Hard-working and Dedicated Healthcare Professionals Committed to Successful Spring for Conference Carolinas Student-Athletes
This is the continuation of a series of Body, Mind & Soul stories that highlights member student-athletes, coaches and administrators of Conference Carolinas.
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Jennifer High is uniquely qualified to assess the current COVID pandemic and a new era of intercollegiate athletics. Her background as a student-athlete and now as a health services professional at Barton College gives her special insights into integrating all three into a workable game plan.
“It’s very challenging but also quite rewarding,” said High, the Executive Director of Student Health Services that oversees Barton’s COVID Testing Operation in partnership with the Department of Athletics. “I first came to Barton in 2004, so for me, there are so many people in Barton’s community that I know. This job and this time gives me the opportunity to give back and care for the Barton family. I’ll try not to get weepy, but I consider this has been my family for a long time.”
High, who graduated with a nursing and gerontology degree in 2009 and served as a critical care nurse at Duke University Hospital before returning to Barton in her current post in 2017, played softball during her collegiate days in Wilson, N.C.
“I played catcher and first base,” said the former slugger. “As the coach used to tell me, I was not blessed with a lot of speed.”
While she may not have been fleet afoot in those days, High certainly reacted quickly to the daunting challenges facing her when COVID-19 hit her community last spring.
She along with the Bulldogs’ athletic training staff were charged with developing a plan for testing, contact tracing and quarantine protocols for all student-athletes.
“In wanting to give our student-athletes the opportunity to compete, we had to reach the NCAA and conference standards for COVID testing,” she said. “The Wilson County Health Department has been a vital partnership in providing guidance and support. It’s been a huge asset for our campus community.”
COVID testing has varied in frequency and number of athletes, depending on NCAA and Conference Carolinas guidelines.
However, with a Bulldog football team that features 120 players, the entire team is tested once a week to meet NCAA requirements.
“We do about 400 COVID tests a week,” High added. “We support athletic COVID testing for 24 sports as well as serve the entire campus community. While Ginna Lewis (Barton Head Athletic Trainer pictured with the athletic training staff below) has the same number of staff (eight) as usual, we have added more nurses to provide help.”
She credits her friendship and strong working relationship with Lewis as well as the exceptional support from the college administration as keys to a successful COVID response for Barton’s student-athletes.
“Ginna determined the testing cadence, created the schedule and implemented all testing and communication protocols,” said High. “We both pride ourselves as being organized and efficient, so we’ve worked really well together. Again, the support from the Department of Athletics and college leadership has been keey in our success. When you have the leadership behind you and you are on the front lines, that support and encouragement has made all the difference in the world.”
The COVID positivity rate on campus - students, teachers and staff - has been impressive thus far. High reports 126 positive cases in the fall semester and only 35 thus far this spring semester.
Another key, says High (pictured below), is to be flexible and anticipate almost daily adjustments.
“We’ve had some curveballs thrown at us, but that’s to be expected. You need to be willing to pivot at a moment’s notice. Through teamwork and a lot of prayers, we’ve been able to achieve our goals.”
In celebrating National Athletic Training Month, Conference Carolinas is acknowledging some of the unsung heroes - the athletic trainers - at various conference institutions. Here are just some of the stories of other Head Athletic Trainers and how they work together with healthcare professionals on their campus (example above) and around the league:
James Anderson, Head Athletic Trainer
North Greenville University
For James Anderson, he may have experienced COVID before he even learned of the lethal virus.
The North Greenville Head Athletic Trainer visited relatives in New York City over New Year’s Eve in 2019 leading into 2020. Two weeks later after he had returned to campus, he had developed a lingering cough.
“It got worse in February, and then my chest began to hurt and it was hard to breathe,” Anderson recalled. “I went to the ER and they x-rayed my chest. They couldn’t find anything but treated it like pneumonia.”
While he was never tested for COVID-19, he apparently had contracted the virus during the very early stages of the pandemic.
Once Conference Carolinas and the NCAA shut down all intercollegiate sports last March for all of the right reasons, Anderson got another up-close look at the virus when he was summoned by the school’s healthcare partner, Prisma Health, to join other medical staff at the local hospital in Greenville on the front lines of the COVID battle.
“At that time, I knew little about the virus and didn’t really know what I was getting into,” he admits. “They asked for as many hands as possible because of the demands. First I served as a site supervisor and then was in an emergency pod of eight to 10 hospital rooms where people were COVID positive or might be.”
HIs primary duties were to ensure that physicians and nurses had the proper PPE and also to keep a checklist of who entered and left the rooms and also help staff with anything they needed.
