With a real world application of medical care and athletic training, sports med students learn everything from basic first aid, to emergent care. The athletic training program provides the care and prevention of athletic related injury or illness, while teaching their students what it’s like to be an athletic trainer.

“Rouse Sports Medicine helps ensure the health, safety, and rehabilitation of Rouse High School’s over 800 athletes,” staff athletic trainer Miranda Gafford said. “Our students help us realize that goal by assisting with treatments/rehabilitation, helping set up for practices and games and assisting us during medical emergencies.”

While the students learn and assist with basic first aid, they also learn CPR, the basic principles of taping, rehab, treatment and emergent care in a dynamic team setting.

“We’ve learned that just because we’re behind the scenes doesn’t mean the work we do with students doesn’t matter,” junior Bayleigh Foret said. “The long hours we put in don’t just benefit how we work, but show us what it’s like to be depended on heavily, even when people don’t know exactly what’s going on.”

Sports med is the medical care for an athlete, and with athletic training as a component of the overall sports med umbrella, the student athletic trainers get to travel with the sports teams to games and events.

“My favorite part of being in sports med is on Friday nights during football season,” Foret said. “It’s fun to be with the team and feel their excitement about the game, but even better is the intensity of being on the sidelines surrounded by the havoc going on, that makes it special.”

All students are encouraged to fill out an application and get involved with sports med, even incoming freshmen.

“Participating in sports medicine helps expose students to a diverse population and teaches them how to work as a team and be accountable,” Gafford said. “Some of the relationships they build in sports medicine will last a lifetime and give them the experience of being part of something bigger than themselves.”

To be considered for the class, students must fill out an application, meet with staff athletic trainers Miranda Gafford or Benjamin Stefka and assist with spring football. Incoming freshmen must fill out an application and get three teacher recommendation forms completed.

“What we do is important because if athletes keep playing with an injury, it could potentially get worse and ruin their future career,” sophomore Emma Rust said. “Sports medicine is what I wanna do when I grow up, so it’s preparing me for college classes.”