March is National Athletic Training Month.
    Did you know that our Athletic Training Room is open an average of 73 hours a week during the school year? Did you know that the Athletic Training Room is open six days a week?
    To understand the life of an athletic trainer, examine the day in the life of a trainer.
    It is a little before 6:30 am; a car pulls into the empty parking lot of the Field House. The entire High School campus is dark. As the driver steps out of the car, it is obvious that he is there to start his work day. There is nothing special about this day; it is just a normal day for this athletic trainer.
    There are many things to be done before 7 am and the start of morning treatments. Whirlpools need to be filled. Water coolers need to be taken out to the practice fields. Taping tables need to be restocked with taping supplies. Schedules need to be checked and emails need to be read.
    A little before 7 am, the doors to the training are opened and the first high school athlete walks in. Morning treatments have begun. This is an extremely important part of the day. This is the time when athlete’s injuries are evaluated and decisions are made regarding what they can do at practice, if they should go to a physician and what rehabilitation exercises they need to do. With only three athletic periods for all our teams, this is when the athletes get the best and most attention from the athletic trainer.
    Most high school athletes are finished with their treatments by 7:30 am, just in time for the junior high athletes, if any, to arrive for evaluations or treatment of their injuries.
    Before the start of first period – Freshman Athletics - injury reports and treatment logs must be sent to the coaches. This is how the coaches know what an athlete can and cannot do at practice, which athlete made it in to morning treatments, who has been to a doctor and who has a new injury.
    The end of first period is the first chance the athletic trainer has to get out of the training room since his arrival at 6:30 am. A quick walk over to the mailroom to pick up any mail from the day before, a stop in the Athletic Director’s office to check the fax machine for notes from physicians, and back to the training room to clean up from 1st period athletics, do laundry and start in on paperwork and projects for the day.
    When the bell rings for third period, it is time to teach the Sports Medicine classes that are  offered. Any student can take these classes, not just athletes or student trainers. Once third period is over, it is time to start preparing for fifth period athletics, fold the training room towels that were in the laundry and hopefully grab some lunch. With only three sports in fifth period athletics, that time also doubles as an opportunity to answer emails, return calls, finish up paperwork and the projects of the day.
    At the end of fifth period, it is time to prepare for the biggest athletic period of the day – eighth period athletics. All of our sports with the exception of boys’ soccer, boys’ basketball and wrestling have practice during eighth period. It is time once again to put out water coolers and stock the training tables, for in a little over 60 minutes the training room will be filled with athletes that need taped, instructions for practice, or to consult with the athletic trainer about their injury. Another quick trip over to the mailroom to check the mail, this will be this the last opportunity the athletic trainer has to get out of the training room until he leaves for the day.
    The bell rings. School is dismissed. Teachers and students are making their way home. For the athletic trainer though, there is still work to be done. Teams are still practicing and he has to be there just in case. Most teams will finish practice by 5:30 pm when the training room will close for the day.
    The time between the end of school and the closing of the training room is filled with handing out ice bags, evaluating injuries, returning calls and emails, working on paperwork and projects. Before the athletic trainer can end his day, the coolers that were put out before eighth period need to be picked up, cleaned and put away. The whirlpools need to be drained and cleaned. The training room needs to be picked up.
    Ten hours after the training room door was opened for the day, it is finally time to lock the doors and head home. Tomorrow, even though it is a game day, the athletic trainer will be back at 6:30 am and the whole process will start over.