The American Heart Association, American Lung Association, and American Medical Association are among the 45 public health and medical groups asking MLB and its players to set an example for kids and end smokeless tobacco use at all major league ballparks.

At the urging of the Knock Tobacco Out of the Park campaign, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City recently passed ordinances prohibiting smokeless tobacco use at sporting venues, including their major league stadiums. A statewide law in California will take effect before the 2017 season. Once all of these laws are implemented, one-third of major league stadiums will be tobacco-free, and other MLB cities are considering similar measures.

In a March 31 letter sent collectively from the health groups to MLB and the MLB Players Association, “Our organizations are committed to advocating for these ordinances city by city until all of Major League Baseball is tobacco-free. But we hope that will not be necessary. We strongly urge MLB and the MLBPA to realize the inevitability of tobacco-free baseball and to agree to a complete prohibition on smokeless tobacco use in all major league stadiums as part of the next collective bargaining agreement being negotiated this year.”

The letter further states, “Smokeless tobacco use by MLB players endangers the health of impressionable youth who follow their lead, as well as the players themselves. It sets a terrible example for the millions of young people who watch baseball and see their favorite players and managers using tobacco.”

Citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the letter notes that high school athletes use smokeless tobacco at nearly twice the rate of non-athletes, and smokeless tobacco use among athletes increased more than 11 percent from 2001 to 2013, even as smoking rates dropped significantly. Among male high school athletes, smokeless tobacco use is particularly alarming at 17.4 percent in 2013.

Public health experts – including the CDC, U.S. Surgeon General, U.S. National Cancer Institute and World Health Organization – have all concluded that smokeless tobacco use is dangerous. Smokeless tobacco contains at least 28 known carcinogens and causes oral, pancreatic and esophageal cancer. The product also causes nicotine addiction and other serious health problems like gum disease, tooth decay and mouth lesions.

Adding to the challenge, smokeless tobacco manufacturers spent more than $500 million on marketing in 2013 (the most recent data available), driving home their message that teen boys cannot be real men unless they chew.

The letter points out that prohibiting tobacco use within baseball stadiums does not affect what players do off the field in their personal lives, although they are encouraged to quit using tobacco for their own health. “Baseball stadiums, however, are workplaces and public places. It is entirely appropriate to restrict the use of a harmful substance in such a setting. While players are on the job, they have a responsibility to set the right example for kids,” the letter states.

For more information, visit http://tobaccofreebaseball.org. Read More

Sixty years ago, the profession of athletic training was still in the formative stage, and there was little formal education for athletic trainers. The leaders at Cramer Products were eager to spread industry and professional knowledge, and move the profession forward—and they recognized that reaching out to high school students would be one very effective way to do this. So in 1957, the company introduced the Cramer Student Trainer Workshops—a summer program for high school students that is now considered legendary.

For years, the summer workshops were held at college campuses across the country, with all details handled by Cramer representatives. The College of William & Mary first became a Cramer workshop site in 1983, and continued to be a workshop location until the year 2000, when Cramer decided to discontinue the workshops.

When they received the news that Cramer would no longer be hosting summer workshops, William & Mary’s Division of Sports Medicine staff decided to keep the summer program going on their own, with support from Cramer. Their 16^th annual Sports Medicine Workshop will take place this summer, July 9-12.

Renee Cork, ATC, William & Mary’s Director of Sports Medicine, and Andy Carter, ATC, the school’s Senior Associate Athletic Trainer, oversee the summer workshop. Since Andy became enthralled with athletic training during his two high school experiences at the camp, he cherishes the opportunity to continue this remarkable tradition for high school students interested in the profession.

According to Andy, 80-100 high school students typically attend. “We offer two tracks, basic and advanced, just as Cramer did all those years. The workshop is designed as an exploratory experience, so we introduce many concepts and ideas over the four days. We’re not trying to teach kids to be athletic trainers over a weekend! But after the workshop, these students understand more about what their high school’s athletic trainer is doing and are better able to learn from them.”

