The trainers room is a busy place before practice and games. Led by head trainer Rachael Flanders, the training room is well run and helpful to so many athletes on all teams. Athletes at Cabrini University spend a lot of time in the training room, it is primarily used for stretching, taping and getting athletes bodies to peak performance before they get out on the field or court.
The training room at Cabrini was updated in the summer of 2016. With this addition came a built in cold tub where athletes are able to ice their muscles in order too recover quickly after their practice or game. Many regulars in the training room follow a strict schedule. One of those regulars is stand out lacrosse player, Timmy Brooks. Brooks is a four-year starter who is plagued by many injuries.
His pre-practice routine goes as follows:
- Gets a hot tub run so he can get his muscles loose.
- Sits in hot tub for about 10 minutes while hydrating.
- Goes to locker room to get dressed but leaves his socks and cleats so he can get his ankles taped.
- Stretches hamstrings, hips and calves.
- Goes back to locker room to put pads on.
- Goes back to trainers to get his left hamstring wrapped.
The routine stays the same on game days but is bumped up about and 2 hours before game time. His post practice routine stays the same pretty much everyday. Takes a while to get undressed then showers and ice baths for about 20 minutes.
Not everyone follows a schedule so strict like Brooks in the training room. Junior basketball star, Meghan Matthews primarily only goes to the trainers before games.
When asked about her routine Matthews said, “About an hour before warm-ups I’ll go shoot for a little then go into the training room and heat and loosen up my knee. I think the reason I heat before games kind of because of a precaution since I tore my ACL two years back.”
Many athletes like to continue to stretch and rehab old injuries so they can feel more comfortable when playing.
Brittney Morello is a junior field hockey player who has been dealing with a right sprained ankle since the beginning of the season back in September. After taking some time off to let her ankle heal, Morello was ready to get back on the field. Before any practice or game Morello takes extra precaution to make sure her ankle is okay to play. She goes to the training room and gets stim done. (stimulation designed to loosen up muscles) She then puts her feet into the whirlpool to loosen up the muscles. After doing all of her treatment she has a trainer tape her ankle for extra support.
“I’ve been fighting this injury for awhile and doing rehab and taping my ankle really helps my recovery and allows me to get back on the field faster,” Morello said.
