott Lephart ’83 and Christopher Ingersoll ’85, also protégés of Spear, received the honor in 2002 and 2005, respectively.

“Seems kind of unique to me that three of the most prolific scholars in the athletic training field are Marietta College graduates,” Kaminski said.

Ingersoll, Dean of College of Health and Human Services at the University of Toledo, credits the tough curriculum that Spear demanded of students in the program, and the liberal arts base the College provided.

“Our opportunity to be at a liberal arts institution really helped us as we entered into professional life. As a dean, I have seen first-hand the students who have a broad liberal arts education are some of our best students,” Ingersoll said. “The other thing was the leader of the program, Paul Spear. He expected us to be better than everybody else. He was a pioneer in the field of athletic training. We used medical terminology. We had an exposure in that program that others around the nation didn’t have.”

Lephart, Dean of the College of Health at the University of Kentucky, called Spear a visionary and believes you can trace the success of Kaminski, Ingersoll and himself back to their start at Marietta.

“Paul saw Sports Medicine and Athletic Training as a multi-disciplinary field of study that needed to be comprehensive in nature and embedded in science and medicine, unlike most programs that evolved out of physical education,” Lephart said. “As such, he instilled the need for future educators and researchers to establish our discipline in the health continuum. It is not coincidental that many of us pursued careers in education and research that is reflected in the awards that have been bestowed on those Paul has mentored.”

Kaminski and Thomas Buckley, Assistant Professor at Delaware, are currently working on the landmark NCAA/Department of Defense CARE Grand Alliance study, which is investigating the longitudinal impact of concussions on an athlete’s health. With 38 million U.S. children playing contact sports and close to 3.8 million reported concussions each year, this research can have an important impact.

“Here at Delaware we have 600 student-athletes who have to be baseline tested,” Kaminski said. “We’ve heard the funding will renewed for two more years — it’s a big deal to be selected.”

Kaminski is also working with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America on purposeful heading education — with an end goal of limiting concussions.

“I’m really excited about this research and can’t wait to see how it plays out,” said Kaminski, who was an athletic trainer with the national championship women’s soccer team at the University of Florida in 1998.

Kaminski’s research expectations have mushroomed to the point that this will be his last year as Director of Athletic Training Education at Delaware.

“It’s time for someone else to take the lead and bring in some fresh ideas as our program transitions from and undergraduate to an entry level master’s degree program,” he said.

Kaminski remembers being the new guy at his alma mater when Spear hired him in 1995 as he was completing his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia.

“I’m very appreciative to Paul for giving me that chance and it was a great experience,” Kaminski said. “My Marietta College experience had a profound impact on my life and my career. I went to Marietta to play baseball, but found something special at this small, liberal arts college. I know Marietta continues to make this type of impact on students today.”

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Kaminski is an All Star Athletic Trainer

Program director. Teacher. Administrator. Athletic trainer. Editor. Researcher. That isn’t a list of positions for an entire department; those are the roles performed by one person, the University of Delaware’s Tom Kaminski.

The kinesiology and applied physiology professor keeps a busier schedule than most in the athletic training field and that’s saying something for a profession known for its long, demanding hours.

A person would need more than one of those athletics golf carts to track Kaminski down because he is all over the place – on the sidelines, in the classroom, in his office, in the Human Performance Lab, presenting across the country and around the world.

The intense dedication to his craft has earned Kaminski the highest honor bestowed by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), the Medal for Distinguished Athletic Training Research.

In fact, the honor is so prestigious that the organization doesn’t always give it out; NATA reserves the award for those who sustain a prolific body of work in the field.

“You look at the previous athletic training researchers to win the award and can’t help but be humbled by this,” said the 2016 honoree, who is extremely proud to join his mentor David Perrin as a recipient. “I’ve been so lucky to work with so many fantastic graduate students at UD. They have really helped me push my research forward.”

Although Kaminski is currently in the spotlight for research on concussions, his work on ankles has driven his research agenda forward throughout the bulk of his career. When amajor position statement on ankle sprains was published in 2013 in the Journal of Athletic Training, it was Kaminski who was the lead author. He also co-founded the International Ankle Consortium.

He’s worked with companies like Under Armour and Footbeat on shoes and apparel aimed at improving ankle stability and function.

Kaminski began researching ankle instability when he was at the University of Virginia but when he moved on to the University of Florida, in addition to his substantial research load, Kaminski was on the sidelines for the women’s soccer program, which would go on to win a national championship.

Working with these female soccer stars sparked his interest in another study area – concussions. He was monitoring, cataloging and analyzing head impacts in soccer matches a decade and a half before the concussion issue was ever a major concern in “the beautiful game.”

In 2003, Kaminski carried that research with him to UD where, as one could guess, he’s published a paper or two.

