ARIZONA INTERSCHOLASTIC ASSOCIATION WANTS MORE ATHLETIC TRAINERS AT HIGH SCHOOL GAMES
February 12, 2014
In Arizona, 85 percent of regular season high school sporting events do not have an athletic trainer on site, according to the Arizona Interscholastic Association. The AIA wants to change that. The association currently requires an athletic trainer at all post season games. AIA’s Chuck Schmidt said the association is working to assign appropriate medical professionals to each event.
“We have been working hard to ensure that at AIA post season events we have an ATC on site and or one of those other folks. We are focused our efforts in creating a systemic approach to effectively cover those in an efficient way," said Schmidt.
Schmidt said now there are not enough athletic trainers or ATs in Arizona to cover all of the regular season games or matches.
Rick Ball is the attorney for the Arizona Athletic Trainers Association, and he disagrees. He said there are more than 500 certified ATs in the state, and that is more than enough to cover all regular season games.
“It may very well be there are not enough athletic trainers willing to work for 22.50 an hour, but the pool of ATCs is absolutely available to the AIA and its member schools," said Ball.
The AIA said during the regular season it is up to the schools to provide coverage, and many schools do. In the meantime the association is researching the issues of resources and costs of requiring ATs during the regular season.