Trainers serve as first responders for athletes
Iliana Deanda
MCC’s athletic trainers are available throughout every sports season and are the first responders to any injury that occurs on the playing field.They travel with the sports teams, making sure they are available to the athletes.
Each trainer dedicates their time helping athletes with treatments and rehabilitation.
According to Bob Klassen, head athletic trainer, there really isn’t a normal day for the athletic trainers.
“The day of an athletic trainer varies. Different sports have different injuries which have different requirements,” Klassen said.
“With football it’s a collision sport, so there is probably going to be two hours of preparation before practice, before games, and the necessary or possible first aid injury wise occurs during the practice or game and postgame treatments as well,” Klassen said.
“An athletic trainer is an allied health professional recognized by the American Medical Association,” he added.
“The scope of our practice works with prevention, treatment, rehabilitation of all athletic and exercise induced injuries whether it is traditional athletics or recreational athletes,” he said.
There are two programs at the undergraduate level at Northern Arizona University and Grand Canyon University.
“Once you have your degree in athletic training that makes you eligible to sit for the exam, which is a whole different story when it comes to that,” Klassen said.
For students who are interested in the field, there are a variety of classes offered at MCC with a hands-on learning experience.
“With the exercise science department, there is a scope of courses that are highly recommended. Students are getting hands-on training with some athletes when they take some of the required classes for this degree,” Klassen said.
In the years that Klassen has been head athletic trainer, he has witnessed many injuries including the end of a few athletes’ seasons.
“There are a number of injuries that have occured. There have been serious injuries that an athlete had to be taken off on a spine ward as a precaution for a serious head injury. ” Klassen said.
Although we like to call the trainers “sports trainers,” there is actually a misconception between a sports trainer and athletic trainer.
“Most of it goes with the term ‘trainer.’ When you are just talking about a trainer nobody knows what a trainer really is. You could be a horse trainer, a head trainer, a personal trainer and the list goes on,” Klassen said.
“A personal trainer would be someone who has gained some sort of certification to work in the strength training field,” he added.
“An athletic trainer is somebody who has a four year degree and is more on the health medical side where they work closely with developing strength training programs as well as rehabilitation programs as well as having a medical background to go along with that,” Klassen said.
