As playoff season ramps up across high school football fields, the grind is familiar for every Athletic Trainer who has spent the past eleven weeks taping, evaluating, and managing a roster of athletes whose seasons hinge on durability.
Texas High head coach Gerry Stanford offered a glimpse into how integral Athletic Trainers are to competitive success:
“Obviously the goal is to win, and so we’ve got to have those kids back as fast as possible and that’s a large part of their job… They kind of all correlate together to get more and more kids back healthy.”
His words echo what every AT already knows — return-to-play isn’t luck; it’s coordinated care, evaluation, and communication.
Head Athletic Trainer Forestt Bridges emphasized that prevention is what keeps playoff rosters intact before injuries ever become a storyline.
“We do a whole lot of taping beforehand. We do some strengthening and we catch the early, early signs of injury,” he said. “If an injury… has a telltale sign early on, then we jump on it… so that we don’t have a small little tendonitis turn into something else.”
And while the public often associates ATs with acute injury response, many are also educators, mentors, and emotional support systems. Assistant Athletic Trainer Carla Serra shared:
“We get to sit there and just kind of talk to them about life and kind of guide them through those little stages… and get them back out on the field.”
For every headline about Friday night heroes, there’s a year-round medical team ensuring that those moments are even possible. Stanford summed it up:
“Their job goes year round.”
This postseason, as the intensity rises, Athletic Trainers continue to be the quiet force that keeps rosters playing, programs functioning, and communities cheering. Read more here!