Athletic trainers are not people who stand on the sidelines and hand out water bottles. I would know because I've personally had more than a few encounters with my high school's athletic trainer. I was a competitive cheerleader from 8th grade to the 11th grade and during these four years I've had countless injuries ranging from sprained ankles, torn rotator cuffs, all the way to concussions. Three concussions to be exact. When I was hurt, I wasn't rushed off to the hospital. I was lucky enough to have an athletic trainer only a few yards away. Todd Stewart was and still is the full time athletic trainer at my high school in Bluffton, South Carolina and he was present everyday during and after school. He taught sports medicine as a class during the school day and put his skills to work afterwards when practices and games would take place. Todd was always there when I needed him (injured or not), and when anyone else needed him. He spent a majority of his time at the school, taking care of the spring, fall, winter, and even the summer sports. Todd Stewart dedicated his time to helping every student athlete in my high school, and I'm sure I can speak for all of us when I say he played a major role in my high school athletic career by keeping me safe and I thank him for that. My major is athletic training and I hope to pursue a career in the NFL as a head athletic trainer. But for now, I want to focus on why having athletic trainers in high schools will benefit the athlete, the school, and the over all health care profession. Because my major is something I feel very passionate about, I believe I have the right to talk about such an issue in todays society. Throughout this paper the aspects of athletic training will be addressed. The importance of it relative to the athlete themselves, along with the school distract and the community. The downfalls of not having an athletic trainer will also be mentioned. The main reasons why athletic training is even a healthcare profession. 

 Athletic trainers are more than water boys (or girls); they are trained health care professionals who have been certified in the difficult profession of athletic training. Athletic training consists of injury education, knowing what injuries can occur with certain movements of the body. Injury prevention, how to stop an injury from occurring for example, using specific stretching before any physical activity begins. Injury care, providing the correct ways to heal an injury like icing a strained tendon or using electrotherapy on a pulled muscle. Injury rehabilitation, managing an injury after it has occurred by carrying out routine check ins and strength tests. Athletic trainers can even be responsible for teaching the coaches and assistant coaches simple injury prevention tips, like stretching and useful warm ups to prevent the athlete from becoming injured in the first place. Athletic training is known as a health care profession. This means that athletic trainers know how to skillfully handle simple injuries such as blisters on the bottom of a track and field runners foot, to high intensity injuries such as a basketball players broken bone protruding from the skin, and every injury in between. Not only can they handle all these injuries, but they are the first people to come in contact with the injured athlete, requiring them to be calm and in control of the situation to keep the injured athlete from becoming scared and avoiding possible shock.

Having an athletic trainer that is present all the time is also a way to build strong relationships ties between the trainer and his or hers' athletes. Student athletes who see the same trainer when they get a physical and when they stub their toe builds a relationship between the trainer and the individual athlete. If there is a relationship present, the athlete may be more comfortable sharing an injury with the trainer. If a soccer player heads a ball during practice and feels a little strange a few hours after, the athlete is more likely to tell the trainer about the injury if they have a strong connection. I would personally much rather tell my own athletic trainer about an injury than a stranger I've never really met before. Athletic trainers can often tell if his or her athletes are being not their usual selves if they have a relationship as well. For example, if Sam obtains a concussion while playing lacrosse and his athletic trainer takes him out of the game, his athletic trainer should be able to notice any irregular behavior that Sam is portraying after being taken off the field. Once Sam has been cleared to play lacrosse again, his athletic trainer will be able to monitor him to ensure he is fully healed of his injury. 

Many high schools, more than half the country actually, lacks an athletic trainer. High schools who do in fact lack an athletic trainer say that debt and funding is the main reason why. Some schools even believe that coaches should be able to fill the athletic trainer position and help with injury prevention and care. This has been a major issue since the late 1990's. Child safety is important and when it comes to school athletics, athletic trainers are the only people who can help guarantee it. They can't avoid injury to student athletes completely but they can help prevent serious injuries. According to the Southwest Athletic Trainers' Association mentioned above, there were 210 sport related deaths among young athletes from 2008 to 2011 (SWATA Statistics).

High schools without athletic trainers not only have more injuries but also have more reoccurring injuries as well. This means that once little Sally sprains her ankle while running the 200 sprint, she will be more likely to sprain it again and again. The possibility of injury can never be completely taken away but the chance of getting hurt can be greatly downsized if the high school provides an athletic trainer. Sport related injuries are occurring more and more throughout the high school spectrum of athletics. This could be a cause of fast pace, high intensity practices and games during the season of the sport at hand. Unfortunately, only 37 percent of high schools in the United States have access to an athletic trainer (The Huffington Post). That means that only 37% of student athletes are given the necessary medical attention if needed. The other 63% are at risk for serious injury and if they do become injured and are untreated, they could be greeted with serious problems in the future. The National Association for Athletic Trainers, or better known as NATA, is an organization consisting of athletic trainers all over the country. Along with the original NATA there are sub-organizations within the country, one being the South West Athletic Trainers Association, which our region of the country falls under. These trainers have a variety of job settings ranging from professional sports team, to the military, and even to Broadway productions. One assumption made about athletic trainers is that they only treat athletes. But one could argue what the exact definition of an "Athlete" really is. Yes, professional football players are athletes, along with soccer and basketball players. Did anyone every consider the fact that a Marine is just as or maybe even more active and athletic than a football player. Maybe a Cirque Du Soleil performer is more athletic than a soccer player. Just because an activity doesn't involve a ball or wearing protective gear like pads and a helmet does not mean it doesn't have a risk for injury. Athletic trainers can be present wherever there is a risk of injury. The NATA conducted a study within their own association and found that out of 31,292 NATA members only 4,474 are placed in the high school setting (NATA Mandating). If every high school in the United States had an athletic trainer the NATA organization would increase and the number of reported injuries would decrease. 