Certified athletic trainers from a variety of professional settings conduct the workshop lectures and laboratories, and CPR certification is a major focus. The basic track includes upper and lower extremity taping, injury prevention techniques, recognizing sports injuries, emergency care skills, and introduction to rehabilitation skills. The advanced track includes advanced taping and wrapping techniques, aquatic therapy, strength and conditioning, and a sports medicine career seminar with representatives from many area college and university athletic training programs.

All classes and laboratories take place in the Sports Medicine Facility on the William & Mary campus, and participants stay in the college dorms. “Everyone on the sports medicine staff helps supervise the students and we all stay in the dorms during the workshop,” Andy says. “It’s a fun experience and a way for the staff to bond for a few days during the summer. It’s one of the last things we do together before we get started in August and we all look forward to it.”

As workshop sponsor, Cramer Products give each student participant a Cramer ZipCut Tape Cutter and a Medco catalog to take back to school. High schools receive one free case of Cramer athletic tape for each student they send to the workshop, and schools sending three or more students receive a new Cramer Tuf-Tek Pro Soft-Sided Kit, valued at $200.00. Throughout the workshop, students participate in contests and games that provide opportunities to win additional Cramer merchandise.

Since there has been a summer athletic training workshop on the campus of William & Mary for so many years, Andy says that they once had a student participant whose parents had also attended many years before. “And then there are students who attended the camp in high school, graduated from college and became an athletic trainer, and have applied for an athletic training position at William & Mary.” Of course, that is a path that Andy can relate to since it’s the one that he took!

“The summer sports medicine workshop at William & Mary charted my career course,” Andy says, “and I know it continues to do that for many other high school students. Every summer, I tell the students, ‘I once sat where you are now.’ It’s an honor to be a part of this program that continues the tradition Cramer started so many years ago.”

For more information about William & Mary’s summer sports medicine workshop for high school students, visit http://www.wm.edu/offices/sportsmedicine/sports-medicine-workshop/ Read More

Booing the Referee

Coach E.S. Liston of Baker University has a convincing way of handling crowds at home games. When a referee’s decision is questioned by the audience with the customary “boo,” Liston stops the game and makes a speech to the stands. Quoting from the Topeka Capital, we reprint his remarks:

“The referee, whose decision was just verbally questioned, did not ask to officiate in this game. He was invited here by me after an agreement with the visiting coach. As such, he is Baker’s guest tonight. We coaches did not invite him here to please anyone, but to conduct the game according to the rules as he interprets them. We intend to abide by his decisions and we expect our players to do likewise. Under these circumstances, I feel that spectators are under the same obligation if they wish to do credit to this university.”

We believe this is the answer for any coach, who believes in sportsmanship and abiding by the rules of the game and we heartily congratulate Liston on his clever method of handling crowd psychology.

Three Man Basketball

N. B. Martin, Coach, Bellfountain, Monroe, Oregon, advises us that he has been very successful in developing the game of Three Man Basketball.

To us this is an innovation and we believe it worthy of consideration by the coaches in smaller schools where an abundance of material is not available.

With a total enrollment of only 15 boys, his team was State Champions of class “B” League in 1936 and won both “A” and “B” League Championships in 1937. He announces a one day school as follows:

“Bellfountain, Monroe, Oregon. Coaching School. May 28, Saturday only. Panel discussion and speaker, on—THREE MAN BASKETBALL. Total charge is only $1.00 in person or by mail. Complete training and instructions—demonstration. Not only a new game, but a super plan of training for the regular five man official basketball. We have found nothing that creates the interest and development of players like the THREE MAN BASKETBALL, under the Bellfountain Plan.” N.B. Martin, Coach, Bellfountain, Monroe, Oregon. Can only take care of 50 coaches. Write at once for reservation.

Vacation and Summer Camp Suggestions

You may take a vacation but germs don’t, so—

• Make sure that your vacation place has an adequate supply of pure water.
• Drinking water in summer should range in temperature from 45-55.
• Make certain that your milk supply is safe. Don’t just get it any place for the sake of convenience.
• When on the road, try to eat at places properly screened.
• Carry a Cramer First Aid Kit in your car for safety’s sake.
• Use Nitrophen on open wounds, scratches, sunburn and poison ivy.
• Use Inhalant on chapped or cracked lips.
• Neither a frilled dress nor a sweaty shirt is an appropriate costume for camp life. Wash your hands before and after every meal. Dirty dishes even if they are tin, are just as disgusting in camp as at home. Soiled bedding out under the stars is no nicer than in your pink and white boudoir.
• “One of the surest tests of the efficiency of a camp director is the cleanliness of his camp,” says a Scout manual.
• Over 1,000 people injure themselves seriously every summer day with an ice-pick.

