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By Buzz Trexler
Star Correspondent

Starting next month, student-athletes in Elizabethton City Schools will benefit from a three-year, $180,000 grant through the University of Connecticut that will provide year-round athletic training services.

Director of Schools Richard VanHuss told the board there is a growing number of student-athletes on campus after hours, even during the offseason. “So we really need to have an athletic trainer, someone that’s there basically the entire day that can help us address some of these issues,” he said.

The director said it was particularly important to have a trainer on-site during the summer when someone needs to keep an eye on the heat index. “That’s very hard for a coach to do,” VanHuss said. “There needs to be almost someone independent … that’s checking that information, following that, and making that decision.”

In making the case for an athletic trainer, VanHuss said it is often difficult for middle and high school student-athletes in need of physical therapy to get an appointment and make transportation arrangements.

“Having this athletic trainer on campus, all they have to do is walk down to the new Dave Rider Center for Athletic Performance,” the director said. “There will be a clinic in there where this individual (athletic trainer) is housed, and they can have their training done there.” The trainer starts work after the “dead period” between the end of school and the beginning of preparations for fall sports.

Dr. Justin Smith of Physical Therapy Services of Tennessee told board members funds for the innovATe 2.0 grant come through the Korey Stringer Institute, housed at the University of Connecticut. (innovATe is an acronym for Improving Needed Nationwide Opportunities and Value of Athletic Trainer Employment.) The goal of the innovATe project is to increase athletic training services in secondary schools.

Stringer was a Minnesota Vikings player who died from an exertional heat stroke during training camp in 2001. “All of this money comes from the NFL Players Association,” Smith said. “So when these guys get fined and all that stuff, this is where some of this money goes.”

“They’re giving us $180,000, and that will basically pay for the trainers for three years, and that gives us a chance to build into our budget to absorb that cost after three years,” VanHuss said.

The athletic trainer, whom Smith said is Amethyst Crawford and begins work on July 1, will be employed by Physical Therapy Services of Tennessee, and the school system will reimburse the company through the grant. A LinkedIn page for Amethyst Crawford notes she is a 2019 graduate of Emory & Henry University and has a Bachelor of Science degree in athletic training.

The board also on Tuesday unanimously approved the purchase of weight and strength equipment from Total Strength and Speed Inc. of West Columbia, S.C., for an amount not to exceed $151,000.

“The reason we’re bringing this to you now is we’re going through the process of trying to seek donations for a large portion of this,” VanHuss told the board ahead of the vote, adding that approval ensured the system was set to make the purchase and avoid a “time crunch” when the building is ready. The director also said there may be between $40,000 and $45,000 left over after construction is finished that he recommended would be used for the equipment.