Athletic trainers: The backbone of MC Athletics

     The athletic trainers are the only medical professionals that work with physically active people, according to Sharon Wood, the Director of Wellness and Athletic Training at Maryville College.

    With a staff of four certified athletic trainers (ATCs) and nine student trainers, the athletic training team has to divide their time wisely between all of the sports on campus.

    Each of the four ATCs have a primary sport that they are assigned to, and then the sport that has the highest need gets the most attention from the training staff.

    Just like the student athletes, the student trainers put in a lot of their time. Not only do they go to practices and games with the athletes, they are also there to provide physical therapy on injuries and help heal illnesses.

    For example, on the Saturdays that the Scots football team plays, it is an all-day affair for the trainers. They start out by eating breakfast with the team. Then they spend time on campus getting everything prepped and ready to go for the game. Once the game starts, they stay with the team. According to Wood, the trainers work a good eight hours just on Saturdays.

   Any given week can mean anywhere from fifteen to thirty hours spent at practices and games on top of schoolwork.

    Being a student trainer is a major time commitment. However, once the contact sports like football and soccer, are done for the season the trainers get to go down to working “one day a week”, said Wood.

    Without our ATCs and student trainers our athletes would be hurting, literally. If Sharon Wood, James Budde, Sheena MacGowen and Trisha DiMatteo were not at MC, the athletes would have to wait days or even weeks before a medical professional could see them about an injury, depending on the severity. If an athlete was to get hurt in practice, they could either go to the emergency room and risk exposure to more illness or wait until the next day to go see a doctor. Either option has its pros and cons.

     MC sophomore baseball player Zack McGee said, “the trainers help out a lot.”

    All in all, you are not going to find an athlete at MC who is not thankful for the trainers. Family members, significant others and friends of athletes are also thankful for trainers who keep the person they love safe and healthy.