If you have a question for Annemarie Francis, our licensed Athletic Trainer, please email her at annemarie.francis@jpthegreat.org . The clinic is on the ground floor, next to the weight room and near the locker rooms.

Our staff Athletic Trainer is available for roughly half of the school day and into the evening hours for practices and home games.  This healthcare professional provides care related to injury prevention, immediate and follow-up evaluations, first aid and emergency attention, treatment and rehabilitation, and return-to-play decisions for our student-athletes.

What is Sports Medicine?
“Sports medicine” is a descriptive term that categorizes various fields of study.  Various allied healthcare professionals and certain physician specialties can claim they practice sports medicine. At Saint John Paul the Great, our Sports Medicine team is led by the Athletic Trainer and includes a Team Physician (family medicine physician with sports medicine specialization training). Area physicians, allied health professionals, and emergency medical services are involved whenever relevant.

What is Athletic Training?
Athletic training encompasses the prevention, diagnosis, and intervention of emergency, acute, and chronic medical conditions.  Athletic training is practiced by athletic trainers, health care professionals who collaborate with physicians to optimize activity and participation of patients and clients.

Athletic Trainers must maintain a national certification credential, and the Commonwealth of Virginia regulates them further with a license from the Board of Medicine. The National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) is a professional organization with over 30,000 members worldwide.

What kinds of services does an athletic trainer provide?

• Injury evaluation/care and referral as appropriate
• Daily accessibility for follow-up care and rehabilitation needs
• Consultations with athletes, coaches, parents, healthcare providers, and school administration
• Return to play guidance and decision-making, especially to reduce re-injury risks and concerns
• Review of sports physical documents, receipt of physician care instructions/ notes
• Concussion evaluation/ management, baseline testing administration, and  educational efforts
• Collaboration with the school nurses, counseling staff, athletic coaches, and athletic trainers at our opponent schools
• Medical record maintenance
• Home game presence and on-field response
• Onsite medical emergency care
• Injury prevention efforts with coaches, weight room programs, and the PE department
• Healthcare administration and policy development, implementation