When the school bell rings to get out of the last period of the day you can expect half of the student population to show up at the trainers room. Right in between the varsity locker room and the equipment room, the trainers room has been the place to get treated, taped, massaged, and anything else you need to be able to get back out to your sport.
“I get a lot of satisfaction helping athletes overcome their injuries,” Athletic Trainer Mike Boese said. “Theres nothing more rewarding than taking and injured player, taking them through the process of rehabilitation, then watching them get back out on the field.”
The student trainers of THMS have always been the ones to tape up the players before, during, and after practice or games. They are always there when in need and are never to busy to put the hook up on their snow cones.
To become a student trainer who works in the trainers room, you have to sign up for sports medicine 1,2 as the beginning class a sophomore or a junior. Then you can take Sports Med Lab as a senior or junior.
When you take the beginning classes you are taught basic first aid and what you will be doing the following year if you take Sports Med Lab. Then once you start to take Sports Med Lab you will be required to put in 45 hours total per quarter inside the trainers room.
Those who have the most hours in the trainers room will be able to travel with Boese to Varsity away or to be a trainer at a home varsity game.
“We all try to get more than everyone else to be in the game on the field,” junior Quentin Rutlin said, “It’s kind of competitive.”
Rutlin, a basketball player, uses Sports Med to make friends, pass off season time, and to attend games for free. As his first year in the course unfolds he contemplates going on professionally for Athletic Training.
Most kids who join the class and take Sports Med Lab go on yearning to become professional Athletic Trainers, Boese even has had some kids go on to be doctors and nurses.
While opening up a career path student trainers can also use the Sports Med classes for a fourth year science credit..
Becoming a trainer is much more than earning the fourth year of science credit though. To most in the class its about what they do to help the teams out with what ever they need.
“It’s fun and it’s a great way to be apart of the school,” junior Stephen Martinez said.
Martinez is a baseball player for THMS but on the days that baseball isn’t in season, he like many others devotes most of his time to making sure that the wraps on the players are tight.
The trainers in the room have yet to be called trainers, that title is reserved for certified Athletic Trainers like Boese. Having been a trainer for 28 years, he’s currently spending his 18th year here.
But before being a high school trainer Boese worked for a sports clinic that had a contract with the Phoenix Suns. Boese was in charge of aquatic therapy so he spent most of his time by the pool rehabilitating the players by the pool side.
“Kenney Gattison who was a rookie, he tore his ACL and I did a lot of work with him in the swimming pool,” Boese said. “We actually became friends and he attended my wedding later on that year.”
Not only at the professional level do the trainers and student trainers grow relations with other people, but senior Cecilia Mejia has made friends through this class.
“All the relationships I have with the athletes and gaining trust makes me popular in school, because I’m a nerd,” Mejia said.
Mejia is also a trainer and frequents the varsity games, making sure she will leave the trainers with an imprint of her own.
The group of trainers are part of THMS’s own Health Occuption Students of America (HOSA) club, with senior Nadia Casteneda as president. As president she is often looked up to as the number two in the room, although this wasn’t her ideal high school career path.
“I actually didnt want to be a trainer at first,” Casteneda said, “But I stayed because it was so fun to watch the games up close.”
In the end most of the trainers understand the real reason behind being a trainer.
“I’s not about the recognition for what you deserve,” Casteneda said. “It’s about getting them on the field, its about the player.”
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