Oakton has many student-athletes in a variety of sports. Who helps these athletes achieve greatness? Athletic trainers of course! Athletic trainers are quite vital as they help athletes recover and heal from injuries that they obtained from playing sports. According to At Your Own Risk, an advocacy group created by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, 37% of public high schools in the United States employ a full-time athletic trainer. This is especially alarming, considering the fact that 62% of sports-related injuries happen during practice. Luckily, Oakton has multiple athletic trainers. 

Mr. Rupp is the head athletic trainer and has been at Oakton for 20 years. According to Mr. Rupp, there is no typical day at Oakton as an AT, “Some days are quite slow, we work on record keeping, cleaning and prepping. Other days we have multiple events and work from 4:30 am to 10 pm. Some days are spent on our education. Every day is designed to prepare us to take the best care of the athletes we can.” Ms. Koeing is an athletic trainer at Oakton and it’s her first year. In the past, she worked a season with the Washington Redskins and says she is able to relate to athletes through the past injuries she got in high school.

His tips on how athletes can lower their chances of getting injured are to play multiple sports, but not at the same time. The National Athletic Trainer Association says that athletes should not play or train more than the number of hours of their age each week and that athletes need at least two days for rest and recovery. Ms. Koenig says to focus on hydration, nutrition, and warm-ups. She said that “any athletes who have experienced injuries in the past or are concerned about getting injured can always come to see them and they can help them get in a good routine”