SOURCE: National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA)
Keynote Addresses By Kansas City Chiefs VP of Sports Medicine and Performance Rick Burkholder, Assistant Athletic Trainer Tiffany Morton and Tyrann Mathieu, Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl Champion Safety
Event Kicks Off National Athletic Training Month and National Women’s History Month
KANSAS CITY, MO – Today 150 Girl Scouts, in fourth through eighth grade, and their parents are going to be safer while being active. They participated in “Prepare to Play,” a community event designed to educate area youth on important health and safety topics, promote general wellness, and highlight the valuable role that athletic trainers (ATs) play in work, life and sport.
The event was hosted at The University of Kansas Health System Training Complex, the training facility of the Kansas City Chiefs. The event was created by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) and its public awareness campaign, At Your Own Risk. It was strongly supported by the Kansas City Chiefs and The University of Kansas Health System.
The Girl Scouts participated in interactive and educational stations covering important health topics such as concussion, heat safety, sudden cardiac arrest, overuse injuries and mental wellness. The education was run by athletic trainers from NATA, the Kansas City Chiefs and the University of Kansas Health system.
“Our goal for today’s event was to reach out to the local youth in the community to help provide additional education on important health topics, but to also provide insight into the critical role that athletic trainers play,” said NATA President, Tory Lindley, MA, ATC. “Athletic trainers are health care. Despite ongoing tragedies in sports as well as research from a host of sources – including the American Academy of Pediatrics – which state schools with athletic trainers have lower injury rates, a study released in 2019 showed that 34 percent of public and private high schools have no access to athletic trainers in the United States.
”In Missouri, almost half of high schools are without any access to an athletic trainer and in Kansas, 37 percent of high schools have no access to an athletic trainer,” Lindley added.
“The Prepare to Play program is very unique. We always tell kids to stay active, play sports, but we don’t necessarily give them the resources to have them do it the right way,” said Tyrann Mathieu, Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl Champion Safety and team MVP. “During the event Girl Scouts were able to learn about concussion, heat illness and warming up the right way. It was great to see that it wasn’t just athletes attending but the broader population, which can often be overlooked. Everyone should be active and be given the resources to know how to do it in a healthy way.”
This event kicks off a series of Prepare to Play events throughout the country to educate youth on key health and wellness topics to improve safety in sport.
About NATA: National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) – Health Care for Life & Sport
Athletic trainers are health care professionals who specialize in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of injuries and sport-related illnesses. They prevent and treat chronic musculoskeletal injuries from sports, physical and occupational activity and provide immediate care for acute injuries. Athletic trainers offer a continuum of care that is unparalleled in health care. The National Athletic Trainers' Association represents and supports 45,000 members of the athletic training profession. For more information, visit www.nata.org.
About At Your Own Risk
At Your Own Risk is NATA’s public awareness campaign designed to educate, provide resources and equip the public to act and advocate for safety in work, life and sport. In an effort to provide comprehensive information, the association has launched a website that provides recommendations on keeping student athletes and communities active and employees safe on the job. Visit AtYourOwnRisk.org
