Free Press

Issue date: 4/28/08 Section: Sports

Head Athletic Trainer Matthew Gerken works on the foot of senior lacrosse player Shannon Kynoch.

To the last several generations of athletes, the presence of an athletic trainer is nothing special - they're in the dugout, on the sidelines and in the clubhouse. They stand watch at games and even at many practices. Their job is to work with injured athletes before and after events and throughout the long road to recovery from anything serious.

But to the general public, there is room for confusion. While athletic trainers have existed in school programs for nearly a century, in one form or another, it is only in the past several decades that the profession has enjoyed any bona fide credentials all its own.

"1970 was the first time athletic trainers were even certified," says Matthew Gerken, head athletic trainer at USM's own department. "Prior to that, people were tapers, they were massagers, just kind of jacks of all trades."

So it was more or less natural that their role solidified into somebody athletes could rely on when their bodies needed work. Over time, that person's expertise and training became more and more medically oriented.

On a Thursday afternoon, Gerken sits beside a cushioned table in the department's offices. Junior Thomas Boothby is on that table, and Gerken is running a small sonogram device along the lacrosse player's leg.

Unlike the diagnostic machines you'll find in hospitals -- typically attached to the bellies of pregnant women -- this is one is therapeutic. If all goes well, it could assist Boothby in recovering from a muscular injury.

The machine is eventually put aside, and Gerken begins to stretch and massage the afflicted area.

Athletics training is still -- to use a term many here use frequently -- a "young profession." Despite their certification and prominence, they are in the midst of a struggle to be considered private health care providers in the eyes of most insurance companies. This has so far been accomplished in only a few states.

Often the debate arises as to whether or not, at this relatively early stage in their existence, they might consider changing the name of the profession. This might help professionals like Gerken avoid confusion from coaches and the community.

"Oh, it can be confusing," says Gerken, "where people think -- oh, a trainer. 'I go to my trainer at the gym.' But what we do is much different. We are health care professionals."

Continued...

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