Springtime with the Statesmen!
By: Adriana Black (MAT Class of 2013) and Angelo Bongiorno (MAT Class of 2014)
As the school year wraps up for us as Saint Louis University
students, the school year is also coming to an end for all of our high school
athletes at Webster Groves High School (WGHS). It leaves behind such a
bittersweet feeling for us. We do not know how an experience could get any
better than our experience here at WGHS: winning sport teams, supportive
faculty and staff, obedient students, involved parents, and above everything an
influential leader in our clinical preceptor.
Over the spring semester, we have had a diverse number of
experiences while covering a handful of sports. Our semester began primarily
covering boys’ basketball and wrestling. Both teams went on to have longer
seasons due to their successes. With those being our primary sport focuses,
during the winter months, we were able to put our rehabilitation techniques to
use and practice. Whenever we were not covering the at-home basketball games
and wrestling meets, we were in the athletic training room rehabbing the injured
athletes. Because the fall season sports had just ended, we were able to help
rehab athletes that had just finished their season, as well. This consisted of
a lot of chronic injuries that the athletes had played with throughout the
season.
March was a transition month for the athletics program at
WGHS. The winter sports had ended and the spring sports were beginning their
training regimen. The spring sports at WGHS consist of the following: baseball,
boys’ golf, boys’ tennis, boys’ volleyball, girls’ lacrosse, and girls’
soccer. After being inside for the
winter sports and rehab, it was definitely a breath of fresh air, literally, to
get back outside. It was also particularly exciting due to the fact that the
spring sports kept winning. Even with us done with our clinical rotations, some
of our sports are still playing because they moved past districts. Girls’
soccer has had their best season in history and claimed the conference
championship. The Boys’ volleyball team advance to the state championship for
the fourth time in five years. Working with high school sports of this caliber
has been exciting; from watching the games to seeing the athletes succeed. It
has also been challenging, as so many athletes have been plagued with injury in
some way; ranging from concussions, to fractures, to chronic injuries they have
faced for years. With their teams’ winning streaks, we are tested on rehabbing
the athletes’ musculoskeletal injuries and returning them to play as soon as
possible.
All in all, it has been the best possible experience for us
at Webster Groves High School. We recommend it to all future SLU athletic
training students. It is an ideal middle ground where although it is a high
school setting, the intensity and focus on sports is powerful and exhilarating.
Most importantly, the mentorship that our preceptor gave us throughout our time
at WGHS has been pivotal to our development as future healthcare providers.
Thanks for a great season, Statesmen!
This is one of a series of posts by the Saint Louis University Athletic Training students featuring their clinical site and their preceptors. The number, quality and diversity of clinical instruction are major assets for the SLU AT Program.
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