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Sentara athletic trainers help young athletes be their best

National Athletic Training Month showcases vital work helping athletes excel.

Sentara athletic trainer Marc-Ale Augustin is working with athletes in the athletic training room at Phoebus High School on a Thursday afternoon. It is vital to the well-being of young athletes with still-maturing bodies and hopes for athletic scholarships.

A softball pitcher lies on the blue-topped wooden treatment table. Augustin stretches her right arm and shoulder as she recovers from throwing 120 pitches in a recent game. “Tell me when,” Augustin tells her as he stretches the pitcher’s shoulder, her elbow against his hip, his hands putting on precisely enough pressure to loosen tight muscles and tendons while quietly counting down the stretch. He’s also working to identify why the girl is hurting.

“Is she trap (trapezius) dominant? Is she using her scapula to get her arm up? Is she getting full extension on her elbow when she releases the ball?” Augustin asks himself. “Sometimes, kids’ bodies aren’t ready for the sports they play because their bones and structures aren’t fully matured. We need to help them with proper technique and positioning to avoid injuries,” he adds, “and when they are injured, we emphasize coming back slowly and safely, rather than going 100 percent as soon as we tell them they can practice or return to activity.”

One of Augustin’s other charges is Markus Hopson, a graduating senior with a football scholarship to Howard University. Hopson is a lineman who played his final year of high school with a brace on his right knee. He is also recovering from lower back strain after injuring himself while squatting. Augustin is helping Hopson regain full movement so he can join Howard’s football practice in June soon after graduation.

“He’s doing a good job preparing,” Augustin said. “He’s doing yoga and stretching every day, but he’s also working out every day, sometimes twice a day, and that takes a toll,” he adds. “We’re working on core stabilization, which will help his lower back long-term.”

Hopson was one of the first athletes Augustin met when he started working at Phoebus High last year. They have grown close and speak in a comfortable shorthand during sessions. Hopson is part of the ‘dynasty class’ at Phoebus, which earned the school its fourth consecutive state football championship and 11th overall. As the team’s athletic trainer, Augustin has two championship rings marking the achievement, but his influence is much broader.

“Marc-Ale has made a profound impact on the student athletes he cares for,” said Riley Fontaine, manager of Athletic Training Services for Sentara Health. “He has a following of aspiring students who want to enter the healthcare field after graduation,” she added.

“They volunteer to assist him on the sidelines during games to observe the way he works and gain experience.”

Marc-Ale Augustin is one of 71 Sentara athletic trainers in Virginia and North Carolina who work through the system’s Rehabilitation division. They are committed to helping athletes prevent injuries through optimal movement and recover safely so they can stay in the game. Sentara athletic trainers exemplify the Sentara mission to improve health every day.

Here are the school, college and pro teams Sentara athletic trainers support:

Eastern Virginia

Hampton University

Virginia Wesleyan University

Regent University

Bryant and Stratton College

Hampton City Schools

Norfolk Collegiate School

Norfolk Christian School

Catholic High School

Christ Church School

Nansemond Suffolk Academy