TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2005
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
7A
Select few help athletes return to playing
BY LISA TILSON
correspondent@kansan.com
KANSAN CORRESPONDENT
Sports fans cringe at the sight of a fallen player. No one wants to see his heroes on the bench, but getting them back on the court sometimes takes weeks of rehabilitation. That's where athletic trainers like Josh Adams, Fort Scott senior, come in.
Adams is majoring in athletic training at the University of Kansas and was an integral part of helping to rehabilitate injured players on the basketball team this year. He is part of the support team for athletics that many people don't notice during competition, he said. But the support team still gives whatever it takes to help the program succeed, he said.
More than 550 athletes represent the University. The athletic trainers take care of them and help them to recover from injury quickly so they can get back to competition.
Athletic training major gives students hands-on experience
"It's kind of a pride thing to get someone back to play after you have been working with them daily and pushing them to get back to their level of play," Janele Huelat, Pittsburg senior in the training program, said.
Taking care of injured athletes is a full-time job. Seven certified full-time athletic trainers and six certified part-time graduate student athletic trainers work for the Athletics Department.
Department The certified trainers are outnumbered by athletes, so the students in the athletic training program are vital, said William Dent, director of sports medicine for KUAC.
Dent said that the students who were prepared academically to assist in the athletic training clinic helped handle the masses of student athletes.
Stephanie Farley/KANSAN
Huelat applies gel to a student athlete's lower back before an ultrasound yesterday. Ultrasounds provide muscles with heat through ultrasound waves.
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To Memories!
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St. Patty's Day '05
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Stephanie Farley/KANSAN
"Having the students and their capabilities helps us to take better care of the athletes," Dent said. "They are an invaluable asset to athletic training here."
The student athletic trainers are always under supervision, but they slowly become more and more independent in assisting the athletes as they prove their proficiency, Dent said.
Adams played a role in the rehabilitation of men's basketball junior forward Christian Moody's ankle this season.
"We put in a lot of long days rehabbing and trying to return him to play as soon as physically possible," Adams said. "I don't think people realize how much of an integral part trainers play in athletics."
The program offers direct contact with the athletes, which serves as a learning experience for the athletic training majors. Huelat said the student athletic trainers sometimes spent hours before and after team practices.
Huelat said practice was a good learning environment.
Janele Huelat, Pittsburg senior, cuts tape off a student athlete's ankle in Wagnon Student Athlete Center yesterday. As a student athletic trainer, Huelat has to complete 320 hours in clinical on-site training each semester, or 1,300 hours of training by the time her 2 1/2 year internship is up. She said she was first exposed to taping an ankle during the first semester of her training when she was only allowed to observe other trainers. "Taping that ankle used to be a scary thing," Huelat said. To wrap an ankle, Huelat said, a trainer needed to be aware of the contour or shape of the body he or she is wrapping.
"I've been lucky to see an array of injuries on the teams I've been with and have been able to work directly with the athletes," Huelat said. "That is what is great about the athletic training program at KU."
Once the student athletic trainers become juniors, they are assigned to an athletic team and rotate each semester. The students attend all of the practices and are supervised by the head athletic trainer for that team.
Students get into athletic training for many reasons. Dent said some people, such as former high school athletes, joined the program because they loved sports and wanted to be involved.
"I played sports in high school and still wanted to be part of athletics," Adams said. "I went through injuries in high school. It is kind of exciting to see the other side of it."
Aric Warren, director of program coordination of health, sport and exercise science, said 31 students were in the athletic training program and another 18 would join next year. He said those students would be in an
intense, demanding major that required both an academic and clinical commitment.
Students enroll in a class called "Care and Prevention" in the spring semester of their sophomore years. They learn about the major, volunteer and observe what goes on in the athletic training room. At the end of their sophomore year, they apply to the school of education.
Warren said getting into the athletic training major was competitive and selective. Once accepted, students are required to have 320 hours of clinic experience each semester for their junior and senior years. Many students exceed the requirement.
"It's all about gaining your hands-on experience in school, rather than out," Huelat said.
The 320 hours are a national requirement because graduating with an athletic training degree from the University also means becoming a nationally-certified athletic trainer. This is contingent upon passing a national exam at the end of the students' senior years.
Adams still has a couple more weeks at the University to help injured athletes. He will graduate this month and will take the national exam in June.
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