To Avoid Athlete’s Foot

From San Diego High School Training Room Rules: Read More

• Wash your feet daily with plenty of soap.
• Dry your feet thoroughly, especially between the toes.
• Change socks at least every other day. Cotton socks are preferable.
• Use foot baths in shower room.
• Keep your feet and inside of shoes dry by frequent sunnings and by dusting with an antiseptic powder.
• If you get athlete’s foot, report to your coach for recommendations.

Former college athletes are more likely than their non-athlete counterparts to be thriving in four out of five areas of well-being, according to a research conducted by the Gallup organization. The results are detailed in a report released in February 2016, Understanding Life Outcomes of Former NCAA Student-Athletes.

The research findings are based on the national Gallup-Purdue Index—a comprehensive, nationally representative study of U.S. college graduates with Internet access. The study of nearly 30,000 U.S. adults who had earned a bachelor’s degree at a minimum took place two years ago. As part of the research, Gallup interviewed 1,670 former NCAA student-athletes about their well-being and compared their responses with those of 22,813 non-student-athletes who graduated from the same institutions.

Gallup measured five areas of well-being:

• Purpose: Liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals.
• Social: Having strong and supportive relationships and love in your life.
• Financial: Effectively managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security.
• Community: The sense of engagement you have with the area where you live, liking where you live, and feeling safe and having pride in your community.
• Physical: Having good health and enough energy to get things done on a daily basis.

For each area of well-being, responses were categorized as thriving (strong and consistent); struggling (moderate and inconsistent); or suffering (low and inconsistent).

The top-line results:

Purpose: 56% of former student athletes are thriving compared with 48% of non-student-athletes.

Social: 54% of former student athletes are thriving compared with 45% of non-student-athletes.

Community: 51% of former student athletes are thriving compared with 43% of non-student-athletes.

Physical: 41% of former student athletes are thriving compared with 33% of non-student-athletes.

Financial: 38% of former student athletes are thriving compared with 37% of non-student-athletes.

According to Gallup, “Of the five elements, former student-athletes -- like their non-student-athlete counterparts -- are the most likely to be thriving in purpose well-being. This means they like what they do each day and are motivated to achieve their goals. The majority of former student-athletes (56%) are thriving in this element, as are an even higher percentage (62%) of student-athletes who played football or men's basketball. Both groups do significantly better than their non-student-athlete peers -- less than half of whom are thriving in purpose well-being.”

In the area of physical well-being, 41% of former student-athletes are thriving, compared with non-athletes. However, when the responses from those who participated in men’s basketball and football are extracted, the picture is very different. Of those respondents, 28% are thriving in physical well-being, compared with 47% of the respondents who participated in other sports.

The study results suggest that in many of the five areas of well-being, “substantial percentages of former NCAA student-athletes are finding success after they leave the playing field,” Gallup says. “It's entirely possible that former student-athletes possess an innate drive before college that leads them to compete at the highest levels of athletic competition and that this same drive spurs them to succeed in the classroom, the workplace and later in life. But there are certainly many aspects of being a student-athlete that encourage success in work and life -- elements of learning effective teamwork, extreme dedication and focus, building resiliency from losses and setbacks, thriving under pressure and benefiting from mentoring from teammates and coaches.” Read More

Like many athletic trainers of his generation, Andy Carter, ATC, Senior Associate Athletic Trainer at College of William & Mary, received his first real exposure to the world of athletic training in high school, attending a Cramer student workshop. “Growing up, my family went to every high school football game, because my mother worked at the school (Magna Vista High school in Ridgeway, Va.). When I was in the eighth grade, the team needed a statistician and I was happy to fill that role. I arrived at the games early, and there was a student a few years older who had attended the Cramer camp at William & Mary. He taught me to tape ankles and a few other things, and I started helping him get the guys ready for the game.”

