Death may force look at trainer training

On Thursday, March 3, Michigan resident Wes Leonard, 16, collapsed after a basketball game and later died. His death is one more in a long string of sports-related injuries nationwide.

“Over 300 children have died across the country,” stated Mike West, president of the California Athletic Trainers’ Association (CATA). “In the past three years, 36 children have died in California alone,” he added.

Despite those numbers, California does not require licensure of coaching staff. Licensed coaches, or "athletic trainers" as they're formally called, are a whole different animal.

“We’re one of three states that has no state-defining scope of what it takes to be labeled an athletic trainer,” said West.

In other words, anyone can label himself or herself a trainer without holding proper credentials. CATA believes this gives parents a false sense of safety while leaving young athletes at risk for injury … or worse.

“Many people assume that since a person is coaching a team, that they are qualified to do so,” said Cottonwood parent Tracye Dethero.

But that’s not always true.

Worse, “If someone calls [CATA] and says they’d like to file a complaint against a trainer, we have no means to do so,” stated West. “Until we have legislation in place, there is no public recourse.”

In the meantime, parents would do well to take action into their own hands. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) posts prevention tips on their website. Parents are encouraged to have their children “gear up” and to “practice” and to “pay attention to temperature”, but nowhere does it state that parents should also check an athletic coach’s qualifications.

“Worse,” states West, “individuals who are licensed, and who lost those licenses [in other states], can come to California and practice.”

Says Dethero, “There have been sports teams where there is a question in my mind whether or not the coach had any idea what they were doing.”

And that's part of the problem. There's a huge difference between a "coach" and an "athletic trainer". But without a regulatory board, parents have no way of checking to see which is which.

“Football is the only sport that we have a trainer available at games,” reports Scott Fairley, athletic director for West Valley High School. “Unfortunately, the schools do not have the money to pay for any trainers, let alone licensed trainers.”

CATA acknowledges this problem, and so their legislation is designed to be cost-neutral. In other words, coaches would be required to pay for their own athletic trainer's license.

“We’re not saying that high schools can’t hire who they want to take care of their kids,” reports West. Their goal is to make it clear to parents that someone labeled as an athletic trainer is someone who is actually certified.

“In a perfect world, we would have a licensed trainer at every athletic contest as well as a person in the training room after school from 2:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. for practices,” stated Fairley. “But, again, there is no money to pay a person to do this.”

So CATA’s goal is to put the burden of certification on the athletic trainer.

“We think we would minimize the risk of a catastrophic injury,” says West. “In particular, head injuries are usually due to a second impact. If it was identified and managed appropriately the first time around, then that second blow wouldn’t cause death.”

Such was the case with California student, Tommy Mallon. The 17-year-old student was injured while playing Lacrosse, and his parents credit an athletic trainer with saving his life.

“If there hadn’t been” an accredited athletic trainer present, “her son would have probably been dead right now,” West said in a recent interview,