LAKEVILLE - Janelle Christensen is in her second year as head athletic trainer for LaVille Jr-Sr High School. While Christensen is in her fifth year overall as an athletic trainer, the transition to a new school and new community has been a plus for both the Allendale, Michigan native and Lancer Nation! "I have really enjoyed working at LaVille this past year and a half. It's always a little scary to enter into a new community," said Christensen. "Everyone at LaVille, coaches, parents, athletes, and community members have been amazing to be around. LaVille has been through a few different Athletic Trainer in a few years, which can be hard for some people. Sometimes that can cause push back from coaches and athletes, but it was very easy to transition into my position here at LaVille. I hope to stay a part of this community for a while and to continue working with the wonderful people I have met." She can be seen roaming the sidelines for a variety of outdoor events and always nearby for the indoor activities, but rest assured there is a lot more than ice and tape to being an athletic trainer. "There are a lot of behind the scene things Athletic Trainers do," explained Christensen. "One of the biggest ones is for the health and safety for athletes, coaches, and fans. We create Policy and Procedures as well as Emergency Action Plans (EAPs) so that any health or injury situation is handled well. I am here to also teach others about these Policies and Procedures and EAPs, to make sure if I'm not nearby, that the coaches can handle a situation until I can get there. "This year I began to have a meeting with all JH and high school football coaches to go over our EAPs and what to do in certain situations. Hoping that if we practice and are aware of what is happening we can have any emergency situation go smoothly. We discussed what equipment I bring to games and what they do or look like. I started with football because it is one of the more high risk sports, but I hope to be able to do this for each sport so all coaches are aware." One may not have thought that athletic trainers would help with heat illness or lightening, but those are just one area ATs help coordinate. "The EAPs are for each sporting event location," noted Christensen. "I have maps and the best location for EMS to enter. Policies & Procedures which include heat illness, lightening, mental health issues, concussion, cervical spine management, etc. For heat illness there are certain requirements depending on the heat index. I have something called a Kestrel, that tracks the humidity and heat index. There are different ranges depending on how hot it is making recommendations on if sports should stay inside, or have more hydration breaks, or less equipment on. Lightening is something I deal with a lot. I ask all coaches to have a weather app that indicates how close lightning is. Our policy is that if lightning is within 10 miles we need to start heading to our safe locations. Which are different for each sporting event. Our cervical spine policy is used when an athlete has a cervical spine injury and typically shows the best steps on how to assess and plan the situation. Other policies like mental health, concussion, and others tend to show what to do next if a certain situation arises." Athletic Trainers are the first line of defense for student-athletes, and even spectators. Be it a sprain, a fracture, a concussion . . . when a student athlete is injured, they need access to immediate care. Beacon provides a network of physicians to assist when necessary. The need for athletic trainers is on the rise. Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job market for ATs is expected to increase 23 percent by 2030. According to Christensen, go through updates and situations so that coaches may be able to stay abreast of changes and ways to handle an emergency should something occur. "Each year fellow Athletic Trainers and myself go through spine boarding, equipment removal, and CPR to be able to be prepared for any situation. We do this with other situations as well to make sure we have the most recent up to date information and best practice to treat the athletes we care for." LaVille football coach Jeff Kaiser and Lancer football is just one of those programs that has benefitted from Christensen since her arrival at LaVille. "Janelle is a very important piece of our Football Family," said Kaiser. "Having her alongside us daily allows me to just focus completely on coaching. With football not only being a physical sport, we deal with heat and weather situations that she monitors daily and notifies the staff immediately if weather is an issue which assures the safety of our athletes that way, and also when an athlete has an unfortunate injury, whether it be major or minor, she treats each with such care that I do not have to worry if they are receiving the proper care. She communicates immediately with the parents and then has direct communication on the situation with myself and the staff. Our daily conversations before and after practice of the injury report is very important to assure we are preventing injuries, rehabbing injuries correctly and most importantly knowing we are on the same page of understanding each athlete." Kaiser also noted that what Christensen does is far more than just ice and tape. "Injuries are not all she focuses on, she also does her part to inform the athletes of proper eating habits and hydration throughout the year so athletes can perform at their highest level which is a vital role on the injury prevention side of things," explained the LaVille football boss. "In the off season, she continues with communication of what injury a football player might be going through, what they may not be able to do in the weightroom and for how long to assure they don't do what she may direct them not to do." As Kaiser closed our time, he extended his appreciation for what Janelle does for Lancer Nation. "Janelle is very passionate in her profession and takes ownership and pride in the student athletes here at LaVille. She puts procedures in place with staff members in the unfortunate situation of a major injury to ensure that the person(s) involved will receive the attention in detail immediately. We are very fortunate to have her to ensure the safety of our kids whether in season or not. The countless behind the scenes hours that Janelle puts in shows the amount of care she has for our students, and with that I can't thank her enough. "THANK YOU for all you do Janelle!!"