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Athletic Trainers Fill a Necessary Niche in Secondary Schools
Offering immediate, quality health care services on and off the playing field, athletic trainers give students, faculty and parents peace of mind
When an athlete goes down on the playing field, the athletic trainer is the first responder to prevent or treat an injury; yet only 42 percent of high schools have access to athletic trainers today. With the proliferation of school sports, and increasing student athletic participation, the importance of proper on-site health care has never been greater. Immediate care can reduce the onset of short- and long-term quality of life and financial consequences from injuries including concussion and heat illness among many other conditions. Parents should ask “who is taking care of my kids?” The answer should be the athletic trainer, a vital part of a school’s sports safety and health program.
In these challenging economic times, the importance of student sports safety and the cost associated with on-site athletic trainers remains critical. Athletic trainers can assess an injury to determine proper referral and eliminate unnecessary emergency room and physician visits which can be costly to the parents. Today high schools are hiring athletic trainers to handle health issues not only for athletes, but also for the entire student body. Athletic trainers can manage emergency situations when school nurses and other medical personnel are not present or unavailable.
“Athletic trainers can help give peace of mind to parents, students and school staff on and off the athletic fields,” said Brian Robinson, MS, ATC, LAT, chair of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association’s (NATA) Secondary School Athletic Trainers’ Committee. “Because they work on school grounds and at other school-sponsored athletic events, they are there to provide immediate, quality health care services, plus they educate students about healthy lifestyles, proper nutrition and safe exercise regimens that can help them stay healthier throughout their lives.”
Role of athletic trainers in secondary schools
As part of a complete health care team, athletic trainers work under the direction of a licensed physician and in cooperation with nurses, athletic directors, school administrators, coaches and parents. Duties of an athletic trainer in the secondary school setting include the following:
• Prepare athletes for practice and competition
• Develop and implement emergency action plans
• Advise on the safety of equipment and field/turf conditions
• Develop injury prevention and conditioning programs
• Implement treatment and rehabilitation programs for injured athletes
• Determine readiness for return-to-play
• Provide first response to acute and catastrophic injuries
• Participate in the development and implementation of a comprehensive athletic health care system
“Athletic trainers are the only health care providers specifically trained to work with athletes in a school setting,” said Robinson. “They quickly and expertly assess injuries, stabilize injured students and provide life-saving measures.”
Professional training leads to better health care coordination
The athletic trainer’s professional preparation is based on the development of specified educational competencies and clinical proficiencies. Through a combination of formal classroom and clinical instruction complemented by clinical experience, athletic trainers are prepared to provide health care to school athletes and other students.
Athletic trainers have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree (70 percent have a master’s degree or higher) and maintain certification through the Board of Certification, an organization independent of NATA. Athletic trainers differ from “personal trainers” who focus solely on fitness and conditioning and have vastly different education and certification requirements.
Teachers, coaches, administrators and other school officials wishing to learn more about athletic trainers can contact the National Athletic Trainers’ Association at 800-879-6282, or visit the NATA Career Center at www.nata.org/careercenter. For information on NATA’s youth sports safety education and its medically appropriate guidelines for high school athletes, visit http://www.nata.org/youthsports/index.htm.
March is National Athletic Training Month and this year’s theme is Health Care for Life & Sport:
Athletic trainers are health care professionals who specialize in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of injuries and illnesses. The National Athletic Trainers’ Association represents and supports 30,000 members of the athletic training profession. NATA supports the right of all patients to have equal access to the services of athletic trainers through the Athletic Trainers’ Equal Access to Medicare Act (H.R. 1137). Visit www.nata.org.
The Palace of Auburn Hills was filled on Thursday with 894 wrestlers, all with the goal of becoming a state champion in their respective weight class. Some had been there before and others were experiencing one of the midwest’s best run large scale amateur sporting event. By Friday mid-day, the number of undefeated wrestlers was cut in half. By the end of the day Saturday the state champions had been decided.
Not everyone can place in the top 8, but what a significant accomplishment it is to make it to the state finals. Several local schools had wrestlers at the tournament.
Dearborn Fordson qualified 4 wrestlers including a state champion at 135 Paul Hancock.
Dearborn High sent 3 wrestlers, including 3rd place finisher Khodor Hoballah.
Lincoln Park and Divine Child each had 1 wrestler compete in the state finals.
Westland John Glenn, which qualified for the team tournament finals, had 8 wrestlers qualify for the finals including a 2nd place finish by Jared Stephens, 5th place finishes by Jimmy Mann and Dustin Gajowiak, a 6th place finish by Steve Wakeford and Anthony Pavlich in 8th place.
Dearborn Heights Annapolis, which also qualified for the team tournament finals, had 8 wrestlers competing and came home with a 7th place finish by Justis Cummins, as well as 2 wrestlers in 8th place Steve Burkett and Bretton Gross.
New Boston Huron qualified 2 wreslters and earned a 4th place finish by Nicolas Wellman and a 2nd place finish by Andrew Banas.
Melvindale had 3 wrestlers qualify. Gamal Yahia finished 3rd, Ryan Steckroth finished 6th and Bryan Boulware finished in 7th place.
Congratulations to all those who qualified, competed or placed in the MHSAA Wrestling Individual State Finals!
In MHSAA Individual Wrestling Finals action today, Fordson’s Paul Hancock earned a 6-5 OT win over Jared Stephens (Westland John Glenn) on his way to becoming a state champion in the 135 pound weight class. Hancock also had another overtime victory earlier in the finals tournament.
