This year’s theme for athletic trainers has been "Health Care for Life and Sports."
As an athletic trainer I can honestly say health care is especially important, not only for athletes but for all people. I strongly believe that our health will not only dictate our level of activity but also impacts our quantity, as well as quality of life.
It seems that in this day we are unable to control many aspects of our lives, ranging from our jobs, the number of hours and days we work, to worrying that perhaps in the future we will not even have a job. Not to mention that the above can also increase the amount of stress in our lives, wreaking havoc in our bodies.
It seems like that there are only two activities that we can control and that is the amount and type of food we eat as well as our exercising habits. Both of these may seem insignificant to many, but if we think about what we eat and how much, it all begins to make sense.
In my daily activities as an athletic I stress to my athletes how important it is for them to have a good habit of eating the foods that will help their bodies perform at peak level. I also stress how eating the correct food amounts will help them perform better on the practice field, as well as on the playing field.
For those of us, like myself, who don’t participate in organized sports, I found that if I can discipline myself to devote at least 30 minutes of exercise a day for three to five days a week that I feel better, as well as relate to the athletes better. I strongly believe that by exercising daily, or three to five times a week, that we would all increase the quantity, as well as the quality of our lives.
As an athletic trainer I practice the prevention, assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of injuries and illnesses.
In keeping with this year’s theme the Annual All Sports Physicals will be on April 25 in the Bradwell Institute gymnasium from 8 a.m. to noon. This does not mean the athlete shows up at 12 to begin his physicals as no physical will be started after 11:30. All female athletes and those males who have events that day will be seen from 8-10 a.m. All other male athletes will be seen 10-12.
Again this year we are requesting that the parents of all athletes attend the physicals with their child. We have found that this helps eliminate missing information, signatures, and that it helps eliminate any questions regarding the health of the athlete.
Physical packets for the physicals can be picked up from athletic directors at Bradwell, Liberty High, Lewis-Frasier, Snelson-Golden and Midway middle schools. We have also asked middle school athletic directors to indicate which high school their eighth-graders will be attending so their physicals go to the appropriate high school.
This physical will be valid through the upcoming school year and will expire at the end of May 2010.
This physical is free and open to all athletes in Liberty County. A physical must be on file for all those who wish to participate in athletics at the middle and high schools.
I remind parents that this is a screening and does not take the place of your athlete’s annual physician’s physical.
This year’s physicals are being sponsored by Dr. Wheeler and staff members from Chatham Orthopedic Associates, Martha Kitchens from the Liberty County Health Clinic, LPN students from the Liberty branch of the Savannah Technical College under Kissiah Moore (Allied Health Department Head), Rubin Smith, RN (instructor of LPN students), doctors from the Orthopedic Clinic and Family Practice Clinic at Winn Army Community Hospital, Maj. Mark Thelen (WACH chairman of physical therapy), Capt. Neorlan Trujillo (staff physical therapist at WACH), and Dr. Steve Tankersly, chairman Coastal Orthopedic and Sports Medicine. I would like to thank all these people for so graciously giving their time to make the physicals a success and in helping to insure all of our athletes are ready to participate. I would also like to thank all of the athletic directors and their coaches who help to insure that all their athletes have current physicals.