At area schools, every day is opportunity for student trainers
By: Bob Nuse
Taking care of hundreds of athletes every day is no easy task for any athletic trainer.
That’s why high school trainers are grateful for the help they get from their student assistants. And these days, those student assistants are more capable than ever before. At both West Windsor-Plainsboro North and WW-P South, students can take a Fundamentals of Sports Medicine class, which prepares them to then eventually become part of the student training staff.
"We talk about what the fundamentals of sports medicine are all about," said WW-P North trainer Chris Welch, who started the program while he was the trainer at WW-P South. "There are aspects of physical therapy, athletic training, fitness, pre-med. We cover all kinds of stuff in the class. The kids that have taken the class that want to stay with it come to us in the training room and become part of the staff. We have three from the class this year and we had three others from the class last year."
Welch has five students seniors Jen Mealy and Chandni Parikh as well as junior Brittany Dimitruk, Sapan Desai and Jordan Green who are part of his athletic training staff. Thanks to their help, he is able to devote more time to various other aspects of his job.
"The help we get from them is priceless," Welch said. "They have a sincere and genuine compassion for what they do. There is no real glory in it, but they are here every day. We have 26 athletic programs at the school and I like to consider this the 27th. They’re not responsible for any one team, but they have the ones that interest them more than the others. But they take care of the entire program.
"If I didn’t have them, my job would be chaos. I couldn’t focus on the rehab or educational aspects of what I need to do without their help. I wouldn’t be able to focus on teaching them the fundamentals of what it takes to not get hurt. I would just be taping and wrapping."
WW-P South has a similar program to the one at North. South trainer Dana Miller has eight students Corrie Novak, Chris Macken, Anthony Mauro, Jackie Robinson, Craig Sorken, Mandy Lockwood, Eliza Keleman and Mike Doknova who are a major part of her staff.
"I have eight students who regularly do it," said Miller, who has 26 students in her Sports Medicine class. "They do it all for no credit or anything. They come in after school and help with the practices and the games. They’ll get the water ready and take down the names of the athletes who are coming in. They also help set up and take down for the games. Everything that they do helps."
The student trainer situation is one that works for both sides. While the head trainers get valuable assistance, the students get to learn skills you can’t just teach in a classroom setting.
"They learn a lot just from coming in," Miller said. "Most of them come in every day. They have the knowledge. Doing things like setting up the water and ice and are incredibly helpful. If it was just me, I don’t know how it would get done. They’re like the workforce of the training room."
And they’re also the eyes and ears of the trainers throughout the school day.
"We’re able to identify a lot of problems because they see the kids during the day in class and in the halls," Welch said. "So they play a big role in identifying some of the problems that the athletes might have. And the athletes can identify with our student trainers because they see them every day."
While Princeton High does not offer a training class like the one at North and South, trainer Shannon Koch does get assistance from her student trainers throughout the year.
"They help out with the basic stuff like restocking and as they learn other things, they get to do more like cleaning blisters or wounds," said Koch, who has a core group of five students Justin Strasburger, Annie Rorem, Emily Burns, Casey Lamarche and Rob Sgobbo as well as several others who are working towards becoming part of the program. "We go over all the bones and ligaments and basic functions. We go over the difference between strains and sprains. Then one of the last things we do is tape.
"It gives me a little more time to do things before a game. They set up the water and prepare things for the games. So I have more time to get the kids ready. They also take care of a lot of the tedious stuff. I know if they can tolerate that, then they’re really interested and want to do it. It weeds out the ones who only want to do it for a jacket or so they can get into the games for free."
Koch, who was a student trainer herself under Carlos Salazar while she was at Princeton, knows how valuable the experience can be.
"Carlos came in my sophomore year and I started after my soccer season that year," Koch recalled. "At first, I had no idea what it was about. I knew by the end of the spring of that year that this is what I wanted to do. I would come in before soccer practice and then stay after. I’d also come in for football on the weekend if we didn’t have a game."
Welch has seen similar things happen over the years. In fact, several of his former trainers have gone on to make athletic training a career.
"I’ve had 24 graduates from the position since I started at South in 1993," Welch said. "I just got an e-mail the other day from Matt Thompson, who is now in his second year at Ohio University in the athletic training program and he loves it. He’s happy he found what he wants to do and he has a passion for it.
"Some of them are pre-med and others have gone into physical therapy. And some are majoring in Zoology or English. But even those people say they’ve gained a lot from the experience they had working with us."
It’s a situation that has certainly worked out well for everyone involved.

