 The school business partnership for Advanced Physical Therapy of Alaska (APTAK) and Service High School has been in place for two years. It began after a football game where APTAK provided
the expertise of an athletic trainer.
Currently, the partnership includes APTAK’s certified athletic trainer, physical
therapists, exercise specialists, and massage therapists. These professionals
are some of the mostly highly trained specialists in their fields. These professionals
are educating our student athletic manager/trainers about injury prevention and treatment, thus attending to the safety
of our athletes and assisting coaches of several sports.
This year, the expansion of the training
course being held at APTAK includes students from across the Anchorage School District. Barbara Taylor, ACT reports that we have at least one student from each high school and one or two from home school programs. It is exciting
to see the growth and set the goals higher for next year.
The partnership has led several current
students and graduates to consider a career in sports medicine or a related field. Studstill, Donnelly and Rowland all plan to continue with the classes at APTAK and as manager/trainers at Service.
Studstill, Donnelly, Rowland, and Kelsey Smith were also selected to work at the Great Alaska Shootout as sports medicine interns because of the quality of the training they were able to put on their application.
The feedback from coaches and athletes
is all positive. “We can’t do it without
them (the managers).” One football player said, “The managers (trainers) do so much more than filling a water bottle, they give you a feeling of knowing if you get hurt they can really help you.” Another athlete thought it would be good if all the teams had managers that actually
had managers trained by APTAK.
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Service High School Student Athletic Managers and Trainers:
Miranda Studstill, Junior, is continuing her training with Taylor and has endured some fairly gruesome moments as a seasoned manager/trainer. She was on duty during the early season football practices and was able to assist with a player who had a compound fracture of his hand. Studstill said, “I felt prepared for it because of all the classes I have attended at APTAK. I was able to use the skills I have acquired the past few years. It was amazing to know how to handle the situation correctly.”
Haleigh Donnelly, Sophomore, said, “The Sports Medicine/Trainer Program means everything to me. It keeps me busy and gives me not only medical skills, but social skills that I will need later in life. It has taught me how to deal with situations under pressure. I know that I make a difference and knowing people depend on me makes a huge difference.”
She expressed the importance of relationship building skills developed during the time spent as a manager and the training times.
Rachael Rowland, Freshman, said she has made new friends and learned a lot of information. She found out that being a manager/trainer is a huge time commitment.
Rowland adds, “You have to be calm if someone gets hurt, pay attention and listen.”
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