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‘It’s rewarding’: L-P trainer has been helping athletes for 26 years · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: It's rewarding LP trainer has been helping athletes for twenty
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  six years. Written by Kevin Schlumb, this article is being
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  read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
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  Between Gina Martin's junior and senior years at LaSalle Peru
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  High School, she tore her ACL and went through ACL
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  reconstruction and rehab that set Martin on her career path.
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  Going through the extensive rehab with Steve Corson being my
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  athletic trainer was so influential in my recovery, and that's
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  what made me want to go into athletic training, Martin said.
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  Seeing the motivation he gave me and the drive to
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  recover to go back to do sports, that made me
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  want to help someone else in my situation. After graduating
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  from LP in nineteen ninety six, Martin went on to
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  North Central College, where she played basketball and earned a
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  bachelor's degree in athletic training. And for the last twenty
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  six years, Martin has served as an athletic trainer at
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  IVCH from two thousand and zero four and at City
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  Center Rehabilitation since two thousand and five. Working with athletes
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  at LP It's rewarding to be able to give that
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  expertise to the kids to get them to a full recovery.
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  Martin said, not only is it a physical thing, but
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  in athletic training, you also play the mental health role.
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  When you are eliminated from a sport due to injury,
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  you go through phases of being sad. You think why
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  did it happen to me? Sometimes you go through anxiety
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  or depression. Being able to connect with the kids and
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  them knowing they can trust me to get them to
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  where they need to be is part of the relationship
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  you build with the athletes. As an athletic trainer, Martin
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  fulfills many roles, working about fifty hours per week with
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  some late nights. Martin starts her day in the clinic,
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  taking care of the business side of things and helping
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  physical therapists with athletes who come in for rehab. She's
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  at LP after school for practices and home events. Game
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  days include taping, stretching, electrical stimulation, strengthening, setting up water coolers,
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  getting ice ready, and more. During the game, Martin is
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  constantly watching for potential injuries. Times people will say what
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  happened on that play, I might not have actually seen it.
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  Happen because I was worried about a hit that happened,
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  and I'm then watching that kid get up. Martin said,
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  We're constantly watching if someone is getting up slow, watching
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  how they're walking, trying to analyze if there's something wrong
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  with them or do they just need to shake it off.
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  They're also always prepared to go on the field to
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  help an injured player. Not only are we the pregame
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  prep and the rehab part, but we are the first
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  responders on the field. Martin said, we are the first
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  ones to an acute injury like a broken leg, stabilizing it,
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  keeping the athlete calm, or an asthma attack, controlling their breathing.
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  That's one of the parts that I love about my
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  is that emergency management on the field during game day.
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  LP baseball coach Matt Klepsinsky said Martin is an asset
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  to LP Athletics. I've had the pleasure of working with
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  Gina for fifteen plus years. Glupsinsky said. Gina is trustworthy, dependable,
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  hard working, and bleeds red and Kelly Green. Anytime a
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  baseball player has an injury, I know they will receive
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  the best possible care from Gina. I trust the diagnoses
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  and treatment plans she creates. LP is very lucky to
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  have Gina. She is a pillar in our athletic department
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  and school community. Along with her responsibilities as an athletic trainer,
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  Martin has a student athletic trainer program for about fifteen years,
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  with students learning and helping on the sidelines. She's had
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  students go on to become athletic trainers, physical therapists, and nurses.
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  She added a new role this year as a classroom
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  Teacher of Sports Medicine, an honors class for juniors and
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  seniors at LP. Each semester includes a project. In the
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  first semester, the students had to create an athletic training room.
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  In the second semester, they were assigned an injury and
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  had to create the rehab program from injury through return
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  to play. It's been really fun, Martin said, I've had
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  a great group of students. Some of them are going
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  to be athletic trainers. Some aren't even going to go
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  into the medical field, but they're athletes and they want
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  to know about how their body works and injuries. Martin
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  has appreciated the chance to serve ou athletes and pass
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  down her knowledge for nearly three decades. I'm very grateful
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  for the opportunity to have been able to be at
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  LP and in the Illinois Valley for this long, Martin said.
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  The relationships I've developed at the high school with students, staff,
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  parents and grandparents to other community members I've met through
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  City Center have given me a great opportunity to give
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  back to the families in the Illinois Valley. And twenty
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  six years later, I still love my job.