SPECIAL RECOGNITION
COCOA BEACH TRAINER Kris Klein with players Dillon Fleming, Matt Richard and Alex Arno.
Kris Klein, head athletic trainer at Cocoa Beach High School, has been selected as High School Athletic Trainer of the Year by the Athletic Trainers Association of Florida.
“I am honored with being selected,” said Klein, whose nomination was submitted by Cocoa Beach High athletic director Mike Gaudy, and head football coach Tony Piccalo.
The High School Athletic Trainer of the Year award is given to a high school who has displayed throughout the year a high level of professionalism – and whose actions has improved the profession and The Athletic Trainers’ Association of Florida.
The nominee must be a certified/licensed athletic trainer, and member of ATAF for a minimum of five years, who is licensed to practice Athletic Training in the State of Florida and work in a high school.
Klein will officially receive the award during the at the Athletic Trainers Association of Florida’s conference in Kissimmee next week.
Only a handful of Brevard schools have full-time trainers on staff
With the nation’s economy in flux and budget cuts restricting school spending, athletic trainers are in low demand at Brevard County, Florida schools, despite their enormous value to area athletic programs.
“It’s so very important to have at least an athletic trainer on the sidelines,” said Klein, who came to Cocoa Beach in 2008 after six years at Cocoa High. “Orange County and Seminole County mandate that all schools have full-time athletic trainers on campus.”
Klein worked as an athletic trainer in minor league baseball and with the University of Central Florida.
As the “right-hand man” to team doctors, athletic trainers have multiple responsibilities in all sports. But, their expertise is never more in need than in football. “The worst thing I have done was to spine board an athlete that I suspected had a spinal injury,” Klein said.
Trainers also give their advice to coaches on rehabilitation and game-day decisions regarding injuries, counseling whether a player is ready to return to action. And, unlike team doctors who work specific sports, trainers work at all athletic functions.
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