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page 10
daily nebraskan
monday, march 23, 1979
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UNL athletes strengthen themselves in NU training room
Photo by Mark Billingslay
UNL trainer says athletic injury report is inflated
By Sara Martens
Sports can build an athlete's confidence
and character, bring financial rewards and
fame and lead to education or employ
ment. However, behind these obvious benefits
lurks a constant threat that &n cause the
athlete to miss practice, a part of the
season or the rest of a career.
Athletic injuries have been the subject
of concern for participants and coaches for
years, and a major weapon for sports
critics.
How prevalent and serious are athletic
injuries, and how well equipped are
coaches and trainers to handle them?
Depending on the source, injuries are
dangerous and frequent, or rare and not
very serious.
UNL Head Trainer George Sullivan is
one who believes injuries are at a minimum
and those that-do occur are treated in the
best possible way, despite a recent Health
Education and Welfare department report
questioning those attitudes.
Report
As reported in the Chronicle of Higher
Education; HEW has recently released a re
port stating that among other things, in the
academic year 1975-76:
College and high school athletes suf
fered more than a million injuries in sports
programs. ,
-There were 14 sports-related fatalities
and 100,000 "major" injuries.
-Football casualties were most preval
ent at four-year colleges, where there were
more than nine injuries for every 10 play
ers. These findings are based on survey re
sults of 1 ,300 colleges, including Nebraska
and 2 ,500 high schools.
Sullivan questions some of these find
ings, the survey used to obtain them and
the comments made by Joseph Califano,
secretary of HEW when he released the
report.
'That one million figure will scare some
people. My initial reaction was, my God,
everyone is going to die if they go out for
sports," he said.
Sullivan said Nebraska's injury ratio in
football is about four ot of 10 rather than
the nine of 10 reported by HEW.
Minor injuries
He said the report's inflated numbers
may result from questions on the survey
asking for things such as bruises, blisters
and jammed fingers, which Sullivan said he
would not consider injuries.
Sullivan classified a minor injury as one
that casues an athlete to miss at least one
day of practice. If an athlete is in pain but
still capable of practicing he is not consid
ered injured by Sullivan's definition.
He said the severity of an injury is a
matter of what is prevalent to that sport,
and that injuries are also affected by the
age group of the participants and their
mental outlook.
"Schools with a winning tradition
sustain fewer injuries because of the
attitude," he said.
Sullivan said this, along with a number
of other things, has helped UNL have fewer
injuries.
He cited the close attention paid by
coaches to potentially dangerous drills and
techniques, the off-season conditioning to
prepare athletes for the season, the playing
fields and equipment and the emergency
care available if injuries do occur as UNL s
major benefits.
Sullivan agreed that the health of UNL
athletes is being bought in a way, with all
of Nebraska's benefits being the "reflection
of the budget.
"This is the atmosphere people want. If
you have the best athletes, you reward
them with the best programs," he said.
The $240,000 report quoted Califano as
saying that many of the injuries "might
have been prevented if schools used safer
equipment, if. coaches and trainers were
better trained in preventing as well as
promptly treating injuries, and it partici
pants had been taught safety rules as well
as the rules of the game"
In defending Nebraska's program, Sulli
van replied to all of Califano's charges.
'These are pretty broad statements.
Califano obviously doesn't know the re
quirements." Sullivan was refering to NCAA rules
governing equipment and physicals.
Rules and physicals
All helments used by NCAA schools
must be approved by the National Operat
ing Commission on Safety in Athletics and
be repaired by someorie approved by the
NOCSA, Sullivan said.
'They are blaming the helmet for
deaths resulting from neck injuries when
the, helmet has -nothing to do with it," he
said.
The NCAA require pre -participation
physicals for every athlete. These physicals
are very , thorough and administered by
medical specialists, Sullivan said .
v He also questioned Califano's
knowledge of requirements for athletic
trainers. All trainers are required to have a
bachelor's degree and j?ass the national
certification test, he said. '
In Nebraska's case, four such trainers:
are employed by the athletic department.
All four are also registered physical therap
ists. Student trainers, who are working to
ward national certification, are also hired
as assistants, Sullivan said, i
Possible benefits
Sullivan admits that although his initial
reaction to the report was negative, he does
see possible positive benefits stemming
from the study. 7 y
"If they were doing it in a positive light;
to correct problems in some places, then it
is a gobd'reportf but I donVknow what,
they are searching for with . this study," he
said. ; ; i '
Sullivan said the ationaltthletic
Trainers Association has been pushing for
solutions to many of the problems outlined
in the report nd that . the figures present
ed , whether accurate "". or not? will scare
people into injprQvmg-'their athletic train
ing programs.
He said such improvement administered
through the NATA would be desirable, but
federal legislation calling .for requirements
could have a negative effect; r-
"I would hate to see a school punished
with the withdrawal of federal funds be
cause of the .athletic program," he said,
"when the whole reason for non-compliance
in the first place was a lack of funds
for qualified trainers."
Sports have taken over such a large part
tof people's lives, that they really don't
think about injury until it happens to
them, he said.
Then injury becomes an accepted way
of life and simply one of the things an
athlete must contend with.
The Nebraska's baseball team moved
its reccri to 12-0 Wednesday with an 8-5
victory over Utah at Lakewood, Calif.
Thursday afternoon the Huskers were
scheduled to face defending national cham-
rlon Southern California at Rod Dedeaux
Kid. ; - . : - ''
1 Nebraska, rained out for two straight s
days on the California trip, had games with
Cai. State Fullerton and Chapman College
cancelled Wednesday before meeting Utah
lite in the afternoon.
The Humeri led only 2-1 entering the
fifth inning but a two-run single by junior
catcher Mark Haas and a two-run double
by junior shortstop Grtj Schafer gate NU
insurance for the win.
Utah, which dropped to 1 -1 1 oh the sea
son, mustered one run in the seventh and
three in the ninth to close the gap.
Junior right-hander Jim McManus
earned his second pitching win of the sea
for Nebraska-'- ..
. Ray Tromba, Junior right-hander was
scheduled to pitch for the Huskers against
USC Thursday. Nebraska was expected to
leave for Hawaii Thursday night. .
The Nebraska women's Softball team
won three consecutive games Wednesday :
afternoon tipping its season record to 3-3
before entering the Sooner Invitational at
Norman, Okla. Thursday. w V
K Nebraska's wins came over Grand Valley
(Mfch.) 3-2, Missouri-St. Louis, 4-1, and
Northwestern, 6-4. Early Wednesday the
women fell to Minnesota, 7-0, as Kris Her
manson collected the only hit off Minne
. sou pitcher Dani Ortler.
Allison Bodley, Candy. Hoffman and
Connie Gonyea each pitched a win for
UNL t
. Leading the hitting attack in the win
over Grand Valley were Hoffman with a
home run and single and Linda McCrea
with a double and single. Against Missouri
St. Louis, Ikrmanson and Shelley Scott
had two hits apiece. Cheryl Morrow had
three singles and three runs batted in and
Hoffman contributed two singles in the vic
tory over Northwestern: 1 :.v
The Nebraska women's tennis team
leaves Sunday for a southern trip through
Oklahoma and Texas. Mark Ziegenbein's
netters, with victories over K-State 8-1 and
UNO 9-0, will face Oklahoma State Mon
day, Oral Roberts and Oklahoma Tuesday
and compete in the Texas Invitational at
Austin March 29 through April 1 .
In Wednesday night's sweep over UNO,
singles winners
Continued oapae 11
