“This course is of the utmost importance as we head into preseason sports, and the emergency scenarios are fantastic,” said Szczerba. “It’s been an invaluable experience.” 

Szczerba also learned new best practices. 

“There’s been a huge movement toward the gold standard for heat illnesses and how to take core body temperatures,” Szczerba said. “New research also suggests removing the helmet and shoulder pads before transporting an athlete with a suspected head or neck injury. In the past, we would only remove what we had to remove, but now there’s an emphasis on the fact that ATs are the experts in removing sports equipment — not EMTs or physicians.” 

Heather Heidel, who graduated from UD with a bachelor’s degree in athletic training in 2009, has been the lead athletic trainer at Sussex Technical High School for 13 years. 

“Since I’ve graduated from college, standards have changed,” Heidel said. “Practicing these skills and our emergency action plans annually helps us stay on top of best practices. I’ve never had to administer CPR on the field or deal with heat illness, but knowing the new gold standard and best practices will help me if I ever come into that situation.”

Other scenarios athletic trainers faced during the workshop included sudden cardiac arrest, opioid overdose, a cervical spine injury, an isolated head injury, a mental health emergency, and a mass casualty incident.

“Whether it’s an active assailant, a bleacher collapse, a microburst or tornado, or a bus accident on the way to a game on a Friday night, we want to see how these ATs would immediately manage those scenes so that they can practice their leadership and triage skills,” Conway said. “The first 10 minutes of a mass casualty scene, where athletic trainers must make calm out of chaos until more resources arrive, are vitally important.” 

The mass casualty incident was a new type of training for Heidel. 

“We were never trained in wound packing,” Heidel said. “But with increased school shootings and mass shootings, it was good practice for me. I had never put a tourniquet on until this workshop.” 

Jeffrey Schneider, senior instructor of kinesiology and applied physiology (KAAP) at UD, spearheaded efforts to bring Conway back to Delaware to host the workshop in conjunction with his former student, Kathleen Kenney, who’s now president of DATA, and Laurel High School’s athletic trainer. 

“ATs are prepared to handle a wide variety of sport-related injuries including sprains, strains, fractures, and concussions on a daily basis, but they also must deal with the less frequent sudden collapse of an athlete,” Schneider said. “This workshop will ensure our athletic trainers are practicing the best standards, and it ensures these skills are fresh in their mind so they can enter the high school sports season feeling confident.”  

Kenney, who graduated from UD with her bachelor’s degree in athletic training in 2011, has long envisioned bringing an interactive workshop like this to Delaware.

“I hope our athletic trainers feel like they learned something new regardless of how many years of experience they have on the job,” Kenney said. “Practice makes perfect, just like playing a sport.” 

Bethany Wisthoff, assistant professor of KAAP and director of athletic training education, stressed the importance of ongoing professional development and maintaining strong relationships with alums. 

“It’s crucially important that our ATs are practicing regularly so they’re prepared for the moments that hopefully won’t occur,” Wisthoff said. “Many of our UD AT alumni stay in the state and become athletic trainers. We want to make sure that the athletic trainers in the state that are exposed to our students continue their education and create collaborative relationships when it comes to emergency care skills practice. We hope our current students see Delaware high school athletic training jobs as desirable options post-graduation.”

In recent months, Damar Hamlin’s sudden collapse during a Buffalo Bills game and LeBron James’ son, Bronny James’ collapse on the court while practicing with the University of Southern California, have thrust athletic trainers into the spotlight when they usually play behind-the-scenes roles.

“Athletic trainers are among a school’s most important hires because they make decisions that have life or death consequences,” said Matthew J. Robinson, director of UD’s Community Engagement Initiative (CEI) and professor of sport management in the Lerner College of Business and Economics. “In those cases, the athletic trainers were the people who were trained and stepped in to prevent a true tragedy.” 

That’s why Robinson, who has a joint appointment in CHS, eyed the workshop for funding. With generous support from CEI, athletic trainers attended the workshop for free. 

“We recognized the need in the community to help a partner host a workshop that’s impactful for all student-athletes and athletic trainers in the state of Delaware,” Robinson said. “ATs are often the most underappreciated member of a sports team, but their role is so important, so we were happy to make this happen and support that group of professionals. We’d also like to see this become sustainable, so it’s a continued professional development training for all ATs in the state.”

Conway welcomes that idea.

“Delaware is home and special to me. I’d love to come back every year,” Conway said. “This workshop proves that Delaware’s athletic trainers are skilled healthcare professionals, and this opportunity allows them to practice those low-frequency but high-fidelity skills — emergency skills they don’t use often but when needed, they need to be done right to save a life.”