At the top of the stairs by the north gym, the athletic training room is full of equipment, from water coolers to weights to treadmills. During GPS, the space fills with its occupants’ chatter, as trainers wrap injuries and students rest or stretch.
The confines of the space create what athletic trainer Jeremy Langer said is a “pretty crazy” environment there during GPS, as many athletes prepare for practices directly after school. He said that this is a result of the variety of ailments which they encounter.
“Anything from injury prevention, taping, bracing, to rehab, working on range of motion, working on strength, finding out different muscular imbalances and correcting those to concussions: knowing when the brain is affected to doing their return to play progression,” Langer said.
Langer said that his job expands beyond just that room, however. The athletic trainers also go to sporting events at the school in case of injury.
“We will cover every home game unless there’s three home games going on,” Langer said.
He then used Sept. 25 as an example, a day in which there were JV football, JV tennis and varsity softball games happening at the same time. He said that the two athletic trainers would cover the varsity softball and JV football games because of the high risk of injury associated with football and the precedence given to varsity games.
Senior Cade Zavala said that he often visits the room to get taped for a sprain. The injury was football-related, and he says that the athletic trainers assist every day.
“The athletic trainers here are some of my favorite people in school because you can go in there with either a bump or a bruise and come out feeling amazing,” Zavala said. “So they have the heating pads. like I said before, they tape you. Pretty much they just keep your body in tune and ready for anything that might be thrown at you in any of your sports.”
Zavala said that, in addition to treating existing injuries, injury prevention is also important. Things like stretching and weight lifting can make athletes less susceptible to injuries.
“We stretch before every game,” Zavala said. “So baseball and football, I always go through my routine for stretching. Baseball is a little more in depth because you have to get your arm really loose so you don’t pull or break anything in there. And if I’m really sore, I’ll use a heating pad just loosen everything up.”
Junior Ryland Schweiss said that overall, it’s important to remember that this resource isn’t just for after someone gets majorly injured, but can help with minor issues anytime.
“I think it’s more about taking care of your body,” Schwiess said. “Knowing your life is all about like, what you feel, how you feel.”