The summer before Andy entered ninth grade, the high school offered to send him to the camp. “I participated in the basic track that summer, and was an athletic training aide that year at school. I was 14 years old and it’s scary to think about the level of responsibility I was given! But in the early 90s, it was pretty common—thankfully, times have changed. I returned to the Cramer camp the next summer, and took the advanced track. I owe my start in athletic training to those camps—and I think many others in our profession can say the same thing.”

Andy received a B.S. in Kinesiology at William & Mary in 1998, then earned a master’s in Health, Physical Education and Recreation from Illinois State University in 2000. After graduate school, he was extremely pleased to accept a position at William and Mary.

“For my first three years there, I had a dual appointment with academics and athletics,” Andy explains. “I worked in the clinic, taught in the kinesiology department, and was director of the athletic training education program. I led a two-year process of CAAHEP (Commission on Accreditation and of Allied Health Education Programs) candidacy and accreditation. Ultimately, the decision was made to not pursue accreditation, and our athletic training major was discontinued. So in the summer of 2003, I moved into the athletic training room full time, covering men’s and women’s gymnastics and men’s soccer. In 2004, I took over the health care of the football team.”

As the second oldest college in the country, Andy describes William and Mary as a special place, rich in history and tradition. Student athletes are expected to balance, and excel in, both academics and athletics. “As a result,” he says, “these athletes are intelligent, ask good questions, understand their role in the rehab process, and become informed about the treatment plans we recommend.”

The students at William & Mary have a high potential for learning and success later in life, and Andy says the athletic training team takes the responsibility of maintaining and preserving that potential very seriously. “Our number one focus is preventing players from sustaining an injury that could negatively impact their ability to learn, their future livelihood, or their ability to have meaningful relationships.”

Andy continues, “We focus a lot on educating our athletes about risks, with a heavy emphasis on the dangers of concussion and their responsibilities regarding concussion. Sometimes we witness a collision that might have led to a concussion so we can ask questions and take action; sometimes coaches or teammates tell us what they have seen. For the most part, though, we rely on our athletes to self-report. When an athlete tells us they don’t feel right, or they’re dizzy or have a headache, we immediately start the concussion management process. Unfortunately, players don’t always report concussion symptoms because they want to stay in the game. Football is a violent sport, and we see devastating knee and ankle injuries—but thinking about concussion is what keeps us up at night because we have to rely so much on the athletes for information.”

In addition to his love of being on the sidelines, Andy’s passion for teaching has led him to pursue a number of very interesting opportunities. He is a partner and instructor in ACES Preparatory Workshop, a company that offers Board of Certification exam prep courses; he helps teach the SMART Workshop--a sideline injury management course for family medicine and sports medicine physicians who are sideline doctors; and he coordinates a partnership with a local family residency program, where second-year physicians complete a sports medicine rotation at William & Mary clinics. Andy also represents District III on the NATA’s College and University Athletic Trainers’ committee.

And remember those Cramer summer camps, where Andy became convinced that athletic training was the career for him? In 2000, the year he started working at William & Mary, he started attending the summer camp again—this time, as an instructor! See the accompanying article in this issue of The First Aider for details about the wonderful way in which Andy’s career has come full circle with William & Mary’s annual summer high school sports workshop.

Andy enjoys all of the extra projects and activities he’s involved with. “They help me stay involved with the profession, and allow me to promote the profession—something very important to me.”

Equally as important, he notes, are his wife and two sons, ages six and three. “I love going to my oldest son’s soccer games,” Andy says. “And a few years ago, I got a private pilot’s license. We travel whenever we get a chance, and especially enjoy going to Washington, DC on my open weekend during football season.”

Some years after Andy had started working professionally as an athletic trainer, he discovered something that suggests his interest in athletic training could have a genetic component. “I found out that my father had Cramer’s home-study training manual, Athletic Training in the Seventies!” he says. “Dad had managed his college soccer team and evidently ordered the manual to learn how to tape an ankle and things like that, and had completely forgotten that he had it. It’s fun to look through the manual and see how things have evolved.” Read More