Whether it’s wrapping up an athlete’s foot or giving out ice bags, the athletic trainers have to take Sports Medicine in order to learn how to do these things.

Sports Medicine at Independence High School teaches students the basic training for any sport.

The students have to take time to grasp the information they have to know in order to train.

“Some of them learn fairly quickly, others it takes a little bit more time I think depending on the level of training you’re giving them and what are you’re training them for,” Sports Medicine Teacher Mr. Corwin Anschutz said.

“Your first year as a trainer … you learn [the] anatomy of the body and you learn how to tape, and how to clean up blood,” senior trainer Tatiana Mendez said.

The students not only learn in the classroom but also begin to train on the field.

“If they get cuts like I’m the one there wrapping it up or if they get injured I’m the one there running out on the field to see if they’re okay,” Mendez said.

In addition to training the high school athletes, they have expanded their routes to treating middle school athletes too.

“Every sport that is here at the high school we take care of plus we also take care of the middle school kids if the parents bring them up here for us to evaluate,” Anschutz said.

The trainers are a big part of any team they train.

“During practice they’re always at the right place in the right time and ready to help and at games they’re always ready to run out there if someone gets injured,” varsity football player Justin Harris said.

When an athlete gets injured, the trainer’s knowledge from the class comes in handy.

“That really is a learning tool to help them do a better job for us out there on the practice fields,” Anschutz said.