Oakland Tech is starting a new program in the fall where Health Academy students will serve as medics and athletic trainers at football games. It is meant to address concerns about a lack of medical supervision at sporting events.
“The medic will be for anyone who is injured while the game’s on, even if it’s somebody who’s in the audience,” explained teacher and Health Academy head Kathleen Bailey.
California is the only state that doesn’t require trained and licensed medics at high school sports events or require people have specific training or certifications to call themselves an athletic trainer. Despite Oakland Tech’s lack of legal obligation by the state, it is participating in a growing trend to protect high schoolers from injuries that can have long-term health consequences, like concussions, which can lead to permanent brain damage. Concussions can even be fatal if a second one occurs before fully healing from the first one. Preventative and protective measures can be taken if an athlete is diagnosed in time.
The program will give students an opportunity to practice real-world skills and gain experience. The Health Academy students considered will be juniors and seniors (it is possible that later on in the program sophomores will be able to apply), and will have CPR, AED, and first aid training, knowledge on concussion protocol, and practice immobilizing ankles and wrists. However, there are also concerns about putting so much responsibility on students.
“I think this should not primarily be a student job,” said Bailey. “There should be paid adult professionals to do this, but there aren’t at the moment.”
Nevertheless, high schools throughout California have begun to create student medic and athletic trainer programs because they lack the funding and resources to hire adults to do this job. The program at Tech may also partner with team manager positions that already exist.
“It’s kind of, in a way, a little depressing that the school doesn’t provide these things on its own and is leaning on students,” Bailey admitted.
She has also had to pay for an AED out of the Health Academy budget because the school is legally obligated to have one accessible to all sports facilities and present at all games. Bailey advocates that these health and safety concerns should be addressed properly by the Oakland Athletic League.
The student trainers, at least in the beginning of the program, will only attend football games, because many of the main advocates have been football coaches who are concerned about their players’ well-being. Many other sports offered at Tech also have a high risk of concussions or other serious injury, especially other contact sports, such as lacrosse or soccer.
“Football is the right place to start because it’s the largest team we have, the games are weekly (which allows for consistent planning), and it provides an ideal environment to work out the details before expanding,” said head football coach Brandon Ransburg.
Despite its shortcomings, the program will offer students opportunities they would not have access to otherwise. Unique opportunities for lived experience in sports medicine can offer students a chance to discover career opportunities and stand out in job or internship applications.
Interested students should keep an eye out for an email to sign up and they will be invited to meetings in the next few weeks. The program will ideally start when the football season begins.