portraits

    »     AMARILLO ISD

21

H

igh school football practices have changed a lot since Amarillo ISD 
Assistant Athletic Director Dr. Justin Hefl ey’s playing days. 

“Practice is different today,” he nods. 

For one thing, there was “stew.”
 “We had one water break. Everyone fi lled their helmet and they drank 

it,” recalls Justin. “We called it stew.” 

Helmet stew isn’t the only thing missing from modern day practices. 

“You’re not banging heads for two hours,” Justin says. “I think we have 
learned how to care for athletes so much better.”

The sport may have come a long way in its care of athletes and 

preventative measures, but nationally, youth participation in contact sports 
is taking hit after hit. What is known today about the potential long-term 
effects of concussions and the overall toll on a young body is hard to ignore. 
In AISD, no one is ignoring it, says Justin, not administrators, not coaches, 
and not parents. “Parents are questioning it and thinking about it,” he says.  

And at every level, the District is acting on this knowledge. On the 

sidelines, in practice, at games, through every season of every sport, AISD’s 
force of athletic trainers work alongside a team of student athletic trainers, 
typically as many as 30 to 40 students at each school. The adult and student 
trainers help prevent, identify and rehab injuries, all under the guidance 
of team physicians from the community who volunteer their time to work 
with athletes and be present on the sidelines at football games. 

The Best Care You’re Going To Get

“Especially with football, parents are often afraid to let their child play. 

It’s scary to put them out there,” says Amarillo High School Head Athletic 
Trainer Jena Phillips, who holds a license as an athletic trainer and is 
certifi ed in Applied Functional Science. “The overall care provided for 
AISD athletes is the best care you’re going to get.”

Jena is one of eight highly-credentialed athletic trainers working in 

AISD. At Tascosa High School, Head Athletic Trainer Brian Mullins, also 
a licensed athletic trainer, is certifi ed in Active Release Technique used to 
treat problems with muscles, ligaments and other soft tissue.    

Brian, Jena and their colleagues make up one of the most comprehensive 

athlete care teams offered by any school district in the state. 

“If we took the top 26 counties of the Texas Panhandle and expanded to 

the counties of Lubbock and as wide as Wichita Falls, there are 42 counties. 
In those 42 counties, there are 18 full-time athletic trainers employed by 
school districts. AISD employs eight of those,” says Brian. “AISD cares 
about the athlete.”

Athlete care begins in practice and on the sidelines and moves into 

AISD’s on-campus professional rehab rooms. “You would be hard-pressed 
to walk into our training rooms and see a difference between our facilities 

and any rehab facility in Amarillo,” says Brian. 

Trainers collaborate with team physicians. The network of physicians 

from the community volunteers their time consulting with staff and 
caring for athletes. 

“Having a team physician makes communication so much easier,” Jena 

explains. “Not only does it expedite the process, but if you go to a facility 
for physical therapy, you’re paying anywhere from $40 to $50 each time as 
a co-pay. We can do the same thing for free at school.” 

The care plan is customized to the injury. “It’s important for parents 

to know the way we care for ankle sprains is probably not going to be in 
line with what their child’s pediatrician does, because pediatricians don’t 
necessarily deal with sports injury sprains like we do. We’re trying to give 
students specialized care at a very minimal cost,” says Jena. “Our physicians 
are critical to that. As athletic trainers, we can’t practice without having a 
physician sign off. To have a physician trust you enough to do that is huge.”  

The Eyes Will Tell the Story

Physical examination and the acronym PERRLA—pupils equal, round, 

reactive to light and accommodation—used to assess the pupils of the 
eyes, have long been the standard for athletic trainers when a concussion 
is suspected. PERRLA is helpful when an injury has just happened, but, 
explains Brian, athletic trainers don’t always have the luxury of monitoring 
an injury as it happens. “If we can see the student early on, the eyes will tell 
the story. Sometimes a student will sustain the injury while they’re away 
from school, so I can’t see them until the next morning.”

This school year, a new tool called EyeGuide is in the hands of athletic 

Dr. Justin Hefl ey

As one of AISD’s assistant athletic 

directors, Justin Hefl ey is passionate about 
football and making the game as safe as 
possible. He’s now an expert on the subject 
after writing a 135-page dissertation to earn 

a doctorate degree in Educational Leadership from Concordia 
University. Now he’s Dr. Justin Hefl ey.

 Inspired by the media frenzy about concussions and medical 

fi ndings regarding chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), 
the degenerative brain disease found in athletes and others with 
a history of repetitive brain trauma, Justin interviewed eight 
coaches from football programs of all sizes for his dissertation, 
Perception of Texas High School Football Coaches Regarding 
Concussions.

“Overwhelmingly, a lot has changed since I started coaching. 

There are baseline tests, better ways to diagnose, better rehab 
and coaches are practicing more effi

  ciently and implementing 

diff erent tackling techniques,” he says of his fi ndings. 

As he defended his dissertation, Justin was asked how Texas, 

a state where football is big business, 
is handling the concussion fi restorm. 
“We’ve adapted,” he says. “I think the 
most gratifying thing to come from 
this is the way our coaches have 
adapted to the new information. They 
have changed their ways of practicing, 
their ways of treatment and really, the 
overall care of the athlete.”

Photo 1 (blue circles): An EyeGuide baseline 
reading on a student athlete.

Photo 2 (red circles): The red lines, layered over 
a player’s baseline EyeGuide reading in blue, 
indicate a player with a concussion.

Photo 3 (blue & green circles): The green lines, 
layered over a player’s baseline EyeGuide reading 
in blue, indicate a player whose condition has 
improved after rehab to a point better than the 
player’s baseline reading.