By Italia Gonsalvez and Isabel Ruiz
The theme for this year’s National Athletic Training Month is “Athletic Trainers Save Lives.” At Leander High School athletes are lucky enough to encounter an amazing training program that to help the student body maintain a healthy spirit about sportsmanship.
Many people not in athletics have the idea that an athletic trainer is somewhat like a personal trainer for those outstanding Lions, but that’s not it.
Athletic trainers must complete a four-year degree and be licensed by the Texas State Department of Health. The education the students at LHS receive in the program prepare them for many different careers, such as sports medicine clinic technicians, professional sports programs and numerous other health care settings.
Student athletic trainers work to prevent injuries but they are also equipped to handle emergencies and are usually the first to respond in most situations. Handling those situations can be chaotic. “It’s very unsettling, like you don’t know what to do but you do. After a second instinct takes over and you just do it because that’s what you’ve been taught to do.”, Isabel Ruiz, junior. Athletic trainers are educated to be aware of how to react in a critical situation. For example, they can immediately respond to heat stroke, heart attack, dehydration, stroke, asthma attacks, open wounds, and concussions.
In case of diabetes athletic trainers have to be prepared. Diabetes can cause insulin shock which can cause a high or low blood sugar coma. In being able to help in all these cases, surely they deserve our respect and appreciation for one month; after all they do to “save lives.”