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Working Behind the Scenes
By Mike Detillier
In a little over a month Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Lardarius Webb, Leonard Fournette, Tre’Davious White, Kendall Beckwith, Christian Hackenberg, Jared Goff, Dak Prescott, Trevone Boykin and counselors in future NFL Hall of Fame offensive lineman Kevin Mawae, the legendary Archie Manning, Pete Jenkins, Jake Delhomme and Jarvis Green have all visited Thibodaux and Nicholls State University.
The largest prep offensive/defensive line camp in the South attracted a record 520 players to the Nicholls State campus.
While the players, coaches and counselors got most of the attention one of the most important features to all these camps along with what they do for the area middle and high schools and Nicholls State University is the athletic training staff at Thibodaux Regional Sports Medicine Center.
Larry D’Antoni, the coordinator of Sports Medicine at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center, says his group takes great pride and responsibility in their work despite getting very little attention.
D’Antoni said credit for that goes to Thibodaux Regional Chief Executive Officer Greg Stock, who puts a high emphasis on getting the best trained people for the department.
“These young men and women understand the responsibility involved with these camps and with the Manning Passing Academy we are dealing with athletes from across the country and around the world, “ D’Antoni said. “For some of the local camps the parents are close and we can have almost instant contact with them when something may go wrong, but when you are dealing with young men from 48 states and foreign countries we have to play godfather and godmother for some when an injury occurs. We worked hard to make sure the athletes are taken care of in this heat and there was only one athlete who was referred to the Emergency Department for intravenous (IV) fluids in the 3-day Manning Camp sessions.
D’Antoni said the athletic trainers are doing more than just a job.
“We speak about having passion for our job, but it is really more compassion because we are having to deal with possible health issues for someone else’s child, “he said. “It’s a great responsibility and we take great pride in giving these camps the highest of care. But for us it is an everyday responsibility in dealing with young men and women from our middle schools and the high schools in our area and also at Nicholls State. It was a great compliment to hear from one of the top representatives of Gatorade that the staff at the Sports Medicine Center of Thibodaux Regional was the most organized he had ever seen at a camp.”
For the Manning Passing Academy alone D’Antoni says they are responsible for the distribution of 30,000 pounds of ice, over 3,500 gallons of water and 3,400 gallons of Gatorade for over 1,200 campers and over 100 staff members.
The staff at the Thibodaux Regional Sports Medicine Center is also responsible for supporting the athletes at the Nicholls State Offensive/Defensive Line Camp with 3,000 gallons of water and 200 cases of bottled Power-Aid drinks. Along with the water, Gatorade and Power-Aid drinks they also help give out gummy chews and bars along with shakes to hydrate the athletes.
Fox Sports reporter Jennifer Hale, who covered the Manning Passing Academy, had high praise for the training staff at the Sports Medicine of Thibodaux Regional.
“I have had the opportunity to cover the NFL and also the NBA in my work with Fox Sports and I have great admiration and appreciation for the athletic trainers and the medical teams that keep athletes of all levels ready to play and also the aspect of keeping them motivated and medically sound when they are injured,” said Hale- who is the woman’s spokesperson for Thibodaux Regional Medical Center. “I covered the Manning Camp and I was just so impressed with the expertise and high level of excellence done by the staff at the Sports Medicine Center. Here you have over 1,200 young men and a staff of college quarterbacks, and counselors, including Archie, Eli and Peyton Manning, and it was done at the very highest level. These camps want the very best medical/athletic trainers and they keep coming back to Nicholls State and Thibodaux. They can go anywhere they want, but they return to Thibodaux because of the talented people at the Sports Medicine Team of Thibodaux Regional. It is as good as you will find anywhere in the country. This is just so meaningful to the area and it brings out just how good the trainers and staff are right here at the hospital.”
Ryan Trahan, an athletic trainer for the Sports Medicine team, says the heat and humidity of south Louisiana is unrelenting and they keep a close eye on players that may be struggling with heat related issues.
