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Over the past five years, Clarkston School District has found it difficult to employ and retain a certified athletic trainer at Clarkston High School (CHS) for various reasons. This has resulted in not having a consistent medical professional onsite during high school sporting events, leaving students to rely on volunteers, minimally trained sports administrators, or coaches to identify and evaluate their injuries. As a community-owned and operated hospital, TriState Health feels a responsibility to fill gaps when it sees a health-related need within our community. In an effort to best serve the student athlete population at Clarkston High School, TriState Health and Clarkston School District have partnered to provide a full-time certified athletic trainer for the 2024-2025 school year.

Certified athletic trainers are healthcare professionals trained in injury prevention, immediate medical triage, and rehabilitation. At TriState, we believe that receiving prompt and appropriate medical care is important for all individuals, including high school athletes. Having an athletic trainer onsite who is trained to respond immediately to emergent and non-emergent injuries is essential in ensuring the safety of student athletes. It is also important for athletic trainers to identify injury risks and implement preventative measures, reducing the likelihood of these injuries from happening. Rehabilitation is another component of athletic training. Athletic trainers work with injured athletes and their coaches to develop personalized rehabilitation plans, guiding them through exercises and therapies to aid in their recovery and return to play.

“Having access to an athletic trainer is crucial for the success, health and peace of mind for all athletes and stakeholders within Clarkston High School athletics. Through my experiences as a football coach, I have seen firsthand the importance of having a trained medical professional available for both traumatic injury and daily recovery treatment,” remarked Brycen Bye, Head Football Coach at CHS.

Every year, an estimated 300,000 students receive a sport-related brain injury in the United States. This affects a student’s ability to continue playing sports and may cause lasting brain damage if the injury goes undetected. In 2009, the state of Washington passed the Zachary Lystedt Law, requiring high school athletes who have sustained a concussion to be removed from practice and play and not allowed to return until cleared by a medical professional. This is where a certified athletic trainer comes in! Their role of evaluating and managing a suspected and/or confirmed concussion as well as other injuries is crucial in the safety and overall wellbeing of student athletes. 

At the start of the 2024 school year, Mika Rives, DAT, LAT, ATC, was hired as the Clarkston High School athletic trainer and hit the ground running, devoting his talents and expertise to the fall sports season. Mika, a certified athletic trainer, received his Masters and Doctoral degrees in Athletic Training from the University of Idaho (UI). During his time as a student at the University of Idaho, Mika worked as a teaching assistant, as an athletic trainer and preceptor in the ISMaRT campus clinic, and covered UI club sporting events.

“As a high school and collegiate athlete, I was often injured. I knew that I wanted to go into the field of kinesiology and learned about athletic training my freshman year of college,” mentioned Mika. “I had two amazing athletic training role models at LCSC: Tracy Collins & Taryn Cadez-Schmidt. As I was often injured, I spent a lot of time with them. I saw firsthand just how impactful an athletic trainer can be in someone’s life.”

Each day, Mika arrives at CHS during the last hours of the school day and prepares for the rush of student athletes that will come through the doors of the athletic training room. The medical needs of each athlete are different and require a fast-paced and efficient environment to get each one ready and out the door to practice. “When school ends, I check in with the student athletes to see how their injuries are progressing and check if we need to make any adjustments to our plan of treatment. I also evaluate their ability to participate in practice or games,” Mika expressed. “I create personal rehab plans, tape ankles, wrists, thumbs and more. After the initial rush between the end of school and the start of practice, I get to spend time doing quality treatments with any student athletes who are unable to practice.” 

Mika is also available and ready to respond, evaluate, and treat injuries during game situations. “For game days, I make sure there is water available to the teams, and I make sure that my medical kit, splint bag, and AED are available in case of emergency,” stated Mika. “I also restock any travel medical kits for teams that may be travelling to away games.”

The long-term benefit of having an onsite medical professional at the high school sports level is to reduce the number of sports-related injuries through prevention, as well as decrease the recovery time for the injuries that do occur. A consistent athletic trainer can create, support, and sustain a culture of safety within Clarkston High School sports. Over time, students and coaches will become more familiar with best practices and safety concerns when participating, coaching, or observing sports activities. Ideally, this awareness and guidance will carry over to other areas outside of sports, building all around character and resilience.

TriState Health is proud to support our community through this new Athletic Training Program at Clarkston High School. We believe that the next generation deserves high-quality healthcare, and we want them to remain safe while playing the sports they love. “I see a lot of value in having athletic trainers in a high school setting. I wish that I had one during my time as a high school athlete. Teenagers and young adults can benefit greatly from establishing good habits for physical activity, stress management, learning how to listen to their body, and developing grit and resilience when faced with injury and adversity,” said Mika.

TriState Health Foundation is committed to raising funds for the much-needed Athletic Training Program and is looking for fellow community partners to ensure that the student athletes at Clarkston High School continue to receive exceptional healthcare that will help them perform at their best.