June 4, 2015 • Sports Medicine

High schools showing greater commitment to sports medicine

While the spectrum of sports is far-reaching, the darker side of our games only occasionally comes into focus.

Injuries and their long-term effects have garnered greater scrutiny in recent years, but several high schools are keeping up with the times and earning recognition for their forward-thinking approach to sports medicine.

In November, the National Athletic Trainers’ Association handed out its Safe Sports School awards, given to high schools that provide safe environments for student-athletes and reinforce the importance of providing top-level injury prevention and treatment.

AWenatchee Eastmont-1mong the honored schools was Eastmont High School (East Wenatchee, Washington), which provides its sports medicine students a “real world” experience by taking education outside of the classroom.

“It’s gone from a curiosity to a very valid and substantiated program,” said Eastmont Athletic Director Russ Waterman. “It’s grown by leaps and bounds in regards to the curriculum, extending into hands-on involvement.”

At a recent basketball tournament at Eastmont, 13 of Lorrie Howe’s students were on hand to assist with athletic training needs as part of their required practicum.

Howe’s role as an instructor includes five classes per day and after-school coaching, all of which prepares her students for the Washington Career and Technical Sports Medicine Association’s state competition, held each April.

Washington was one of the first states to organize such an event. It involves more than 800 students, competing in written and oral/practical testing along with leadership activities.

“The testing is very rigorous,” said Howe, who won the 2015 Washington State Athletic Trainers Association Excellence in Service Award. “It really is amazing what these students can achieve.”

Eastmont’s students are regular participants in the state competition, as are students from Wenatchee High School just a few miles to the east.

Wenatchee has offered a sports medicine program for more than two decades, all under the supervision and guidance of teacher Dale Blair.

“We are very fortunate to have many well-developed sports medicine career and technical education programs in the state of Washington,” Blair said. “We have over 60 schools around the state preparing students for careers in sports medicine and other allied health professions.”

From traveling with the football team to taping ankles and icing down ligaments, Wenatchee also stands out for the way it grooms students striving for future certification.

“In the end, it’s really good for the school district to have such quality programs nearby,” Howe said.

Quality in high school sports medicine programs exists throughout the country. More than 400 schools in 46 states have been recognized by the Safe Sports School awards program, and the NATA has seen marked progress in all the key areas that determine that honor, including: creating a positive athletic health care administrative system, providing or coordinating pre-participation physical examinations, and educating athletes and parents about the potential benefits and risks in sports as well as their responsibilities.

“It is vital for this momentum to continue and especially to be discussed among athletic departments, sports medicine teams, school districts and the parent advocates who champion these efforts,” said NATA President Jim Thornton.

Loudoun County, Virginia, is championing the momentum. All of its schools are NATA Safe School recipients, including Woodgrove High School in Purcellville.

“We remain committed to keeping our student-athletes safe during physical education classes, team practices and games so they can accomplish their own goals of great competition, competitive records, fair sportsmanship and good health,” said Principal Sam Shipp. “Our goal is to lead our athletics program to the highest safety standards for our players.”

While the concentration on athletic trainer services has grown, only 37 percent of high schools have full-time athletic trainers.

“Increasing this number is a top priority for NATA because schools with a full-time athletic trainer provide the highest level of medical care for their student-athletes by offering a continuum of care, which comprises prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of injuries,” Thornton said.

According to Safe Kids Worldwide, 62 percent of organized sports-related injuries occur during practices. Schools that employ at least one full-time athletic trainer are better prepared to protect student-athletes during this particularly high-risk part of participation.

Wenatchee understands the risks. In 2011, 14-year-old student Antonio Reyes drowned during a swim class. Reyes, who could not swim, may have been underwater for as long as 40 minutes before classmates discovered his body.

What followed was a $15 million lawsuit filed by Reyes’ family, contending the school failed to adhere to reasonable safety procedures and was grossly negligent, creating the conditions that led to Reyes’ death. The two sides reached a $2 million settlement in 2012.

“It triggered us to include much more protocol on what it takes to be a safe school,” Assistant Athletic Director LeAnne Branam said. “Since then, we have made ourselves into a top-of-the line athletic training program, at least within our own state.”

Those schools that are unable to meet the requirements of the Safe School Sports award aren’t seen as failures in the minds of the NATA, but rather schools that can better themselves with increased education.

“(We welcome) the chance to work with schools to educate them on any of the requirements or recommendations suggested,” Thornton said. “This is a win-win all around and we remain excited about the program’s growth and most importantly, how it translates into the health and welfare of the student-athletes.”

It’s a certainty that the importance placed on injury treatment and prevention in sports will only grow. Therefore, high schools understand their responsibility to improve their premier sports medicine programs.

“It’s important that we not only meet the standards asked of us, but raise the bar as well,” Waterman said. “From return to play protocol to preventative medicine, our challenge is to go beyond those expectations for the sake of safety and well-being for our athletes.”


One thought on “High schools showing greater commitment to sports medicine”

  1. It’s really great to learn that high schools are offering sports medicine programs to qualified students so that more people will be interested in caring for the long-term effects of sports injuries. This makes me wonder how prevalent sports medicine is in the medical practice. It seems like there are a lot of athletes, so I would imagine there are a lot of sports medicine practitioners.

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