National Athletic Training Month is recognized every March. Its focus is to spread awareness about the importance of having athletic trainers in schools and to celebrate the actions they take to impact health in work, life, and sports. An athletic trainer’s job is the prevention of injury and illness, injury evaluation and diagnosis, immediate care of injuries, and therapy and rehabilitation for injuries.

At Abington High School, we are very fortunate to have Ms. Alicia Reid as our athletic trainer. Ms. Reid is a 2013 Abington graduate. She was a student-athlete who ranked in the top 5 of her class. She also played center defender in soccer, center field in softball, and was also the basketball team manager.

After graduating from AHS, Ms. Reid majored in athletic training with a pre-physical therapy designation at the University of New England and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Athletic Training. While there, she played soccer her freshman year and stayed involved in the program until she graduated.

Her idea of majoring in athletic training was because “I sustained a few injuries of my own which required physical therapy. I liked going to PT appointments and working to make myself better to get back to my sport,” she said.

After college, Ms. Reid was working as a clinical athletic trainer in the orthopedics department at Signature Healthcare when the job at Abington High School opened in March of 2018. She said she applied for the position because “I was missing having athletes of my own to watch compete, and I was ready for a change.”

Ms. Reid is very passionate about athletic training.  She said, “Knowing the athletes pre-injury, helping them get back to the sport they love as fast as possible, and seeing them perform on the field made me fall in love with athletic training.”

Her room at AHS is no longer a classroom. Instead, it is located in the sports wing past the locker rooms. Ms. Reid arrives almost every day at 1 p.m. and by 2 p.m her room is full of student-athletes that need her assistance. There are two green beds, along with two taping stations. Most days during the season, there are athletes in her athletic training room doing rehab, or getting taped, or anything else needed to help their injury. However, there are also athletes who simply hang out in Ms. Reid’s office if she is not too busy.

There is a fridge and freezer where she stores ice and other items that athletes might need, and she also makes Gatorade every day for the athletes and leaves it outside her room for anyone who wants it. Ms. Reid not only cares about student-athletes’ physical health, but she cares about the emotional side of having an injury.

Freshman Hannah Tirrell said, ” When I was having a tough time because I couldn’t play basketball, Ms. Reid would have me do my exercises in the gym so I felt included with my team. She is also someone I can count on to not just talk about sports.” Ms. Reid goes above and beyond for her athletes. She said, “I love being a part of the teams here and seeing big wins on the field, but the biggest win for me is the smile on an athlete’s face after their first game back from an injury.”

Ms. Reid makes her office very open for student-athletes. She has music playing every day and has challenges going on, especially during certain holidays or events. During March, for instance, she had challenges going on every week. Some were a wall sit challenge, a flexed hang challenge, and all month she held a plank challenge.

Usually during this time of year, Ms. Reid is very busy getting ready for spring sports to start. However, spring sports were pushed back and school was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Although school stopped on March 13 due to the pandemic, Ms. Reid kept her challenges going through the Abington Athletic Training’s Twitter and Instagram pages. To participate in the challenges, athletes sent her a video of them completing the challenge.

When asked if exercise and sports training were important, Ms. Reid’s said, “Yes exercise and sport training is important, but just as important is your nutrition, hydration, sleep, and mental health. You cannot be your best in your sport if you are not taking care of yourself on all fronts.”