Student trainers aid teams' success
Campus Times
May 21, 1999
Senior athletic trainers, Bret Mattesson, Michael Carrillo and John
Mamea help themselves to the food offered at the Senior Athletic Training
Barbeque on Wednesday. The event allowed this group of trainers a chance
to socialize and play games.
A relatively successful season for the athletic teams of the University
of La Verne is over. Now is the time, to take a look behind the scenes.
Largely involved in the outcome of the seasons are not only the athletes
and the head coaches, but also the student athletic trainers at ULV, who
help whenever an athlete needs physical help.
They travel with the teams to the various competitions around the states;
especially in case of the men's volleyball team even to Iowa.
This year, 13 of the approximately 40 enrolled athletic trainers will
graduate from ULV or are currently holding the senior status.
Sean Douglas and Jeremy Gonzales had active team assignments for the
football team this season; Veronica Mendez, men's soccer; John Mamea, baseball;
Jamey Corley, women's soccer; Anna Arguigo, women's water polo; Michelle
Geiger, men's water polo; Jennifer Spring, softball, and was assisted by
Jared Wells; Mari Ohsawa, women's volleyball; Katie Holmes, football and
men's volleyball; Arman Mercado, men's basketball; Kevin Walker, a senior,
had no team assignment this season.
Marilyn Oliver, professor of physical education and head athletic trainer,
described athletic training as "a subdiscipline of sport medicine."
It serves prevention, assessment and rehabilitation of injuries of the physically
active population.
Students enrolled in athletic training can apply to train a particular
team of their choice, but the final decision about the assignments is up
to Oliver.
"I have two assistant athletic trainers who give me input,"
said Oliver.
Time availability, an essay the student athletic trainers have to write
and the grade point average influence the decision of who works with what
team.
"We also check with the head coach of the team they are going to
work with," said Oliver.
Not everyone is able to work with the preferred team in the end. "I
guess, some people do not like their assignment," said Oliver.
Women's volleyball and football were among the preferred team assignment
in this season's applications.
The student athletic trainers are either fulfilling their academic class
requirements, are on a work study basis or totally volunteer. All hours
of athletic training can be accumulated for a post-graduation national certification
by the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA), said Oliver.
In order to be certified, students have to serve 1,500 hours of athletic
training, which takes an average of three years.
Gonzales, a senior athletic trainer and sports science major, applied
to train the football team and got the assignment.
After the football season was over, Gonzales helped out with the women's
basketball team.
"This was my first year in a team assignment, the years before,
I helped out," said Gonzales.
"It's a great program, but it is hard to get into it," said
Gonzales about the athletic training curriculum.
According to Gonzales, an athletic trainer has to be very patient and
calm. "You cannot assume that anybody who falls needs immediate assistance,"
said Gonzales. "Sometimes nothing is happening the whole day."
The greatest challenge for Gonzales during the season was the assignment
on the football team itself.
"We started with 80 to 90 athletes," said he and there were
only two athletic trainers assigned to the football team.
An unexpected situation occurred when Gonzales travelled to Texas with
the football team. Whenever the other team scored a touchdown, Gonzales
had to keep the fans from running on the field, changing his role from an
athletic trainer to one of a security officer.
"In the future, I would love to be on the professional level,"
said Gonzales, who is currently a student athletic trainer at Bonita High
School. He would like to come back to a local university to be athletic
trainer and Gonzales has also ambitions to teach classes.
To train the men's basketball team was also Mercado's first choice.
He was the head student trainer after he assisted in 1997 and 1998.
"You got to love it, what you do," said Mercado about being
an athletic trainer. "I love basketball, I know what the athletes need."
"I did not expect that all the athletes would appreciate me,"
said Mercado about his time with the team. "I thought some wouldn't
care, but they were all really nice to me."
Asked about his future perspective, Mercado said that he is currently
applying for a teaching position in a secondary school where he also would
like to coach the basketball or volleyball team.
Gonzales and Mercado are only two examples of people, who act in the
background of ULV's athletic teams, but whose work is essential for the
success in competitions.
