Area trainers fill roles with high schools

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Although athletic training as a profession has been recognized by the American Medical Association for nearly 25 years, its popularity as a career path has been more recent due, in part, to high school and college athletics.

“Athletic trainers haven’t been well known for a lot of years and it’s becoming a very prevalent issue in high school, college and even professional sports,” said Ernie Sturzinger, physical therapist and program director for the athletic training staff at ProActive Orthopedic & Sports Physical Therapy.

Seeing a need to be filled, ProActive began offering its services to area high schools several years ago and now employs eight athletic trainers who are contracted through schools in Southwest Washington and Oregon, including Battle Ground and Prairie high schools.

Typical responsibilities of an athletic trainer are to provide preventative care to keep kids from being injured, emergency services in practice, at games and post-game time, assessment of injuries that might include a rehabilitation plan and a contact and resource for parents to help return their child to full wellness in the event of a sports injury. An onsite athletic trainer will speed recovery time for student athletes by being the timely expertise needed at the point of injury. They can recognize signs of a concussion, for instance, whereas years ago those symptoms often went unchecked for lack of trained medical personnel.

A four-year degree is required to become an athletic trainer, there’s a certification exam and a license to practice is needed in most states, as well. More than two-thirds of athletic trainers have an advanced degree which gives insight into just how serious this field has become.

Zach Lyons, athletic trainer at Prairie High School, was nearing completion of his high school career trying to decide what to do next so he could choose the appropriate college.

“I thought ‘Well, I love sports, I love young kids and I love helping people.’ Well, athletic training, I kind of get to do all of that so it was kind of a perfect fit for me,” Lyons said.

In his first year out of school, things are going well for Lyons. He says that seeing peoples’ needs and having the resources to help them is very satisfying. Athletic trainers can be found even in non-sports arenas such as large corporations or construction sights so long as there’s a potential for injury but for Lyons that setting wouldn’t be a good fit for him. After playing tennis through high school and college Lyons knows how much he enjoys sports, both participating and being on the side lines.



“You make a lot of connections, a lot of relationships, and at some point you feel like you’re a part of the team,” Lyons said.

Just recently he helped direct the care of a girl with an injury and was able to set up a treatment plan that facilitated a quicker recovery and returned her to full participation. She was very happy and even took the time to write Lyons a thank you letter. Being an athlete himself he feels it helps him better relate to what injured student athletes are going through.

According to Lyons, even within the sports realm there are other avenues athletic trainers can pursue. Obtaining a master’s degree could open doors to professional sports teams or Division 1 colleges. He says passion for the job is a necessity since there’s a lot of work and schooling involved.

The partnership between ProActive and Prairie has proven to be a successful one in Lyons’ opinion. He’s been able to work at a nearby clinic occasionally and have the team at ProActive to call on when he needs a second pair of eyes or hands. He says it makes him feel like he’s not a staff of one at Prairie and it’s a very team-oriented feeling with the focus always on the speediest recovery for the student athlete.

Lyons also finds great value in having a close working relationship with his fellow North County athletic trainer, Alyssa Tiedens. Tiedens is also in her first year working at Battle Ground High School and the two of them correspond routinely about mutual student athletes. He says she’s a great resource and another extension of the team that ProActive is committed to building.

“Sometime last week, she (Alyssa) was covering a Prairie/Battle Ground game at Battle Ground and I was covering something else and she gave me a heads up (on a player who was injured) so I didn’t have to be totally surprised and start from scratch,” Lyons said.

“The more that there’s research and the more that people are aware of their health and their bodies, people like you and me are looking back saying ‘That would have been really nice (to have an athletic trainer in high school),’”Sturzinger said.