From head to toe, athletic trainers protect OH athletes from injuries and much more. This March, the OH community spreads awareness about our athletic trainers and what they do for athletes.
Athletic trainers help with everything from muscle injuries to preventing and diagnosing all types of injuries.
“If you were to walk into the training room after school on a given day, you would see athletes being evaluated for different injuries,” said the President of the National Honor Society of Sports Medicine (NHSSM) and Oswego athletic training student (OATS), senior Abigail Mundsinger. “[You would also see] athletes doing some sort of treatment like a hot pack and would also [see] other athletes doing rehabilitation exercises.”
According to the National Athletic Trainers Association’s (NATA) website, At Your Own Risk, Illinois has 2,756 certified athletic trainers. OH Certified trainer Brian Cronin is the head athletic trainer and a teacher at OH.
“Cronin, taught me a lot about sports medicine and truly sparked my passion for athletic training,” Mundsinger said.
OH currently has about 50 dedicated and aspiring athletic trainers. These students attend all athletic events to help athletes under the supervision of Brian Cronin, Vince Rodriguez, and Laura Veverka.
“The athletic trainers here at our school have a giant impact on the athletes at OHS,” said junior OATS student, Lexi Pastore. “I have seen athletes go through rehab and be able to play their sport again, even though they thought they would be out for the rest of the season.”
In Illinois, 42% of schools have no athletic trainers, but luckily, athletes at OH have some security and safety with our athletic trainers. Many athletes utilize this to the best of their ability for their performance.
“[There is] a lot of ankle taping, a lot of wrists and thumb taping. Then, a lot of heat, we have hot packs that [athletes] will use for muscles,” said junior gymnast Emily Kroll.
Our athletic trainers play a vital role in OH’s athletic program and do so much for everyone through all athletic seasons, practices, and games.
“There is so much work that [athletic trainers] do that, not everyone gets to see or appreciate helping with practice, before and after,” said Kroll.
It is important to take time this month to say thank you to our athletic trainers and athletic training students here at OH for all the work they put in.
My name is Andrea and this is my first year as a 42Fifty staff reporter! I am a senior at OHS and am involved in many honor societys. I am so excited to write many stories this year.
