Halloween is full of ghosts, haunted houses and jump scares, but some of the scariest moments don’t always come from horror movies. For athletes, they can happen on the field, court or tryouts. What starts as a routine play can often turn into a real-life nightmare.
At KHS, athletic trainer Stephanie Brewer frequently deals with athletic injuries. She and the other trainers work to prevent injuries and help athletes recover when they occur.
“I am here for injury prevention, injury diagnosis, overall health and wellbeing, rehabilitation and treatment of injuries,” Brewer said. “We [do] a lot of prep beforehand with the athletes to make sure their bodies are prepared as well [as] they can be.”
Brewer said they try to cover all stages of an athlete’s health. For them, she said the work starts way before a game.
“I typically get in around 12:30 or 1p.m. set up the office and then we start pulling kids,” Brewer said. “We’ll do rehab and treatment until practice. Then we’ll prep anybody for practice and go out. We [then] cover practices and games just [to] monitor any injuries that happen.”
For some athletes, they say that work is critical for getting them back on the field after a tough moment. Bella Mosley, junior, said she found out the hard way during field hockey tryouts.
“I was running down the side of the field to try and stop the ball, and my teammate ended up coming in front of me,” Mosley said. “I had to stop completely. I twisted my ankle, and there was a crack sound. I’ve been wearing a brace since then and I couldn’t play for two weeks after the injury.”
Mosley said she has been focusing on recovery since the accident. At home, she said she continues to do exercises to strengthen her ankle.
“Whenever I go home I do strength exercises with a band to make my ankles stronger again,” Mosley said. “I went to the trainers a few times when I first got injured and [they] helped [a lot].”
With a brace and rehab exercises, Mosley said she has been able to return playing, even though her ankle still isn’t fully healed. Some athletes such as Jamiir Sloane, senior, haven’t been able to.
“I [tore my] AC joint,” Sloan said. “I hurt it week one, first football game, first play of the game. At first, I wanted to go back out there, but once I took my pads off, it started hurting more. I’m definitely recovering, but I’m still not clear yet.”
Sloan said working with the trainers keeps him focused. He said their support has given him a path forward when frustration sets in.
“It [has] definitely affected me because I’m missing a few games, and all the games that I want to play,” Sloan said. “I’m kind of frustrated by [that]. I work with Miss [Brewer] and Miss Olivia a lot, like every day, working on rehab and getting better. They put me in the right direction [for] things I need to do, and just get me right every day.”
