Students act as first responders on the field, court through sports medicine programs

SHENANDOAH, Texas — Working hand-in-hand with student athletes, high school athletic training programs help kids get a hands-on experience in the medical field by having them act as first responders when an injury happens during athletic events.

Several of the students at Oak Ridge High School spend four years going from learning the basics of anatomy and physiology all the way to the intricacies of the human musculoskeletal system. Oak Ridge High School athletic trainer, Rebecca Mathews, said their students range from freshmen all the way to seniors.

“We work with all of the sports all year long just making sure that injuries get taken care of,” Mathews said. “They work with us for rehabs for pre-surgery and post-surgery to get athletes back in there. We teach them anatomy, injury prevention, treatment and rehab, and they’re kind of our eyes and ears for us when we can’t be everywhere at once.”

Mathews said students fill out an application, and those who are accepted into the program are held to the same academic standards as the student athletes and strictly follow the no-pass-no-play rule. With just over 40 students enrolled in the program, Matthews said they are all required to work with the football teams. For all other sports, they allocate groups of six to eight student trainers who will work with and build relationships with the same athletes all season.

“I like them having certain sports because one, you get to know the players, and when you know the players you know their idiosyncrasies and you know when they’re OK and when they’re not,” Mathews said. “At the same time, it gives our kids a chance to have some time off and some down time so they can make sure grades are good and make sure that they get their work done. They can have jobs, and then they can just be a normal kid, too, and they have time to do that.”

Senior trainer Carson Manka joined Oak Ridge’s athletic training program the second semester of her freshman year after sustaining a knee injury during volleyball season. She spent much of her time in the school’s sports medicine clinic, and the program eventually sparked her interest and she decided to drop out of volleyball and become a student trainer.

Manka, who is considering sports medicine as a possible career, said she enjoys the bonds she’s formed with the athletes and coaches and that she’s learned to stay calm and collected through moments of chaos.

“I think I’ve grown as a leader a lot because the underclassmen do look up to you, and you have to be able to set an example for them, and you have to be able to give direction and pay attention,” Manka said. “I think it’s just helped me mature.”

Mathews didn’t join Oak Ridge as an athletic trainer until Manka’s sophomore year. She said that while Manka was initially timid, she has become one of the program’s biggest leaders.

“She’s one to definitely be looked to when we need something done, and she’s really smart,” Mathews said. “She’s a fast thinker. She doesn’t get nervous or scatter-brained or freak out when something happens. She’s right there. She tries to beat you on the field when something happens, and she’s just done a really great job, and she’s going to go far. Whether she decides to do this or not, she’s going to be great at whatever she does.”

Injury care and prevention barely covers the skills the student trainers develop while they go through the high school sports medicine program. Mathews said as her students progress, they gain the confidence and leadership skills they need to excel in any of their future endeavors.

“The growth that they have and the maturity that they get and the leadership qualities they get from that is amazing,” Mathews said. “It’s amazing just to see how far they’ve come in two or three years.”