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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.