With over 3,000 staff and students walking through the building, it is easy to overlook the true heroes of the school. Some of which are Troy High School’s athletic trainer Mike Sime and his assistants. Mike is Troy High School’s athletic trainer and he is responsible for assisting injured athletes.

     “For a typical day I get to school at about 1:30 and I do some emails and phone calls until school ends,” Sime said. “Then once school ends there is a big rush of pre-practice treatments. I get everyone ready for pre-practice and pre-games and get them ready to go. Once the big rush is over I can spend some time looking at new injuries, setting up treatments and doing rehabilitations.”

Since there are many athletes waiting to be helped, Mike has five assistants that help him with basic medical needs.

“On an everyday basis we assist Mike by helping athletes with taping, wrapping, and applying heat and ice packs,” junior Caroline Schlimgen said. “A lot of football players need to be taped before practices and games so we help Mike out. We also get the athletes’ water ready and get Mike’s cart ready with the AED and first aid kits.”

Before the assistants could help Mike out they had to go through an intense week long training during the summer.

“Over the summer we had to go to a one week summer camp at Athens to get certified at first aid and CPR,” junior Alaina Gargano said. “ We learned how to tape ankles, first aid, safety, and what to do when something happens in different situations.”

With these long hours and commitment involved, this job requires a lot of patience and commitment.

“A typical shift is 2:30 to when football practice ends which is around 5:30 or 6:00. This is a very flexible schedule. You can stay as long as you can. For example, I have cross country so I only stay as long as I can,” junior Madison Darish said. “On game day we have to be there from 4 p.m. to around 10 p.m. During the game we sit on the sidelines prepared to help any injured player.”

This program is great way to gain exposure in the medical field. Although, assisting Mike requires great responsibility and dedication.

“I like that I get to help people who are injured and help them get better. It is cool that I get to do stuff people do at a real job. This experience is such a great exposure to the physical therapy field and I definitely want to continue in the medical field in the future,” senior, Kate Shabet said.

Although, this job may look intimidating at first, many assistants feel it is actually a compelling and respectable program to be a part of.

“At first I thought it was going to be really hardcore, but it is not scary at all. The athletes are very nice and they respect you,” Tiana Smith said.  “I thought that they would not since I am the same age as them or even younger, but I was very surprised.”

Here is some advice from Mike himself for anyone who is interested in going into sports therapy.

     “You have to love sports and love helping people. It requires a lot of time commitment and dedication. For example even though I am free in the mornings, I am here at school from one in the afternoon to late at night helping people,” Mike said. “Bottom line, you have to enjoy it.”