Eventually he was moved to the ICU floor.
“Most of the patients were in critical condition,” Anderson said. “It was a real eye-opener for me. At that time, we knew it was an upper respiratory illness but many aspects of the virus were still unclear. I had to quarantine myself from my entire family during that time.”
After work, James would go to his car, take off his shoes and throw them into the back of his truck. Once home, he would strip down all his clothes in the laundry room and wash them with soap, water and vinegar. Then he would take a shower.
“I always kept my phone in a ziplock bag so it was virus free,” he added. “We all shared the fear of catching it.”
The four-month experience at the hospital proved invaluable once the Crusaders’ athletic trainer returned to campus in August to service the over 500 student-athletes.
Freshmen student-athletes began to arrive soon after, requiring him to do extensive paperwork. Even before returning to North Greenville, Anderson was busy helping create COVID protocols, doing his own research and becoming acquainted with NCAA and conference guidelines along with other best practices.
“My attitude was just, ‘let’s get to work,’” he said. “My hospital work, seeing how they kept their employees and patients safe, really helped a lot. We took some of those methods and instituted them at school. Our goal all along has been to find a way back to normalcy for our student-athletes.”
COVID also hit close to home for Anderson - literally.
“I lost a family member (an aunt) and several others had the virus,” he revealed. “My mother spent a week in the hospital. She was on oxygen and we couldn’t visit her. My father also had it but wasn’t affected too badly. Even my little sister got it. I’m a firm Christian and we prayed a lot during that time.”
The arduous ordeal has left a lasting impression on the North Greenville athletic trainer and has provided an unexpected perspective.
“One thing about COVID, it doesn’t care if you’re blue, black, white or yellow. It has taught all of us to cherish the moment and to love each other. This reminded me of 9/11 and how it affected Americans. The human race realized we need to come together for a collective goal. I’m now seeing the same thing. The entire globe is dealing with this. We need to remember our family members and friends while we try to get to the end of this.”
Anderson’s work days are long, normally arriving at his office at 6:30 a.m. on testing mornings and not leaving for home until 7:30 p.m. Sundays are his only day of rest sometimes.
“But we have a few soccer matches on Sundays that we have to staff,” he added with a chuckle.
Understandably, the expanded role of athletic trainers this year has certainly added value to their jobs and they have earned praise from campus leaders.
“It’s only strengthened my love for the profession,” he shared. “I can remember taking a general medicine class in my undergrad days at the University of South Carolina. One particular class touched on infectious diseases. We had a guest speaker who said, ‘you probably won’t ever have to use this.’ Little did I know….”
Emily Morris, Head Athletic Trainer
Converse College
Our initial attempt at interviewing Morris had to be rescheduled due to an unexpected meeting she needed to attend. Perhaps that was only appropriate, considering the flexibility needed to cope with an ever-changing COVID environment.
Like North Greenville, Converse’s athletic training function is under the auspices of the Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital. As such, Morris joined North Greenville’s Anderson in assisting physicians, nurses, patients and staff at the hospital from May through July while her campus was closed down.
“They needed bodies to help almost immediately,” Emily said. "We got into the flow fairly quickly. We ended up doing from 500 to 800 screenings a day. That first day, I was totally exhausted.”
Once back at Converse, she began to scour all COVID materials released by the NCAA (“I felt like a student again with my yellow highlighter”). Converse formed a campus task force involving several athletic and academic leaders, and Morris proved a natural in creating a COVID plan for the student-athletes.
“I felt comfortable creating the program because the past two years (as a graduate assistant at UNC Greensboro) I did policy writing,” Morris said. “I bounced ideas off others and we developed specific policies that were needed.”
One of the special bonds formed in college athletics is the relationship between athletic trainers and their student-athletes. Sometimes the athletic trainer serves as a confidant and advisor on subjects beyond athletics. However, COVID has made those connections more difficult.
“While I know all the returning student-athletes, it’s been challenging to communicate on the same level with our incoming freshmen. We all joke that we just don’t know what they look like. When they take their masks off in a game, we’re always asking ‘who’s that?'"
Morris, who also has one full-time assistant on her staff to service 200 student-athletes and 13 sports, accepts the extraordinary demands placed on the athletic training staff during this COVID pandemic. The silver lining, she says, is all the thanks they receive from an appreciative campus community.
“First, there’s definitely self gratitude in that I’m very grateful to do my job,” she said. “We’re all in the same boat. I do regularly hear from people that we are appreciated. That’s always nice.”
