Athletic Trainer Allison Montag serves Maple River Athletes
For folks at the Daily Planet, most of them were completely unaware of Clark Kent and why he was seemingly sitting around taking in the sights. But when an emergency happened? Mild-mannered Clark Kent transformed into Superman and swept in to save the day. In the same way, athletic trainers are often tucked behind water jugs at football games or sitting a few rows behind scoring tables at basketball games, but when called upon, they jump into action.
Maple River’s primary athletic trainer for the past few years has been Allison (Treanor) Montag, a 2004 graduate. According to Activities Director Dusty Drager, schools are required to have medical coverage for certain types of events, but he prefers to have an athletic trainer to not only work with athletes before and during events but also for managing treatment and injuries during the week. “So our district's been very friendly in allowing me to kind of schedule as much as I want or need in a reasonable fashion. It's been kind of a good thing, and it's great that it's an alumni that we have. That's a really big comfort thing for me. Someone that's from here has got some extra skin in the game. Sure someone that I can trust more than I would someone that I don't have a relationship with.”
Drager also believes that an athletic trainer serves an important role at any big tournament hosted at Maple River. “I think there's obviously an event management piece too that's really important with just public safety, especially when you have large crowds. It's always great to have someone that has some medical background or medically trained on staff in the house.” While Drager and his stable of coaches worry about the X’s and O’s for their respective sport, he realizes that most do not have a medical background, which is why an athletic trainer is used to make important decisions concerning injuries. “I'm not necessarily trained, so it's always nice to have someone that's trained to deal with injuries or an emergency situation that might come up in an event. So it's always nice to have someone there for that.”
Montag’s path to become an athletic trainer began in high school. While she participated in basketball, track, and cross country, her career choice came down to an intriguing description in a college registration book. Decades later, she not only believes she made the right choice but also believes her degree holds wide appeal for students searching for a career path. “If people are thinking about a career in athletic training, there's a whole world of possibilities than just high school. I've been to conferences and done different things, like MMA (mixed martial arts). Every pro sport has athletic training in some form; there's so many sports out there and so much stuff that people probably don't even realize is a sport. There's probably an athletic trainer connected to it somehow.”
Following guided experiences and clinicals for her degree at University of Northern Iowa, Montag was able to quickly land a job near home with OFC in Mankato. Since she is not directly employed by Maple River School district, Montag is able to work with other trainers at OFC to set her schedule. While she’s able to work events at other schools, she simply prefers to work close to home.
Although being an athletic trainer is not her sole job, she’s able to sign up for sporting events prior to the season and comes in each Monday to work with students who are rehabbing an injury or looking to prevent one. For Dusty Drager, this feature of an athletic trainer is more proactive than reactive. “With the science and training we have with athletics nowadays, there's a big piece that our athletic training staff plays in a kid's success from August through June. It's not just a two month season or a three month season. It's also a pressure relief for myself and our coaches not to have to be giving untrained medical advice on sprained ankles and wrists and knees. So again, it gives our kids easy access to someone that's got knowledge.”
At the old high school building, the trainer’s room served as a storage closet, a laundry room, overflow refrigeration, and the ice room. Now, Montag only has to share her workspace with an ice machine. As soon as the school bell rings, student-athletes flow through her open door to scoop up ice for their water bottles, but those battling injuries hop up onto her table to have ankles wrapped or kinesiology tape applied. New injuries also pop up, and Montag must help assess whether or not the student-athlete is fit for practice or should seek further medical attention.
Over the past decade, Montag has worked a variety of sports and has seen a variety of injuries too. While serving the best interests of the athlete, she also takes into consideration the needs of parents. “If they get injured or hurt or anything's bothering them, then I either refer them to who they might need to go to–because I'm only here once a week. If I can, I will give them rehab too so that they don't have to go that route. Save money. Save appointments. Save whatever. For games, I'm there for injuries. If they go down on the field, then I run out there, do my thing. Kind of tell them what's going on: ‘Hey, we need to stretch it out.’ ‘It's a cramp.’ ‘No, you can't play. You broke something.’ Give them as much as I can, and then talk to parents.” For the most part, she’s had positive experiences working with parents. “The parents are good here for the most part, like I haven't had any problem with them. There's been times, though, like earlier in my career, where the parent knows better than you.”
While all sports offer different challenges, Montag is predictably busiest during football games, where she shows up early to help tape players or help stretch tender muscles. Then she waits and watches. “Sometimes I don't need to do much. Sometimes I'm busy all night long, and I'll cover both sides, unless they have somebody there. And then if they should, then I still go out there, just to make sure they don't need any help or need something.” Without a superhero cape to identify her as a hero, Montag described a situation where she spotted an injured player only to get yelled at by the referees, who misunderstood the situation and who she was. While some injuries can hush the entire crowd, Montag must also watch out for less obvious injuries. “I did have a really bad concussion one year at hockey, and that I had some bad skate cuts there too.” In some cases, she needs to overrule a student wanting to play through an injury. “Some kids are like, ‘Nah, I’m playing through it.’ And this particular kid wasn't even bleeding, so I just got (the injury)wrapped up as good as possible. And I was like, ‘You're going to the doctor,” and his mom was there, so I was like, ‘You need to go get stitches as soon as you can.’”
Advocating for the student-athlete’s health can be more than just spotting an injury during a game. “I guess, like, what I'm telling you to do now is because it's gonna improve your life later in life. And I think a lot of us who didn't have athletic trainers back then or just didn't know, because we were gonna play through it, or we are gonna do whatever, like we're all getting to that age now, at least my generation, where we can all feel it, and our bodies are like, ‘You should have taken care of that in high school.’ If I tell you to sit out for a game or a week or something, I've probably been there or I know people who have been and I'm just looking out for your future as well, not just this moment in time. It's hard not to think like that when you're in high school.”
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