Unsung Teammates

 The group typically arrives at Provost Umphrey Stadium early on game day to prepare the sidelines and make the training room ready. As the players arrive, the athletic trainers begin taping and treating each one, which may involve hydrating them with an IV or using a cold compression machine. 

 

Once the game starts, the group must be ready for anything. They work with the team physician to tend injuries, and to hand out water to the players following each drive and during timeouts. 

 

At halftime, they are busy reapplying tape and evaluating injuries. 

 

Following the game, they clean up the sidelines, ice players who need it, clean any injuries and scrub down the training room.

After a long, 12-hour day or more, the athletic trainers are finally able to go home to rest before being back at work on Sunday to offer treatment to players.

 

"At Lamar, our focus is to maintain the highest level of daily health care for our student-athletes, so that they are able to practice and compete at the highest level," Josh Yonker, head athletic trainer, says.

 

Lamar currently has five athletic trainers, one student and one volunteer under the direction of Yonker. They stay very busy during football season, often working 60-hour weeks, and Yonker says he hopes that more students will be interested in becoming athletic trainers.

 

The internship program requires students to have 1,800 hours of experience during five semesters. After the internship, students are able to apply for the Texas Athletic Training licensure exam.

 

These behind-the-scenes workers may toil in relative obscurity, but they are an important part of Lamar's athletic machine.

 

"Athletic trainers definitely do not get a lot of recognition," Yonker said, "which makes it even better when an athlete, a parent or a coach says, ‘Thanks for everything you do.'"