Sara Miles, Fluvanna County High School’s the Athletic Trainer, has worked as a sports trainer for over twenty five years. There is a lot involved in becoming an athletic trainer: potential trainers need to earn a bachelors or masters degree in sports medicine from an accredited program, and then must prove their knowledge of the subject by spending a certain amount of hours actively working in a clinical setting. Once that is done, a potential trainer must certified by the National Athletic Trainers Association.

Miles graduated from Indiana University with a Master’s degree in Sports Medicine and, upon graduating, worked at Georgetown University and at a sports medicine clinic for professional athletic teams in Washington, D.C. After that, she became the Head Athletic Trainer at Emory and Henry College, where she worked for six years, followed by a two year tenure at Virginia State College. Following that she spent 10 years at Monticello High School before departing to work for Fluvanna, where she has remained for the past seven years.

“The worst injury I have ever seen was when a quarterback was running the ball and was tackled on all sides. When the teams on the field saw the injury they started throwing up everywhere,” Miles said. “As I was running onto the field I could see that his leg was completely twisted; he was on his stomach and his foot was sticking up towards the sky. When I got to him, I saw that he had fractured both bones of his lower leg and [the fractures] had torn the skin of his leg from the knee down to his ankle. He had no blood flow to his foot. I was afraid he would lose his leg.” According to Miles, she and the team physician and “had to put the parts of his leg back together as best as we could, and then twist it back into place so that the blood flow could reach his foot again. “He ended up having surgery that night and did not play for over a year,” Miles concluded.

At Fluvanna, Miles’ hours are usually noon to 6 pm or 7 pm on practice nights, but when there is a game she can work as late as 10 pm. Some game nights are busier and more stressful than others. However, she is usually not alone at the these games, since FCHS provides students with an opportunity to become student athletic trainers by working with Miles after school.

Being a student athletic trainer can help prepare you for a job in any field, but it can especially help you get into a program for athletic training at the college level. “The sports medicine field has become very competitive and much harder to get into,” Miles said, “[so] if someone knows they want to get into a sports medicine program in college, they need to work in their high school athletic training program, if possible.”

This year’s trainers are Elizabeth Kidd, Onae Harris, Trinity Haynes, Hailey Donald, and Hannah Ciucias. “The worst injury I ever saw was a boy basketball player that had a concussion. His dad had to hold him down on the table in order for Mrs. Miles to work with him,” said Harris.

If you want to become an athletic trainer, go to Mrs. Miles and tell her that you are interested in being a student athletic trainer. She will then ask you what two days you are open to stay after school to learn athletic trainer skills and help at practices and games.