For more than a decade, the welfare of Greenville High School athletes have rested in the capable hands of Jason Peavy of Rehab Associates, as well as other professionals throughout the county.

But this season, Peavy will have three extra sets of hands both on the field and in the clinic, courtesy of three Greenville High School students.

Jada McConnico, Faith Robinson and Dannielle Anna Burt will shadow Peavy this season as a part of a new career tech venture at Greenville High School.

Though this year is the program’s first, Peavy said that it was a thought that has often occurred to him throughout the years.

“When I got here, very few people knew what a certified athletic

trainer was,” Peavy said. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve had kids come up and say ‘Mr. Peavy, I want to do what you do. I want to go to school to be an athletic trainer.’

“I’ve always wanted to have some sort of program there, but with me working full time here at the clinic, my hands were sort of tied. But Jennifer Burt approached me this past spring and said that they had an opportunity through the career tech program over there to possibly start a sports medicine program for the students that were

interested.”

After discussing it further, three hand-picked, qualified students

were selected to shadow Peavy at both practices and games on Friday nights.

Though the program is still in its infancy stages, Peavy said that it

has already borne promising fruit. With plenty of room to grow in the future, with the inclusion of a possible adjunct faculty member to help during classroom activities during the day, it could provide a huge leg-up for high school students looking for hands-on experience in a hands-on field.

“I’m excited about it,” Peavy said. “For the last 14 or 15 years, it’s

been just me on the sidelines. If we can get these students trained in general first aid to give me an extra set of hands or to be able to

tape a wound, it would be nice because covering a Class 5A football team is a tough job for one person.

“Instead of trying to grab a coach to stretch a hamstring for me when a kid’s cramping, I can grab one of my students,” Peavy said. “And they are encouraging players to stay hydrated at all times, which is also preventing cramping as well as heat illnesses. And that’s helping me, the kids and [Greenville head coach] Josh McLendon. “If we can prevent cramping as much as possible, that’s going to give them more opportunities to succeed in a game. You don’t want your starting running back come out with a cramp, so if we can stop that at the very beginning by keeping them properly stretched and hydrated, that’s going to help the team, as well.”

The program would also give students a preview of what they could expect after entering into a college’s athletic training program, and Peavy hopes that the career tech service will dispel some notions about the field before students dive in headfirst at the collegiate level. “This is giving them a great opportunity to see what I do and decide for themselves ‘I can actually see myself doing this as a career,’ or ‘I don’t think this is for me; maybe I should reevaluate what I want to do.’ So it gives them a peace of mind as far as making a decision leading into a degree when they go to college.”

Peavy worries that McConnico, Robinson and Burt may have set the bar a little too high for students to come in future years of the program. “These girls have been a blessing; I couldn’t have asked for a better group. They’ve helped me tremendously in just the six days that I’ve been working with them, and I look forward to the rest of the season with them.”

“And these girls that I have this year are genuinely interested in

sports medicine and athletic training. I spend probably an hour every day at practice giving them an idea of general anatomy, an evaluation of injuries and everything I do on a daily basis. It’s going to be a good thing for Greenville High School, it’s going to be a good thing for me and it’s going to be a good thing for Rehab Associates.”