Stories And Inspiration

Students teaching students. That’s what happened when a group from the High Point University Athletic Training Majors Club came out to the Ragsdale YMCA recently. Fifty-two GO FAR kids were training for the annual Reindeer Romp 5K, coming up there on Dec. 13.

HPU students taught the Ragsdale Y GO FAR students a lesson in injury prevention. Beginning with a warm-up of jumping jacks, butt kicks, and toe touches, and ending with a cool-down, the lesson showed GO FAR kids the importance of these steps in staying healthy. The athletic training majors stressed how stretching helps with soreness the day after a run and how to get the heart rate and breathing back to normal.

It was an important lesson for energetic kids who want to give everything they’ve got during a run.

“I really tried to reinforce that they should do it slowly, just bring everything down back to normal,” said Rachel Conrad, a junior athletic training major who coordinated the event and organized the lesson.

Students in the Athletic Training Majors Club have supplied water at the November GO FAR race in the past. “In our club meeting we thought of how we can impact the community, and GO FAR was the first thing we thought of,” said Gregory Crisafulli, junior athletic training major.

“We wanted to do something a little more interactive with the program,” Conrad said.

The club’s community outreach committee organized the GO FAR lesson. While an athletic trainer’s focus is often as first responder or primary caregiver to high school or college athletes, working with elementary-age kids added a new element. “It was a fun way to do it out of the classroom,” Conrad added.

“GO FAR is a great match for the Athletic Training Majors Club because it allows the club an opportunity to make an impact on children in the surrounding communities of HPU to promote physical activity, and more importantly, to help prevent injuries so that children can continue to physically active throughout their lives,” said Dr. Yum Nguyen, assistant professor in the department of athletic training.

Working and running alongside the kids during training for their upcoming 5K let the HPU students make an impact on the kids firsthand. They also noted how hard the kids were working.

“This was our first time being at their workouts so we did not get to see where they started out with their training, but all the kids are out giving it their best effort and enjoying the experience to be outside exercising with friends,” Crisafulli said.

“You realize how much they really are working,” Conrad said. “You get to see how much training they do do for this 5K. We had a lot of fun.”

The 11th annual Reindeer Romp is Dec. 13 at the Ragsdale Family YMCA. Visit www.ragsdaleymca.org to register or for more information.