Sports med athletic trainers invest time and tape into future

Blake Young wraps Erick Santana's foot as a practice in Sports Medicine. Photo by Haleigh Krantz.

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Written by Allyson Rengifo- Staff Writer

GHS athletic trainers are an important part of the athletic program, spending 100 plus hours working 3-6 days a week. Trainer responsibilities include spending time at games ready to care for wounds, taping up basic sprains or working to prevent injuries. They are also accountable for filling up water bottles and jugs for the athletes. Many students join sports medicine because they think it will be a different and fun experience. “I think it’s neat when we get to watch videos of people having a surgery,” commented junior Tyler Rengifo.

Student athletic trainers must complete the sports medicine class taught by Mr. Mark Sherlock, which covers all of the fundamentals of the body and also directs students on how to correctly use the tools provided in the classroom. With these tools, students are taught the basic procedures such as taping ankles and wrists.

Being in the class doesn’t automatically make one an athletic trainer. The students must first sign up for a certain sport, for example, girl’s basketball, which Sherlock then expects them to be accountable for working the events on that sport’s schedule.

Depending on the season, various amounts of personal time is required. For sports like football, more than 150 hours are spent at games.

“I think football is one of the better sports to be at because it keeps you busy,” said  Sherlock. He also expresses that the sports medicine students are lucky to have different sports throughout the school year, because it provides different and unique opportunities to practice their skills.

There are many career opportunities available in the sports medicine field, and this class enables one to go into college with a wealth of athletic training experience that he or she can use to eventually become a certified athletic trainer or pursue another occupation in the medical field such as nursing.  “I want to be in the medical field so I took this class to see how I liked it,” said senior Erick Santana.