Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland is partnering with MedStar Health to provide athletic training and keep more student-athletes on the field.
Maryland’s largest school system said Wednesday that each of its 25 high schools will now have a full-time certified athletic trainer on staff.
“We thought, well, if it’s working at the professional and college level, let’s bring it to the high school level. That’s exactly what we’re doing,” said Jeffrey Sullivan, director of system-wide athletics for Montgomery County Public Schools.
Sullivan described the program as holistic. Trainers will focus on injury prevention for student- athletes, as well as injury rehabilitation. But they will also provide nutrition guidance.
“When an injury occurs, there’s a rehabilitative network of services, and there’s a whole vast level of opportunities at MedStar Health,” said Sullivan.
WTOP spoke with student-athletes at Northwest High School in Germantown, Maryland, and they hope the new staff will give them a competitive edge.
“I really hope they just got us throughout the whole season journey, just keep us healthy,” Northwest High Senior linebacker Christian Idoma said of the new additions.
“I agree. I’m really grateful for the athletic trainers that are in this building,” added edge rusher Xavier Rivers.
Rivers and Idoma were attending the first day of fall football practice in the August heat. While their trainers will be the main point of contact for most of their high school career, the MedStar system will be fully behind that staff.
“We’ve got liaisons that are going to be coordinating between the school system and the athletic trainers and our network of care providers in the community to provide immediate and rapid access to any athlete who needs care within our system,” said Dr. Korin Hudson with MedStar’s Sports and Emergency Medicine department.
Dr. Hudson also said the new athletic trainers will provide a new level of safety for student-athletes.
“They’re there when an injury occurs, they’re there in the incidence of an emergency. So, if heaven forbid, something like a cardiac arrest occurs, they’re there. If heatstroke occurs, they’re on scene immediately. They’re the ones who are going to provide that immediate life saving care, that is going to save a life,” she said.
