ShareThisAccording to the most recent estimates from the National Federation of State High School Associations, more than 7.5 million students will participate in organized sports this season. Despite cuts in funding and sports due to the economy, that number represents an all-time high.
With so many children playing, some are bound to get hurt. An estimated 2 million injuries will occur. And sadly, that's merely where the problem starts -- especially in the moments when a player is first injured.
According to an extensive investigation by Scripps Howard News Service's Lee Bowman, there are just over 6,400 athletic trainers working in secondary schools across the United States. That ratio of one trainer per 1,100 athletes is disturbing enough.
Yet the numbers are even worse due to the fact that many smaller schools do not even have a single full-time athletic trainer. And many of those working at smaller schools lack proper training.
In a few cases, proper training can be the difference between permanent paralysis or even life and death. With high school football in full swing, common sense says trainers should be on hand at every game. But as Bowman's research shows, they are not. And this puts at least some of the 1.1 million players around the nation at risk.
Himself a parent of two star high school athletes, Bowman offers a five-story package complete with statistical information on this pressing issue. He analyzes the availability of athletic trainers in high schools with sports programs nationwide and within each state while also talking to parents about the importance of a qualified trainer around their child's team. Bowman also examines the changing roles of these trainers, from de facto doctor to mentor to even a father figure to children of single parents.
Finally, Bowman delivers a finishing kick with testimonials from six trainers around the nation where their actions were the difference. That included a Virginia trainer who properly stabilized a player with a broken neck (he eventually made a full recovery) and another in Texas who used an automated external defibrillator to revive a child who had stopped breathing and had no pulse. He also recovered.
In any area where high school sports are a passion, this SHNS content package is a timely, must-read.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
