Samo welcomes new athletic trainer

Most people at Samo barely know what the athletic trainer does, much less who it is. This year Samo’s new trainer, Daniel Tran, the man behind the scenes with helping our student athletes stay healthy, has big plans to help the wellbeing of our hardworking student athletes, including a new concussion protocol that will greatly help athletes recover from debilitating head injuries. A California native, Tran grew up in San Pedro but moved to Northridge for college. He was an undergraduate at California State University, Northridge, where he majored in Athletic Training. His resume is extensive, with the CSUN training program giving him clinical experience in CSUN athletics, Notre Dame High School, Pasadena City College and more. Tran grew up with a love of sports since a young age, and knew that he wanted to do something sports-related in college. He took a sports medicine class, and immediately knew he wanted to pursue the subject.“I enjoy the fact that I get to be around sports/athletic environment and have the opportunity to help athletes. It is always a rewarding experience when I get the chance the help an athlete recover from their injury,” Tran said. As an athletic trainer, Tran’s job isn’t easy. Samo hosts an impressive number of sports teams and clubs, and with that comes constant student injuries. Tran is in charge of medical care for all student athletes, including injury prevention and treating injuries. He gets extra help from a student group called the Sports Medicine Club. Students in the club are trained by Tran on basic sports medicine and are then able to practice these skills on athletes during sixth period, after school and during games. They can do anything from basic taping, wrapping and first aid care to preparing water and equipment. As well as maintaining the job done by the previous trainer, Tran is implementing a new concussion based protocol. Concussions occur when somebody takes a hit to the head or neck that results in a temporary loss of brain function. As terrifying as that sounds, dozens of student athletes get concussions every year, mostly from sports like football and soccer. “By implementing baseline testing, we are able to measure student-athletes' cognitive functions when normal, and compare scores when student-athletes do sustain a head injury,” Tran said. The program will allow Tran to make sure that an athlete has fully recovered after a concussion so that they can be fully healthy when they go back to playing. This is crucial, especially since receiving a second concussion after not fully recovering from the first one is extremely dangerous. “Daniel is an amazing trainer. He really cares about the health of the players, and takes every opportunity he can to teach us,” longtime member of the Sports Medicine Club, Lukas Schneider (’19) said.