“All these camps are a little different,” Trahan said. “The Manning Camp is more like 7-on-7 drills, but the Offensive/Defensive Line Camp is very physical and it is different because of the size of the athlete also. Some of these bigger athletes have not trained in this heat right after school ends and they are constantly hitting the sleds, going through numerous drills in contact with blocking bags and doing foot movement drills. We try and keep a close eye on every camper, but we have to have some help from the coaches, other players out on the field and the counselors because we can’t see everything out there. The Manning Camp is spread out to so many fields so our protocol if someone is showing symptoms of heat related problems is we quickly load them up in a golf cart and bring them inside to cool off and hydrate them immediately. We strive to have a good relationship with everyone involved so they can trust us even when we may not be able to see what happens out on all these different fields and that also includes what we are do with middle school and high school games. We strive to get that constant interaction with players and coaches to help us.”
D’Antoni and Trahan say that Thibodaux Regional Medical Center are sponsoring 6 “dunk tanks” to the area high schools this fall to help cool off and aid in the recovery of work outs.
“I have done this for years in filling up lined garbage cans to help athletes recover when they may have a heat related issue and also after practices to sooth the muscles and rebuild back the circulation athletes lose in these workouts,” Trahan said. “These huge dunk tanks will really be a great training feature and a huge asset to the schools.”
Annalise Himmel, an athletic trainer for Thibodaux Regional’s Sports Medicine Center says that the camps in the summer are great preparation work for the upcoming high school season.
“These camps come one after the other and so we are prepared for the high school year come August,” Himmel said. “The big difference is that I work mainly at Morgan City High School and throughout my time there I have established a good relationship with the players and coaches and they have trust in telling me if something is not right out on the field with an athlete. With these camps players are coming from around the country so you become vigilant in trying to see everything you can. It’s mostly heat cramps or heat related illnesses. Some of these guys will skip breakfast to get in a little more sleep so we try and help out in getting fluids in them and making sure they eat correctly. If it is a head injury or a possible concussion we go through the steps in trying to assess this quickly and we have great equipment and doctors at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center to diagnose and treat the player.”
Dr. David Elias from Ortho-LA says the staff at the Sports Medicine Clinic helps immensely with his Pro Football Combine Camp each July.
“They have a great staff at the Sports Medicine Clinic and along with the trainers people like Coach Don Rodrigue, Coach Laury Dupont and Jerry Blackwell we could not safely run the Pro Football Combine and the 7-on-7 camp without their help,” Elias said. “The region and our local athletes are very fortunate to have them around.”
Amelia Castell, another athletic trainer at the Sports Medicine Center is 7 months pregnant and while she did outside work for most of the camps she worked inside for the Manning Camp.
“As the summer rolled in and I got bigger it was better for me to work inside in registration and along with Annalise (Himmel) we had a plan of action in case of any time of medical emergency and we had a review form for athletes to fill out with contact numbers, hometown and any medicine they may be taking or if they are suffering from any injury before they even get to Thibodaux. Some of these young men just don’t want to miss these camps and they show up with an injury and we have to make the decision along with our medical staff to hold them out. Our jobs are to watch out for heat related problems, possible concussions or head injuries, but it could be just about anything that goes wrong medically. I am not a Mom yet, but the Motherish feature kicks in.”
Castell said one story from the Manning Passing Academy displayed the compassion trainers and nurses show toward the athletes.
“We had a player get hit in the eye with a football, and he was from out of state and his parents didn’t accompany him here,” she said. “We brought him to Thibodaux Regional Medical Center and the emergency room nurse iced down the eye, explained to the young man that he would have to take drops for his injury and also wear sunglasses. The young man didn’t know anyone else here and he didn’t have a pair of sunglasses. The nurse told him to meet her outside the stadium the next day and she would bring a pair of sunglasses she had at home. This job is not for everyone, but it goes to show the compassion and care we try to provide here.”
Follow Mike on Twitter at @MikeDetillier