While most fans are focused on the game, there’s one specific spectator who has her eyes peeled for something different. Something amiss.
That’s Melissa Haupt, the head athletic trainer for Park High School.
A fixture on the Park High sidelines the last five years, Haupt celebrated National Athletic Training month in March in the best way possible, by not having to deal with any trauma. The best games for Haupt are when she has no walks onto the field of play.
A bit of a self-identified military brat, Haupt, now 34, mainly grew up in Colorado Springs. She went to college in Colorado, earning first a bachelor’s degree in exercise science, then a master’s degree in athletic training at St. Scholastica in Duluth.
She knew early on this was the right career for herself.
“I was really lucky that when I was in high school, we had an athletic trainer and I needed something to do in the afternoons so I asked if I could help her and she taught me a bunch of stuff so by the time I was a junior in high school I knew that this is what I wanted to do. Honestly It was a little bit of a fluke. I needed something to do after school, but I ended up loving it.
“It kind of fills all the roles for me that I want in a job,” Haupt continued. “Every day is different. I don’t have to sit at a desk. I get to be outside. I get to be around sports. I get to help people. I was really interested in some sort of a medical career, but I knew I didn’t want to be a doctor or a nurse.”
Haupt played soccer, ran track and rode horses growing up. Now she gets to dip her toes in every sport Park High offers. This is her 10th year as a certified athletic trainer, including a year at a high school in Albuquerque, New Mexico and four years at St. Thomas Academy.
Haupt is employed by Summit Orthopedics, who contracts her services fulltime with Park. Her job is to be present for every home varsity event. That can make for some long weeks during the height of football or hockey seasons. When Park has two or three varsity events happening on the same night, which happens frequently, Haupt will attend one and another Summit athletic trainer will pick up the others. She usually lets the other trainer pick which event they will cover.
The job has its share of rewards, but also some hard things.
“You have to have good interpersonal skills, so it's working with parents and coaches and athletes and knowing that some of them are going to be upset for different reasons,” Haupt explained. “Coaches are upset when their star has to sit out. Parents are upset when their kid has to sit out. Kids are upset when you tell them bad news. So, learning to manage everyone’s emotions and then having that fall on me can be difficult. There’s also the difficulties of my job is completely dependent on the weather. If we get 12 feet of snow tomorrow, it’s going to completely rearrange my schedule. I think I have a pretty good go-with-0the-flow personality so I’m okay with that but it does get frustrating sometimes.”
Athletic trainers work in a variety of settings, including college and professional sports, dance, circuses.
“I always knew I wanted to be at a high school because for me one of the biggest joys is getting to know the kids and seeing them start out as little freshmen and seeing them grow for four years and become these really amazing people,” Haupt explained. “And feeling like maybe I have a little bit of influence to help them become better people.”
A big part of Haupt’s job is doing the triage when an athlete sustains an injury, determining what level of care is needed.
“When someone gets hurt I walk out there and I really quickly have to decide ‘you’re fine, we can get you off to the sidelines and you can go back in or we can manage this from my office or you need PT (physical therapy) or I think you might have broken something or torn something and you might have to go to the doctor versus when do we call an ambulance. That’s probably the biggest thing I do on a day-today basis, is just make that decision. And it really just depends. Usually scrapes and bumps and bruises and a twisted ankle, that’s fine, we can manage that here. If I have any suspicions that anything is broken, or soft tissue has been torn its immediately ‘you’re going to the doctor. Because you probably need an x-ray or an MRI.’”
Haupt says she’s been very fortunate she hasn’t had to help anyone through a true life-threatening emergency. “I’ve had some pretty good major broken bones where we’ve had to call the ambulance.”
Sprained ankles, minor broken bones and wound care are among the most common items she has to deal with. Football has the most injuries every season. “But we also know that other sports have higher risks of concussions. So, girls' soccer and girls' hockey keep me pretty busy with concussions.”
Haupt obviously sees the games from a very different perspective than a fan, coach or player does.
“It seems kind of silly but for every game as the national athlete is playing, I’m kind of running through my emergency protocol. Ok, if Billy breaks a leg I need to call an ambulance. I’m going to tell this coach to do that. I’m going to call Phil. We’re going to get that gate open and I’m going make sure I’ve kind of got all that refreshed in my mind every single time in case I have to call 911. And then once the game starts the way I’m actually watching is really different than I would if I were just spectating.”
And if nothing happens in the game, Haupt is happy.
