Tiger talks with new athletic trainer Mike Lee

STORY CLEMENTINE EVANS

PHOTO MICHELLE SHADMON

Tiger sat down with Head Athletic Trainer, Mike Lee, to ask him about his role in educating SPHS students on their physical and mental well-being and staying safe. With injury prevention and proper treatment, Lee plays a vital role as the athletic trainer to keeping SPHS athletes healthy and how they can continue competing on the field.

Lee: I would describe my job as helping student athletes’ overall well-being which includes both the physical and mental aspects. It [is] a fun job, help educating the students being more aware of the use of their body.

Tiger: How do you evaluate an athlete’s readiness to play in a game?

Lee: If they can stand up to the physical demands of an actual game. They would go through specific criteria[s] such as strength, range of motion, pain scale, and be able to more or less move pain-free.

Tiger: How do you educate athletes about injury prevention?

Lee: I teach them how to use their body in an efficient way, provide certain modifications to their movements depending on what sport they play, and activating certain muscles so the body works as a whole.

Tiger: What do you think are the most important behaviors that athletes can carry out to prevent injuries while playing their sport?

Lee: Being mindful of their movements.

Tiger: How do you prepare for a game day?

Lee: Depending on what sport it is, usually football being the heaviest, there’s a list of equipments that I check off and the students that would need pre-game prep such as taping or bracing. Also just being mentally prepared for anything that can happen always helps.

Tiger: What are some things you find challenging about your job?

Lee: Documenting is a challenge at times when there are a lot of injuries going on. Also keeping track of all the injuries and remembering which student has what injury since it’s couple hundred students and just me.

Tiger: What are some aspects of your job that you dislike?

Lee: Communication is always a struggle. Especially when game times or practice times get changed. Usually I [am] not notified, so now that I [have] experienced it before, I [am] more inclined to communicate to coaches and players to know what [is] going on.

Tiger: What parts of your education and background do you think prepared you for this job?

Lee: Knowing your anatomy and kinesiology really helps out since I am dealing with the human body and it [is] particular movements for each muscle. I think my graduate program really helped me prepare for what the expect in this field both on and off the sports field.

Tiger: How would you describe your approach as an athletic trainer?

Lee: My approach is always stay calm, be open-minded, anything and everything can happen at anytime so always be prepare for the worse and always have a back-up plan.

Tiger: How would you go about dealing with multiple injuries on the field?

Lee: Prioritize the severity of the injuries. Concussion/ broken bones/profuse bleeding/dislocations/loss of consciousness would be top priority. Then more sprains and strains would be the latter depending on the severity as well.