Morris also said she appreciated the Conference Carolinas office sending her an inspirational t-shirt that read “Conference Carolinas Athletic Trainers: Hardwork. Dedication. Action.” In addition, some Converse coaches and athletes have sent her cards and even little candies.
“It’s always great to get recognition from the outside,” she said. “And, of course, we love the sweet gifts!”
However, the sheer volume of student-athletes and athletic competitions within the scope of their responsibilities can lead to mental as well as physical drain.
“I can remember covering a lacrosse game at the end of a tough week,” shared Morris. “All of a sudden while driving home afterwards, I asked myself, ‘did I have my mask on?’ I started to panic! Then I realized I had worn my mask the whole game and was relieved.”
Gil Gilliland, Manager, Steadman Hawkins Sports Medicine
Prisma Health-Upstate
In his position, Gil Gilliland oversees the Converse athletic training department and also is co-manager of another Conference Carolinas athletic training program at North Greenville. Both schools have partnerships with Prisma Health and have benefited greatly from Gilliland’s experience and expertise during the COVID crisis.
Like most good managers, Gilliland has given his athletic trainers full authority in creating COVID protocols for their school’s athletic departments.
“Rather than us create the protocols, we just advised and allowed the universities to come up with their own guidelines,” he offered. “They are the ones who need to execute the plans and they own them.”
Gilliland, as a planner, tends to look to the future and what to expect in the college athletics landscape once COVID has calmed down and the pandemic crosses the finish line.
“First of all, I’m concerned about the mental health of our student-athletes,” he said. “The isolation, the quarantines can’t help but affect the minds of young people. It’s important that we direct them to the proper channels to find help if they need it.”
Gilliland also thinks that there will be a new paradigm for athletic training, thanks to the lessons - and mistakes - learned through the COVID crisis.
“You have seen a completely changed way the training room now functions, in terms of athlete capacity and safety measures. Athletic trainers are certainly great at multitasking and adapting. We may not see athletic trainers go back to the way it was before. Millions of people, offices and businesses are now working remotely. Who’s to say some of that might remain after COVID?”
Adam Smith, Head Athletic Trainer
Belmont Abbey College
Entering his 11th year as Belmont Abbey’s Head Athletic Trainer and serving as the Chairman of the Conference Carolinas’ Athletic Trainers Committee, Adam Smith is one of the senior members of the league’s athletic training fraternity.
Yet, like everyone else facing the COVID-19 scourge, he has learned on the fly and continues to adapt to an ever-changing approach to playing sports during a pandemic.
“When this is finally over, I think what I will remember most was what a unique challenge and experience it was. And that we were successful in providing an infrastructure that allowed our students-athletes to safely play the games they love.”
Smith, who oversees a staff of six full-time assistants who service approximately 750 student-athletes at Belmont Abbey, dove into uncharted waters last spring when he began planning for the resumption of sports in the fall under COVID conditions.
“There certainly was no course in athletic training school to manage a pandemic,” he said with a chuckle. “It speaks to our profession as a whole that we were able to think outside the box, balance the protocols with competition and be compliant with both NCAA and conference requirements to provide a safe environment for our student-athletes.
“Our goal was to minimize the impact of COVID with a new set of policies that allowed sports to go on. I’m proud of the fact that we have played some of the most competitions in the conference to date.”
The learning curve on the virus continues to challenge Smith and his counterparts in streamlining their operations and sharing best practice methods.
“It’s really the evolution of knowledge,” he said. “We went from the stage of ‘what is COVID to how do we test for it, to what can we get and afford in terms of tests.’ We’ve had to manage and adapt. We’re on the front line, so fortunately most of us are part of the inner circle of the COVID management committees.”
Smith credits a spirit of teamwork that encompasses everyone on campus, from administrators to professors, to the Athletic Director, coaches and student-athletes, for what the school has accomplished this past year.
“It’s truly a team effort. There are a lot of people who have worked really hard to make this happen. My staff and I have played a part - maybe a big part - in this, but we couldn’t do it alone. Our Athletic Director (Stephen Miss) has busted his tail and so has everyone else in the department.”
For Smith, teamwork goes well beyond the athletic department, however. He and his wife, Diana, have six children at home, three boys and three girls, ages ranging from 12 years to three months old.
“You need to mention my wife,” he pleads. “She’s worked as hard or harder than me this past year. She’s a saint in the making.”
Bob Rose is a longtime sports public relations executive who has worked for the San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, the NFL Cardinals, Cal, Stanford and other organizations.
The National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) is the professional membership association for certified athletic trainers and others who support the athletic training profession. Founded in 1950, the NATA has grown to more than 45,000 members worldwide today. To learn more, please visit HERE.