Sports Medicine Broadcast Jeremy Jackson

IMG Academy offers opportunities for Athletic Trainers different from most secondary settings. Kaitlyn Deshaies and Jared White share what life is like at IMG.















Kaitlyn, how did you get into Athletic Training, and what led you to IMG?







I was an injured athlete in high school.







I met an AT while traveling with the team and knew Athletic Training was what I was meant to do.















Jared, How did you get into Athletic Training







Planned to go to med school and do orthopedics because I loved being in and around sports.







A random guy was sitting behind our bench with a little black bag and I started asking questions about him and what he did.







I had zero previous experience with Athletic Trainers.







Went to Anderson State University then transferred back to middle Tennessee State







Worked with Vanderbilt







GA at Auburn







Season intern with the KC Chiefs







Became the head AT for the KC Brigade Arena football







Became head AT in Nashville at a D2 school for about 7 years.







At the interview, I loved the IMG academy environment and leadership.







The academy has a boarding school with the traditional student life.







We do not have tryouts, but we have 12 support teams for the one baseball director.







We also have campers throughout the year.







Many pro teams use our campus as an off-season host site.







We are a for-profit business.







We have a very diverse population of TV Stars, a 10-year-old tennis player who is the son of an Abu Dhabi prince, professional athletes, and working-class athletes.







Wayne said there are a lot of unique growth opportunities for an AT at IMG.  Can you explain?







You may have a camper here for a week or a student with a torn ACL.







Our ATs have a lot of physician interaction and see a lot of injuries.







Both Kaitlyn and Jared have been forced to grow.







As a for-profit business, we have to help the company make money.







Personal and professional growth.







We are focused on customer experience. Our staff has to understand the ins and outs of the business.







We are housed in a building that houses strength coaches, nutritionists, mental health specialists, leadership and character development, and sports science and data analytics.







We get to work with a lot of sponsors like Gatorade or Under Armor.







IMG Academy’s summer hires are looking for a staffer who can be part of our team in the future.  







A good candidate needs to be a part of the team and do the same tasks as the full-time staff.







You do need to be an LAT to work in Florida.







We started the growth summit where we host an entire week of education for our AT staff.







How to read imaging







Dermatology issues







Suji BFR will host a course







Emergency Med situations







CPR AED, Emergency transport

Stephanie Greeson is going back to school after age 50 to earn her BOC. She has been an LAT since graduating college.

Wet Bulb Globe Temperature is the standard for protecting from heat illness which is 100% preventable in athletics. Tom Woods discusses where we are as a state in adopting it.















What is the ATLAS ambassador?







What changes would you make to protocols in Texas?







WBGT takes in several more important factors than Heat Index







Don’t forget about band, dance, cheer in your WBGT needs







What is the next major tech advancement you would like to see?







Switching to WBGT and becoming a mandate rather than a recommendation.







NFHS covers 48 states..but not TEXAS







Will heat illness training become a required training?

Turf Toe is ever-changing. Dr. Paul Shupe and Joseph Eberhardt discuss some of the facts and history of turf toe at the Memorial Hermann sports medicine update.















What can I do to benefit my athlete since turf is here to stay?







Making sure the field is well maintained, and proper personal protective equipment is significantly important. A lot of football players like to wear narrow cleats which can contribute to lower extremity injuries based on the cleat pattern, length, and width of the shoe. The time of day we practice is important as well. 







Is there any data or research done about laces and appropriately tying the shoe with appropriate arch support?







Great question, I’d have to look into that. I’m sure there are studies - I didn’t delve into that. These are very important questions, I think that core strengthening is a very pertinent point as well. 







You spoke about an increase in PCL injuries. From my education, the mechanism of injury for PCL is that dashboard injury, coming from direct force on the anterior tibia. Is there any research, or from your background and knowledge, why is it that we’re seeing more prominence from that mechanism on that turf?







When it’s not a dashboard injury, the common mechanism is that you onto your knee bent at 90 degrees, your toe has interacted and your cleat is stuck in the turf so it's not giving away.







Your foot is in this dorsiflexed position and you land on that knee with all of the force going back through, as opposed to if the shoe gives out allowing you to land on less of a 90-degree angle. 







Is there any correlation to gastrocnemius weakness regarding those Turf Toe injuries?







I think that's a valid argument, I don't have enough science or background to say but I do think that would be an interesting thing to study. 







We talked about the history of turf in your presentation, would you say we’ve moved in a safer direction? Are we moving to a safer surface?







I think we are, I think we’re moving to a safer surface for our lower-level athletes. I think our higher-level athletes have different muscle builds and different muscle types that may lead to some of those injury at a higher level.







I do think the technology that's going into it is moving towards a safer playing surface, I don't think there's much we can do about the heat and some of the other things, and they are looking into that. I think we are moving there, the important thing here is that turf isn't going away, I don't think that we’ll ever go back to grass.







With technology moving forward, I do think it's becoming safer. I don't think it'll ever be 100% safe but with education, and proper maintenance, I think we can make it as safe as we can. 







You mentioned the coconut or the cork, those things are natural materials that would rot, and putting turf in is a lengthy and expensive process. How does it make sense for a high school field to put something that might rot underneath there?







So part of it is just the turnover of it, so it's got to be properly maintained. So when we use the proper equipment and the proper rakes just to shift it around that's a valid question, especially in a wet and humid environment like it is here. It’s not being used a ton yet, and I think that's yet to come. We may determine years from now that it's a bad idea.