CONNECTICUT, USA — High-contact sports like football don’t change much no matter where you play them, but the safety standards do. In Connecticut, student-athlete safety isn’t standardized.
At Maloney High School in Meriden, the home of the Spartans, there’s a proud pedigree of athletes. When they go down with an injury they are protected by a professional medical team.
So that must be the case across Connecticut, right? Wrong.
“My goal is to make it far,” said Spartan wide receiver Donte Kelly, who has dreams of NFL stardom. “Be happy, successful; Do what I love and that’s playing football for the rest of my life.”
Donte and his teammates know the road to greatness will have its literal bumps and bruises.
“Anything can happen at any moment,” said quarterback Kyle Valentine, who went down with an injury in a critical playoff game. “I wanted to go back out there. I said, 'I'm fine.' I tried to play it off but she was like, nope!”
His mom and dad watched nervously from the stands as Valentine was evaluated for a concussion.
“The athletic trainer stepped in,” said Lynette and Kevin Valentine. “By recognizing that something was not right with Kyle. It took a lot of guts to go to the coach in a playoff game that you are losing to say we are going to have to pull your starting quarterback."
“I think that’s why it’s important to have an athletic trainer on the sidelines - because we see the unseen,” said accredited and certified athletic trainer Jess Testani-Creem.
She said there aren’t nearly enough of her.
“The last three years we’ve been at a steady decline in Connecticut of the availability and access that student-athletes have to athletic trainers on the sideline," Testani-Creem added.
According to a survey conducted by UConn’s Corey Stringer Institute, more than 50% of Connecticut high schools don’t have access to a full-time athletic trainer and there are a few reasons why. The median salary in Connecticut is just $42,000 for a job that requires at least a master's degree with a demanding schedule.
“If you are asking them to have a terrible work-life balance and you are also asking them not to see a raise in your profession for the past 15 years but you continue to ask them to do more, there are other states who do better at that,” explained Testani-Creem.
Maloney High in Meriden is a stand-out when it comes to student safety.
“Safety is our number one priority," Athletic Director Bob McKee.
Head football coach Kevin Frederick said, “The kids' safety and health is first and foremost.”
Maloney has even taken steps to secure a team doctor. He is orthopedic surgeon Jordan Gruskay.
“A lot of this comes down to knowing the athletes and being around them on a consistent basis,” said Gruskay.
While it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to protect one.
Spartans wide receiver and defensive back Joziah Gonzalez described how Testani-Creem helped him during his bone dislocation.
“She was talking me through it, what happened? How does it feel? Stuff like that. She just popped it back in," Gonzalez said.
From breaks and dislocations to that life-threatening collapse. It was an assistant athletic trainer who used an AED and CPR to save the life of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin.
“I think we’ve made the most strides with saying, hey we need a relationship between the doctor, trainer, coach and athletic director so that we can treat these kids in a holistic way,” said Gruskay.
But there’s plenty more work to be done as athletic trainers leave the high school sports world for more lucrative jobs in the private sector where companies are looking to lower their insurance costs.
“Amazon, Sikorsky, Pratt & Whitney. All of those companies now hire athletic trainers to work on staff,” said Testani-Creem.
In its handbook, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC), which governs interscholastic sports in Connecticut, strongly recommends a “full-time” athletic trainer, calling it, the “standard for care.” But stops short of a mandate calling medical services and equipment, “the responsibility of the local school district.”
“Speaking for Meriden, we’re not looking to cut costs. Our kids are in the best equipment possible,” added McKee.
But high school sports safety standards remain an issue of dollars and cents. A patchwork of budget-driven district-by-district decisions that can end a career before it even begins.
“It’s very scary. As a football player, anything could happen. I got hit in the chest a few times. That could have happened to me or any one of my teammates. Anyone on the opposing team. Not having the resources in high school is obviously a challenge,” said Kyle Valentine.
Athletic leaders tell FOX61 when it comes to sports mandates, changes would need to come from state lawmakers. This session there are some bills that would change things, including legislation in the children’s committee to create a youth sports safety task force charged with making annual recommendations on the best equipment and safety practices.
Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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