NATA and SWATA are especially biased towards the idea of placing athletic trainers in high schools, only because the NATA and SWATA are organizations created specifically for certified athletic trainers who want to make a difference within their communities. Members of these two organizations believe strongly in injury prevention, injury care, injury rehabilitation, and injury education. It is only natural that members of the NATA and SWATA want to see every high school hire on a full time athletic trainer.  

There is currently no legislation that requires every state in the United States to have an athletic trainer present in high schools around the nation. The only state in the U.S that has an athletic trainer in all its high schools is Hawaii. This is because Hawaii has a unique school system; every school in Hawaii is under the same district meaning there is appropriate funding provided for all the schools to hire on athletic trainers. Hawaii is also different from other states because it has specific policies in place such as the one that allocates funding for an athletic trainer in every high school. Other states including North Carolina and Arkansas, have also looked into mandates following the deaths of high school athletes. In South Carolina alone, there has been five sport related deaths within its high schools.  However, it would make more sense to make it a federal law and require every state to give funding to its high schools for athletic trainers. Not only would it give every state the opportunity to have safer schools but athletic training programs in colleges would expand making the program bigger. The demand for athletic trainers in high schools would ensure jobs for recently graduated students who become certified in athletic training. 

Contrary to my argument, the schools who currently do not have an athletic trainer on duty seem to believe that coaches are capable of taking care of any injuries that may occur during their time of practice or sporting event. They also believe that having an athletic trainer is an interference to the community. According to an USA Today article, every high school in the United States has a volunteer crew of firefighters and EMS personnel on site of every major sporting event. This is an asinine assumption; how can one believe that one single county fire department can be in multiple places at once. Friday nights are known for the boys of the fall; more than one high school holds their weekly football game on Friday evening. One state's county is home to multiple schools, it is impossible for every high school to have volunteer firefighters and EMS on site. If having an athletic trainer in high schools is an interference to the community then there needs to be enough fire departments and EMS personnel in that so called community to cover each and every individual sporting event throughout the year, which is just not applicable. One night while I was cheering on the sideline, I witnessed an ambulance leave during a Friday night football game (one that's assumedly supposed to be watched by firefighters and EMS personnel) to head to an emergency they received a call about. Does this mean that if this were to happen, another ambulance will replace the one that left? If the quarterback was sacked and broke his clavicle who would be rushing out into the field? The USA article seems to believe the coach would be able to preform all the necessary medical steps to ensure the quarterbacks safety. 

Another reason schools aren't hiring on athletic trainers is because of location. Many schools are not in an area with enough medical professionals to make a high school based or accessible athletic trainer possible. However, if the schools are being funded money for an athletic trainer the cost of travel should be included. Singling out specific schools based on location is not a legitimate reason that athletic trainers shouldn't be provided. If the school isn't in an area with enough medical professionals, then they probably aren't in a location that has access to up to date safety equipment such as helmets for football and other contact sports. Which is another reason the should absolutely have an athletic trainer on duty. Lack of power by the athletic director as another reason the article gives as to why high schools don't have athletic trainers. The article says the athletic director "does not have significant authority to hire a trainer or increase the budget to do so." It takes more than one person involved in the school to make a decision such as this, the athletic director, the principal, the superintendent, etc. They must all come to an agreement about this and then contact the correct people. This article just assumes the responsibility for hiring an athletic trainer is placed on one individual person when really that's not the case whatsoever. Once everyone involved agrees, then the next step would be to hire on the certified athletic trainer. After seeing the decrease in injury, everyone will wonder why they didn't think of hiring an athletic trainer sooner. 

If I was a parent to a student athlete, I would be more at peace knowing that if my child was to be injured during their game or even their practice, they would be cared for immediately by a trained health care professional. Not just the coach who has no idea what they are doing. If a coach was to help an injured athlete and they weren't certified to do so, they could ultimately end up causing more damage than the initial injury. Having an athletic trainer would only benefit the school and everyone involved. The number of injuries would decrease and the number of reoccurring injuries would dwindle as well. But most importantly, prevented serious injuries like death will be avoided. Once every high school has an athletic trainer, my next battle will be placing athletic trainers in youth recreational sports. Young athletes, younger than high school students, are more susceptible to serious injuries later in life. According to the ESPN Magazine article, more than 21.5 million young athletes ranging from six years old to seventeen years old played an organized team sport in the year 2011. That's more than the population of Texas in 2000. Having this large amount of children play a sport without any medical attention being provided is extremely dangerous. Having athletic trainers in high schools is important but having athletic trainers present for youth recreational sports is a necessity to prevent serious injuries in the future. 

