Athletic trainers keep spring sports on track

In like a lion and out like a lamb may apply to the weather in March, but in terms of varsity sports, that lion often roars well into spring.

The month ushers in the busiest sports season of the school year. It is also a time for acknowledging the efforts of health professionals who keep athletes safe and protected, as March is National Athletic Training Month.

“As athletic trainers, we're an allied health profession,” said Hollyann Wettstein, one of two trainers at Cape Henlopen High School. “We’re able to collaborate with so many different people and dabble in so many different aspects of healthcare.”

Orthopedics, in prevention and recovery, is the first thing that comes to mind, but with an increased emphasis on protecting athletes’ heads, athletic trainers are also schooled in concussion management and can provide emergency care during other traumatic incidents. Wettstein and her fellow Cape trainer, Ashley Schuster, are able to tape, brace, rehab and offer nutritional information to student-athletes. When it comes to varsity sports, athletic trainers are squarely on the front line.

“The [Delaware Athletic Trainers Association] slogan this month is ‘Care you can count on,’” Wettstein said. “They come up with a different slogan every month, but it's true. Holidays, when they have practice at 8 a.m., we're here, and after school, we're here.”

Those long hours pay off when the postseason competition hits.

“We'll get to be there for them in those bigger moments and be able to provide care in some of those more contentious situations,” Wettstein said. “We are going to do everything and anything we can to keep them safe and healthy, and get them back out there to be able to perform and be a member of their team.”

Cape recently hosted the DIAA individual wrestling tournament, and while there were many trainers on hand, both of the Cape trainers and Sussex Tech’s Heather Heidel were hired to lead the care.

“We've got two on the mats covering for injury time [and] blood time, and then one station kind of in the training room for triage evaluation,” Heidel said.

Heidel, like a few other trainers, got interested in becoming an athletic trainer after getting injured and seeing how valuable the position is to a high school. Premier Physical Therapy is contracted by Cape and other school districts to provide services to high schools, making medical knowledge and clinical skill half of the equation.

“We have to relate to the kids as much as we possibly can, gain their trust, and stay cool, calm and collected in emergency situations,” Jenna Thatcher said.

Thatcher is the athletic trainer at Hodgson Vo-Tech and also the lead supervisor for Premier’s contracts at Cape, Caesar Rodney and Appoquinimink school districts. She believes there are certain traits a trainer must have.

“You have to want to work with high schoolers; it's definitely a different setting than D1, D2, D3 or any college setting or any professional sports setting,” Thatcher said.

“I love working with the kids, seeing them from freshmen all the way up to when they're seniors, and just helping out and seeing them mature and grow,” Heidel said. “When they do get injured, [it’s about] helping them get back out on the field, and seeing their accomplishments and the joy of ... doing what they love.”

“The kids are wonderful,” said Keely Arndt, the Lake Forest High School trainer. “I love being there to cheer them on with their successes and trying to pull them up when they're down.”

She also teaches her profession to the Spartans. “A lot of the kids sometimes don't realize what goes into athletic training. They don't really know all the things that we do,” Ardnt said. “I have more kids that are interested in joining my program, and it's really great because I love teaching them about anatomy and teaching them about what I do in the background.”

“More people are getting to know what we do and what we're here for,” Thatcher said. “Definitely more schools utilizing us.”

Trainer Ethan Forrey spent his time last spring as an intern at Cape, but now works at Delmar, going from one of the biggest schools in the state to one of the smallest. He was taught by Schuster and Wettstein that no matter the profile, everyone gets the same treatment.

“A student-athlete is a student-athlete, regardless of where they're from, whatever their level or wherever they are,” Schuster said. “I will treat [every] athlete the same.”

That’s not to say butterflies stay away in those moments.

“The moment you step on the field the first time with your first evaluation of any sort, you’re like, ‘Oh God, what's going on?’” Forrey said. “When you take a step back and you're thinking about what you've learned, you start to think, ‘OK, I know what I'm doing.’”

As spring sports ramp up, so do the duties of Schuster and Wettstein at Cape.

“We are very fortunate to have two of us,” Wettstein said. “The volume of student-athletes is what allows us to have two on-staff athletic trainers. We're both fully 40 hours a week at the school, so we cover all practices that are on campus and every home game.”

On top of the spring sports starting, the girls’ and boys’ basketball teams were both involved in state tournament games. Despite the heavy workload, both trainers are looking forward to spring, no matter how much it roars.

“Spring is my favorite season,” Schuster said. “We have a lot of kids, we have a lot of sports, we have a lot going on, but we're outside and the weather's getting nicer.”

“I'm excited for the sun to come out and for it to start to warm up,” Wettstein said. “There's something every day, so I'd say we are busy. We have both carts running, we have our kits, our AED, our ice, and we are traversing in between softball and baseball or lacrosse and soccer. If you need us, find the Gator, find the Cub Cadet, and we will be around.”