Physical Trainer Micah Ohlen is responsible for helping rehabilitate injured players and prevent injuries before games and practices. Ohlen said, “My job is to ultimately help keep everyone that is a student athlete safe at school.”

Ohlen trains three student interns who attend games on the sidelines with him, ready to help. His interns have a previous year of experience in Ohlen’s sports medicine class and are prepared to learn from hands-on experience.

Overall, Ohlen’s job entails going to practices and games to support student athletes. He focuses his time on high injury risk sports and prioritizes his time based on the level of the team and the the most injury prone sports.

When determining who has highest concern and need for attention Ohlen said, “It’s contact versus noncontact and varsity versus underclassmen.”

One sport that Ohlen focuses highly on is football, mainly during its fall season. Wide Receiver for the football team Jacob Huff (11) suffered a broken ankle at the beginning of the 2015 school year, so he went to Ohlen to get ready in time for the fall season.

During his daily visits  to Ohlen’s room while he was recovering Huff said, “He’d stretch me out and help me through rehab and sped up my recovery so that I could play in the first game.”

When Ohlen rehabs the football team, he usually expects concussions along with small problems like bruising and scratches. Going into less contact sports, volleyball, basketball, and soccer, their style of activity lends itself to ankle and knee injuries most commonly.

Although Ohlen is supported by the all sports teams, who help pay his salary through additional fundraising and gate sales, his position is not mandated by the Capistrano Unified School District or the State of California. He hopes that CUSD will identify his athletic trainer position as a legitimate part of the salary structure and that California recognizes the need for athletic training state-wide.