Kaminski and UD colleague Thomas Buckley are now involved in the landmark NCAA/Department of Defense CARE Grand Alliance study, which is investigating the longitudinal impact of concussions on an athlete’s health. With 38 million U.S. children playing contact sports and close to 3.8 million reported concussions each year, this research can have an important impact.

One of Kaminski’s newest endeavors is purposeful heading education in partnership with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

Despite all of the research success, Kaminski admits the most gratifying aspect of his job is the interaction with students and preparing them for successful careers.

Kaminski received the NATA’s highest teaching award back in 2010, and he has guided UD’s Athletic Training Program to impressive heights.

“The program boasts a 100 percent pass rate on the board of certification exam, which, needless to say, compares very favorably to national averages,” boasts Bill Farquhar, chairperson of the Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology. “In addition to being nationally recognized for his scholarly work, Tom is a tireless advocate for the field of athletic training, and our students benefit tremendously from learning from him.”

Kaminski wasn’t the only Blue Hen to receive a prestigious NATA honor. Jeff Driban (athletic training, Class of 2001) won the New Investigator Award. Driban is now an assistant professor at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, and is currently focused on rheumatology.

“I’ve been very fortunate to have the support of the NATA Foundation through their master’s grant program and a doctoral scholarship,” said Driban. “I’m grateful for the experiences and support that I received and continue to receive from UD, Temple University and Tufts Medical Center.”

During the upcoming NATA Clinical Symposia and Athletic Training Expo in Baltimore, Kaminski is slated to address the convention. And after his speech, the evening concludes with a UD Athletic Training alumni reunion on the Inner Harbor.

Article by Dane LaPenta

CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL ARTICLE

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Delaware Athletic Trainer featured in media day with Abby Wambach

The University of Delaware’s Tom Kaminski, professor of kinesiology and applied physiology, recently took part in a concussion media day with Triax Technologies in New York City. The day included interviews with Fox News, a lecture on head impacts in soccer and demonstrations at The Sports Center at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan.

Kaminski was featured with FIFA Women’s World Cup champion Abby Wambach of the U.S. national team, considered to be the most prolific header in the women’s game. The pair are old friends from their days at the University of Florida, where Kaminski was an athletic trainer and Wambach was the star player for the national champion Gators.

UD’s Tom Kaminski and Jaclyn Caccese discussed their research on concussions in soccer while FIFA Women’s World Cup champion Abby Wambach discussed heading technique and education.

Kaminiski’s research on heading in soccer, which includes 13 years of data at UD, actually began 20 years ago with Wambach’s team.

The forward became focused on the issue of head impacts in soccer after sustaining a concussion while playing with the professional Western New York Flash in 2013.

“My concussion wasn’t from me heading the ball; someone cleared the ball straight into my head,” explained Wambach. “I told the referee I was OK when I wasn’t.”

Both Wambach and Kaminski are advocates for taking the decision to continue to play out of the athlete’s hands.

For athletic trainers, new technology can help signal an athlete who had a hard impact, so athletic trainers can keep an eye on her and perform a concussion assessment when needed.

The University of Delaware was the first to pilot a new measurement tool, the Smart Impact Monitor (SIM) from Triax Technologies. With a small chip strategically tucked into the back of a headband, the monitor, also known as an accelerometer, relays information on the G-force of impacts right to a phone or tablet — extremely useful information for athletic trainers, researchers and parents alike.

When paired with the visual observation and baseline testing that Kaminski has used on athletes since the late 1990s, the monitor allows a deeper level of analysis.

“These accelerometers monitor the total number of impacts and the magnitude of those impacts,” said Kaminski, who is director of the Athletic Training Program at UD. “We can analyze trends to hopefully make practices and games safer.”

During the media day with Triax, Kaminski was accompanied by Jaclyn Caccese, a doctoral student in biomechanics and movement science who is studying soccer heading in collegiate, high school and middle school athletes.

“The Triax accelerometers are an important piece of the puzzle,” said Caccese. “This data cannot be used to diagnose head injuries during games, but it does provide us with key information regarding the impact.”

UD uses the sensors to compare players by position, the type of impact (e.g., pass, clear, shot) and the type of drill. While accidental head impacts are bound to occur, purposeful heading is an important and vital skill in soccer and learning the right technique is a crucial step.

“You want to force impact on the ball; you can’t be timid,” explained Wambach, who spent time teaching heading technique to young players in-between media interviews.

With 38 million U.S. children playing contact sports and the number of concussions ranging between 1.6 and 3.8 million annually, concussion research and education must continue to move forward.

“Let’s leave the game better than when we started, and change player safety from a hot topic to a call to action,” concluded Wambach.

Article by Dante LaPenta

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2016/oct/concussion-101515.html