by Mike Crooks ’14

Becca Taylor’s work day begins at 8:30 a.m. when she arrives at MedStar Montgomery Medical Center where she works in orthopedics and sports medicine under Dr. Carter Mitchell. By 2 p.m., Taylor is at Sherwood, where she works as an athletic trainer for all sports. This is the first time the school has had an athletic trainer to tend to the injuries of student-athletes.

On an average day, Taylor treats the injuries of 15 to 20 athletes. She evaluates the athletes, diagnoses them, and then refers them to a physician. Taylor also works on injury prevention, and when she has time, she makes an effort to assist athletes in rehabilitation.

Senior Justin Koenick injured his hamstring during a football practice and routinely goes to Taylor for treatment.

“She is really helpful in that she wraps it every day for support during practice and gives me treatments and stretches for after practice to keep it loose so I do not pull it again,” said Koenick.

While Taylor takes every injury seriously, she is especially cautious when it comes to concussions. With the large spotlight on the dangers of concussions, it is part of Taylor’s job to ensure that concussions endured by Sherwood’s athletes are identified and treated properly.

Though she notes that a concussion can happen to anyone in any sport, football players are especially prone to such an injury. “The numbers [regarding concussions in football] and the nature of the sport make it the most dangerous,” said Taylor.

In one case, senior offensive lineman Dean Emerson suffered a concussion in a practice early in September. Taylor worked with Emerson, following concussion protocol to make sure he returned to the field healthy.

“She’s been great and really easy to work with,” said Emerson. “She’s really on top of everything and devotes all of her attention to helping kids get back on the field as quick as possible while still being 100 percent ready to play.” Emerson played in the second game of the season after missing the opener against Gaithersburg.

Taylor has the authority to prevent an athlete from participating in games and practices. However, her goal isn’t to keep athletes from playing.

“If I think a kid shouldn’t be practicing or playing, I send them to physical therapy or help them get another form of treatment,” said Taylor. For her, it is about facilitating the rehabilitation of athletes so that they can rejoin their teammates and compete at their highest level.

Taylor’s shift at Sherwood normally ends at 6:30 P.M. However, she does attend some games where she makes herself available to treat injuries that occur during competition.

Sherwood is not the only high school in the county with an employee from the health vendor MedStar assisting athletes. The others are Blake, Walter Johnson, Magruder, Northwood and Whitman. Taylor is unique in the fact that she is an athletic trainer and is also qualified to carry out Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment Testing (ImPACT). At the other five schools, the MedStar employees are only ImPACT certified.