Gameday for Lahser's Athletic Trainer

Recently a blog written by Mike Ryan, Head Athletic Trainer with the Jacksonville Jaguars outlined a typical "Game Day" for an NFL Athletic Trainer. As I read through it I couldn't help but notice the similarities between a Friday Night here at Lahser High School. Maybe it's the 4 years of Division 1 experience or 7 years working with the Michigan Bucks

The purpose of this blog is to give an inside look at a typical Game Day for our Lahser Knights in the Final Season.

Thursday Night 10:00pm - Typically on Thursday nights we will either have our Freshman and JV football teams compete against the same school we will face on Friday nights or if they are not playing, our soccer team will be competing. Very rarely will we have a Thursday night off, our planning for Friday begins the night before with cleaning and setting aside coolers and supplies we will use on Friday night. Much of the time we will have to scoop ice, fill and seal shut all coolers for Friday as much of our ice is needed for other events, concessions and student groups. 

Friday 1:00pm -  Prep for the day. Along with filling up the coolers with water and mixing Gatorade for the game we will prep water and Gatorade for dinner. Along with this we begin to set up the athletic training room for pre-game treatments, check injury logs, set out tape (on average we tend to go through about a 1/4 mile of tape compared to the 25 miles used during an NFL game) set up our station on the sidelines and then go over treatment plans for any and all athletes (not just football) who need to come in on that day.

2:30pm - School lets out and we finish all prep for the game and begin treatments for freshman and JV players who may have been injured on the previous night, tape and wrap athletes who play other sports. 

3:00pm - As one half of the Varsity football team is away watching film, we begin to wrap, strap and tape anyone who needs it. This includes ankle taping, wrist taping, shoulder wraps, hip and thigh wraps and even Kinesio Taping.

3:20pm - Group 2 is off to watch film and Group 1 begins same treatments as Group 1 at 3pm. 

4:00pm - Team Dinner. Dinner is prepared by parents and is a great time to relax, recharge and go over what we still need to do before game time. 

4:15pm - 5:30pm - Finish pregame treatments and preventative care while the players get dressed and eventually go over final details before the game. This time also allows us to welcome the visiting team, assist them with anything as well as make any last minute adjustments to the field treatment area or help out. 

5:30pm - 6:45pm - Pre-game warm ups. While the team steps onto the field for the first time to begin warm ups. This allows us time to monitor our injured and hurt athletes. A lot of time players who may not be fully healthy will have to wait until the final minutes of the game to make an adequate judgement to see if they can compete this week or wait until the following Friday. Our goal is to do everything possible to keep our players playing but only if it doesn't compromise the overall health and well being of that athlete. This time also gives us time to speak with the referees and visiting team athletic trainer or coach to go over emergency protocol in case of an accident.

6:45pm - Final words. Coach Dan Loria gives his final thoughts and big pre game pep talk.

7:00pm - Kick Off! For the next 2 - 3hours it is, as Mike Ryan states; "It’s multitasking at it’s best in a high energy and testosterone-filled setting with one eye on the field and one eye on the players on the sideline." Everything we do from taping to evaluating has to be done as quick and as best as possible to allow all of our athletes the most amount of time on the field. If there is ever a question to an injury we are able to refer to Dr. Moeller or Dr. Rifat 

10:00pm - Clean up! Game is over and our job is to clean up everything from the field to the training room inside. Along with cleaning up we will do our post game injury evaluations and treatments for anyone who may have been injured during the game or andswer any questions for over night treatment. 

10:30pm - Meet with Coach Loria to go over injury report and what we may expect for next weeks game. 

11:00pm - Turn off the lights, lock the doors and head home!