BY ZACK NALLY NEWS-TIMES
CARTERET COUNTY — Sometimes it takes a village to avert a crisis.
That’s the attitude it took to address the athletic trainer shortage that threatened the three high school football teams’ ability to practice and compete in games this fall.
The first games of the season took place on Thursday (jayvee) and Friday (varsity) without a hitch as East Carteret and Croatan had the personnel in place to fulfill the state’s requirement of having a first responder or athletic trainer in place.
At East, the answer came via three first responders – Brian Beck, Michael Smith and Shameka Frazier.
“I’m grateful for the three first responders who have stepped up to help us out,” East Athletic Director Daniel Griffee said. “The days of people giving their free time to help after school activities in any form have drastically dwindled, so we are very grateful for the people we have on our side.”
Croatan found first responders to help during practice, and for games, has gotten commitments to help from Dr. Matt Davis from BreakThrough Physical Therapy, Dr. John Spellman from Moore Orthopedics and Sports Medicine (MOSM) and two other athletic trainers.
One is former Croatan trainer from MOSM, Kelsey Bosley, and the other is Rebecca Warren who teaches at Broad Creek Middle School.
“We’re very grateful,” Croatan Athletic Director Dave Boal said. “It takes a village to get something like this done. I actually had someone else reach out about it (Thursday), and I had to turn them down.”
The first responders will serve the school Monday through Wednesday while the rotation of the four trainers will help on Thursday and Friday for jayvee and varsity games.
The situation is still not as it should be, Boal pointed out. There is still no medically trained personnel on site for the other fall sports. That has already become a factor, such as Wednesday night when a visiting New Bern volleyball player rolled her ankle, and all Croatan could offer was a bag of ice.
“I hate that she couldn’t be evaluated better,” Boal said. “It’s still not perfect or as good as it was, but it’s all we have for now.”
West Carteret didn’t play football on Friday, but it didn’t have to wait until the last minute to address its trainer shortage.
Athletic director Michael Turner was able to strike a deal with Youngs Physical Therapy & Sports Performance of Morehead City during the summer to provide athletic trainers for home and away football games and for wrestling matches.
Like the others, however, the school will lean on first responder role players during practices.
There was a concern in July that a solution may not be found for all three schools in lieu of a growing scarcity in availability of skilled athletic trainers.
The industry shortage resulted in the termination of a seven-year relationship that saw Moore Orthopedic Sports Medicine provide free use of athletic trainers to Carteret County Public Schools.
The school system, forced to pivot quickly and find a financially feasible solution, offered up a stipend of $2,400 to help schools acquire first responders or athletic trainers for football and wrestling, the only sports for which the N.C. High School Athletic Association requires such personnel.
That didn’t immediately provide the schools with the leverage they needed to acquire the needed personnel, but a temporary solution is in place now with a mix of volunteerism and paid help.
Additionally, MOSM has offered to continue providing on-site, physical coverage and quick appointment backup just as it did before despite the change in protocol at the schools.