Congratulations to Coach Ralph Hargraves and Paul Hancock on a superb finish to a fine season! Go Tractors!
Everone knew it was going to be a great game, but fans were on the edge of their seats watching the two Huron League Co-Champs battle it out at the district finals. Boy what a game it was!!
The Lady Chiefs of New Boston Huron fell 34-33 mid-way through the fourth quarter to Grosse Ile but regained the lead with a huge one-minute run that put them up by 9 points. After that, the Chiefs rode their way to a 62-57 victory in a Class B District Championship Game on Friday at Flat Rock High School.
The title, the school’s first girls’ basketball district crown since 1991, earned Huron a date with Dearborn Divine Child in Tuesday’s regional semifinals held at New Boston.
The title, the school’s first girls’ basketball district crown since 1991, earned Huron a date with Dearborn Divine Child in Tuesday’s regional semifinals held at New Boston.
Lady Chiefs District Champs!
The winter sports season is quickly coming to a close. Wrestling, basketball, hockey and cheer are wrapping up and, for most teams, the season has ended. Here are the girls basketball district champions. Congratulations ladies and good luck in the regionals!
New Boston Huron defeated Grosse Ile 62-57. New Boston takes on Divine Child in the regional bracket next week. This game will be played at NBH.
Edsel Ford passed up Dearborn Fordson 70-28. Edsel Ford moves on to play Temperance Tuesday 3/10 at Gibraltar Carlson.
Divine Child over Inkster 56-50 and next plays New Boston Huron.
After a one-year absence, Divine Child Hockey club got back on track by winning the Regional Championship, 4-1 over Chelsea this weekend. Next up is Notre Dame Prep in the quarterfinal game on Wednesday March 11th at UM-Dearborn. NDP and DC skated to a 0-0 tie just a few weeks ago. DC won that game in overtime 1-0. Look for another fiesty, hard-nosed game this week.
The team state tournament is over and there are some tired bodies out there. No time to stop now. Looking ahead there are 3 more days of practice, a few more weigh-ins and a skin check all in preparation for the MHSAA Individual Wrestling Finals beginning Thursday March 12th and concluding Saturday March 14th at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
State qualifiers in any sporting event are regarded as a success. Some schools are filled with dozens of qualifiers. In wrestling, qualifying and placing are like night and day. Winning a state title is everyone’s dream. This weeks begins the dream for the following state qualifiers.
Division I
Westland John Glenn
Dustin Gajowiak – 285
Steve Wakeford – 102
Joshua Austin – 119
Anthony Pavlich – 125
Jared Stephens – 135
Jimmy Mann – 140
Zaid Ammari – 152
Zachary Redden – 160
Fordson
Paul Hancock – 135
Hassen Berry – 171
Jabreel Nasser – 189
Dearborn High
Harry Cassedy – 112
Alex Eklem – 152
Khodor Hoballah – 160
Lincoln Park
Jason Vanwasshenova – 130
Divison II
Divine Child
Devin Kachinosky – 215
Annapolis
Noel Guevara – 112
Justis Cummins – 119
Kyle Zapp – 130
Steve Burkett – 135
Ruben Guevara – 140
Zakariah Garcia – 145
Bretton Gross – 152
Michael Hotvedt – 171
Melvindale
Gamal Yahia – 103
Bryan Boulware – 112
Ryan Steckroth – 140
New Boston Huron
Nicholas Wellman – 135
Andrew Banas – 189
The Competitive Cheer teams from Grosse Ile and Divine Child were in Grand Rapids over the weekend for the State Finals. The three-round competition was held at the DeltaPlex Arena.
Grosse Ile totaled 758.26 good for 2nd overall in Division 3. Congratulations to Coach Liz Kazik and ladies!
Divine Child came up with 758.26 points and 6th place in Division 2. Congratulations to Coach Amber Lopez and the team!
Westalnd John Glenn and Dearbon Heights Annapolis wrestling teams qualified for the state finals in wrestling. This is not an easy task as the team needs to be solid throughout the weight classes and tough to endure such a long season.
Westland John Glenn faced Hartland in the Division I quarterfinals. Hartland won 38-26. Congratulations to Coach Bill Polk and the Rockets for a fine season.
Annapolis drew Stevensville Lakeshore and lost 40-25 in the Division II quarterfinals. Congratulations to Coaches Vic McGuire and Scott Bergeron on a fine season.
Hartland and Stevensville Lakeshore moved on the the state semi-finals and lost. A testament to the strength of competition can be found in this fact: Harland qualified 8 wrestlers for the individual state finals next weekend, Westland John Glenn qualified 8, Annapolis 8 and Stevensville Lakeshore qualified 6 wrestlers.
Again, congratulations to the teams from John Glenn and Annapolis! Well done!
Today, Westland John Glenn and Dearborn Heights Annapolis wrestlers are preparing for the MHSAA State Wrestling tournament. Both teams won their respective regional matches late last week.
In Division I, John Glenn will take on Hartland. Division II Annapolis will match up against Stevensville Lakeshore. All quarterfinal matches are held at Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek March 6th and 7th. The winners will advance to the semi-finals on Saturday afternoon. Finals are slated to begin at 4pm Saturday.
Congratulations Westland John Glenn and Dearborn Heights Annapolis!
