James Says Seeing Athletes Return To Competition Makes Athletic Training Worth The Sacrifice3/16/2022
BOILING SPRINGS, SC - The month of March is Athletic Trainer’s Appreciation month and for the last six years if an athlete has been injured at Boiling Springs High School they’ve either been treated or rehabbed through the athletic training room ran by longtime athletic trainer Laurie James.
“For me, being able to see an athlete get back to what they love to do is the reason I do what I do,” said James. “When a kid gets hurt you’re the one who is the bearer of the bad news and that’s not fun but being able to have a hand in getting a kid back on the field through rehab and working with them through the process makes doing this job worth it. Seeing them back on the field is a great feeling. I told people when I went into this job I wanted to do something that made a difference in people’s lives and as athletic trainers I feel like we do just that.” James, originally from Pennsylvania, came to Boiling Springs through the schools partnership with Prisma Health after serving more than fourteen years as an athletic trainer at the college level and twenty-three years as an athletic trainer overall. James said that she has worked to run her athletic training room at Boiling Springs like a college athletic training room but she’s had to learn to adapt it somewhat because of the difference between the number of athletes you deal with at the high school level compared to the college level. “At the high school level we see such a higher number of kids because you work with all sports at the school unlike at the college level where you may just work with one or two teams,” said James. “You see these kids from the time they’re really young until they’re getting ready to go to college so there is a wide range of injuries because you see them from a young age to a senior and they almost morph into another person compared to college where they’re pretty much the same person from start to finish. With the wide range of ages and sports at high school you see so many more types of injuries whereas at the college level it’s a lot smaller range of injuries.” As an athletic trainer James believes that no matter what level you’re at, you’re looking to invest in your athletes but a difference at the high school level is trying to find ways to keep the kids motivated to do the rehab, as they don’t always see the benefits of going through the rehabs in the short time as where college athletes understand it’s part of their process in getting back to full strength on the field. “I feel like you invest in your athletes at any level as they all mean something to you,” said James. “If you love your job then you love your athletes. I think the biggest difference especially with the longer rehabs is finding ways to motivate the kids and convey to them that I know this part stinks but it’s part of the process to get to the endpoint and it will mean something when you get to that point. They don’t understand sometimes that doing these exercises to your best ability each day is part of the process of getting to the endgame of getting back to the field.” James said that part of her strategy to help motivate her athletes is by making the athletic training room a place where people don’t mind going every day as sometimes some of the rehabs can take a while for the athletes. “We want to make the athletic training room a place with a good environment,” said James. “I think people for the most part like to be in here. We want kids to work hard when they’re in here but we also like to have music playing so that it’s also a fun place to be so that every time they’re in here it’s just not torture on them.” She said that while her athletes at the college and high school level are different, her expectations are the same no matter what level she is dealing with and with high school athletes a big difference is the time you get to spend with them as rehabbing time is limited compared to the college level. “I have a high expectation for the athletes that come in here and I don’t think that’s something that changes from the high school to the college level,” said James. “The hard thing at the high school level is the limited time we’re able to spend with the athletes because of the sheer number of athletes whereas at the college level you only have so many athletes with the one or two teams you work with each day. I try to run this place like a college athletic training room with rehabbing each kid one-on-one but with the volume sometimes you don’t get that opportunity as much as you would at the college level.” James said that having a good group of athletic trainers with her helps her to continue to bring a great level of treatment to the athletes she has seen over the last six years. She has worked with a wide group of fellow athletic trainers over the last six years that include Kristen Cochran, MJ Suber, Katelyn Curry, Olivia Forrest, Austin Antley, and current athletic trainer Crystal Lancaster. “Having a great team of athletic trainers along with consistency means everything and knowing that if I’m not here that there’s someone here that can handle the next thing that comes up or the regular rehabs that need to be done is important,” said James. “Our communication lines have to be open and we have to all be on the same page while working together to get our athletes to the endpoint, which is for the athletes to get fully recovered from their injuries. I like to say it’s like a chaotic well-oiled machine.” She said that one thing people need to realize is that an athletic training room at the high school level in current times isn’t necessarily what people remember it being twenty years ago. “Going to see the athletic trainer now days isn’t just about strapping on ice and sitting at the game,” said James. “While we still do that as part of our jobs we also diagnose injuries, treat injuries, rehab injuries, and do post-surgical rehabs which is an all-encompassing job now days. We just don’t want to see a kid and then ship them off to a doctor then never see them again until they’re back. We want to be part of every step of getting them back on the field and for me that’s what an athletic trainer does, not just a triage between me and the doctor’s office or physical therapy.. With saying that, we’re very lucky with the facilities that we have to be able to do all of those things here and treat those kids, especially when we’re at full strength.” James said that if there was something she could stress to all the athletes that she has treated or will treat in the future as an athletic trainer her message to them would be that her and her team are invested in each athlete and want the best for each of them. “With a little tongue in cheek I want all of the athletes to know there’s not an alternative motive to keep you out of sports,” said James with a laugh. “It’s never our goal to keep you out of events and that a great day for us is to sit at a game where no one gets injured as we enjoy watching you play the sports you love. There seems to be a thought by people at times that we just want to hold kids out of games but we never want to do that, even though some injuries force us to do that at times. I also want them to know that I’m invested in you, our teams, and our success on the field. When I’m treating you and you’re not getting better I take that home with me at night and worry about it, as I try to find ways that I can do better to get you healthy. It’s not just a nine to five job for me, I truly do care and am doing everything I can do to find ways to get you back on the field. I want them to know that I’m that invested in them getting better that much and I want them to be invested in that as well.” While the month of March is our chance to celebrate the athletic trainers across the country, make sure to tell the athletic trainers, like Laurie James, how much we appreciate the effort and time they put in each day to keep our athletes healthy and on the field of play. Comments are closed.
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