Every day, dedicated athletic trainers work behind the scenes, ensuring the health and safety of OH student athletes. From preventing injuries to providing special aid, these trainers are essential to the success of sports programs.
At OH, certified athletic trainers are highly valued, not just throughout this month of appreciation in which athletic trainers are recognized.
Oswego Athletic Training adviser (OATS) and Athletics Training teacher at OH Brian Cronin said, “Athletic trainers (ATs) are highly qualified, multi-skilled health care professionals who render service or treatment, under the direction of or in collaboration with a physician, in accordance with their education, training, and the state’s statutes, rules, and regulations.”
The Honors Athletic Training/Sports Medicine or Oswego Athletic Training Students/Staff program runs after school; students who have signed up for it can submit applications sent through email sign-up. They continue this program after school to apply the skills they’ve learned in class.
Cronin said, “OATS stands for Oswego Athletic Training Students/Staff. It involves the three certified athletic trainers we have at our school, as well as the students who are in our program. The program is geared towards students interested in a health care profession such as athletic training, physical therapy, nursing, or other areas of medicine.”
OH senior Keira Kocunik said, “During school, we have a class [which students] sign up for… and then Mr. Cronin selects [students]. This year, he selected 40 or 50 students. Usually, it is a big number that people want to become athletic trainers, and he’ll select the kids, and then during the summer, you come into an orientation for three days, and you learn what you are going to do, then again in your class.”
All athletic trainers at OH are students who took this class and got trained and certified for this role. OH senior Brooke Bisbee said, “A teacher is also there full-time, but the teacher is … there just to assist.”
The goal is to help athletes with pains and injuries they get from physical activity, or minimizing the risk of further damaging an injury by receiving on-spot aid.
“We can basically put you on your way to hopefully not have to go to a doctor, [for] serious cases, you’ll have to go to a doctor, [but OATS is] more to sometimes to prevent things, to make sure that you’re not going to further injure yourself, and to just keep you safe,“ Kocunik said.
These trainers are specifically dedicated to athletes. They assist with many things; not only do they learn what to do, but also how to do it. The trainers learn the different techniques to hit different areas.
Many student-athletes visit the trainers after school. Bisbee said, “There would be football players, basketball players. I would say around 15 to 20 of them. They tape, they ice, they do these different types of exercises with medicine balls, ice baths, and there’s a lot more.”
Although it can get busy, the trainers move very quickly. Bisbee said, “I’m in and out [in] like, three minutes, they’re usually quick.”
Because these sports are after school, the trainers are only open after school hours. The student trainers take turns throughout the week, determining who will be scheduled.
The variety of time spent after school is based on game days or regular practices. Kocunik said, “We trade shifts throughout the day, you get a weekly schedule as to when you come into the Athletics Training Room, when you’re working practices [or] when you’re working games. Every single day, we have different people, but we all do the same thing.”
Cronin said of the past of this program, “My favorite memory, it’s hard to narrow it down to just one.”
Cronin said, “Outside of those athletic moments, it’s been the relationships I’ve made along the way, being a mentor to so many students who have gone on to become athletic trainers themselves.”
Hi, my name is Peyton. I'm a junior in highschool and it's my first year on staff. You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication.
