being recognized as the experts we are, in the aforementioned areas. This has been highlighted by a front page article in the Herald and Record newspapers which highlighted the impor-tance of athletic trainers in the secondary school setting. ATSNJ Hall of Famer and Ewing High School Athletic Trainer, Dave Csillan, New Jersey has been focused on various na-tional media outlets throughout the month of August. Dave who co-authored the NATA's Consensus Statement "Pre-season heat-acclimatization guidelines for secondary school athletics" most noticeable piece was a feature on the 8/25/09 NBC's today show in which he was interviewed by Tiki Barber. In addition, there has been mass media coverage in which a New Jersey athletic trainer was the keep information source seen or heard in the Parent Paper, The Record, The New York Times, The Atlantic Herald News, The Star Ledger, New Jersey 101.5 Radio, Q104.3 Radio and WFAN 660 AM Sports Radio. The public rela-tions committee and our tech-nology committee continue to work together to ensure that the ATSNJ is the source of in-formation in our field for its members, the public community and the media. For example, you can actually tweet the ATSNJ! Our society continues to ad-dress how the public who has

Dear Colleagues and Friends, With the change of the leaves in the autumn season comes the continued change and improve-ment in our great profession of athletic training. I hope you share my excitement for what is happening. In the past few weeks many events are taking place both on the state and national levels that are shaping the future of athletic training. As I spoke in March at our 2009 annual meeting I asked the ques-tion, what’s next in our evolu-tion? Whether you work in a high school, college, profes-sional, clinical or other emerging setting or you are starting your own business, the opportunities are endless. Just recently, Senator Paul Sarlo a long-time proponent of youth sports, unveiled legislation that he will introduce when the Leg-islature reconvenes this Fall to require high school athletic departments to have a certified athletic trainer on staff in order to properly treat sports-related injuries, head trauma and heat exhaustion. The members of the Governmental Relations Committee, Executive Council, Secondary School Setting and other key ATSNJ members have already begun working on the language to this bill that will ensure that the proper protec-tions are in place when the legislature does convene in the fall.

The ATSNJ and its leadership will dedicate itself to getting school administrators to under-stand the importance of em-ploying an athletic trainer. This is important not only for Sena-tor Sarlo’s Requirement but also in situations where athletic trainers may need additional staffing at the secondary school setting. We must educate these administrators of what the em-ployed athletic trainer does during their normal work day. Educate the need for even greater employment opportuni-ties within the core of our pro-fession. In March, I also spoke of want-ing to develop a brand recogni-tion for athletic training in New Jersey. A brand recognition of: Athletic Trainers are medical professionals who are experts in injury prevention, assess-ment, treatment and rehabili-tation. The process has begun, with the help of the New Jersey and national media, we are now

State of the Society Address: ATSNJ, Inc. President

RETURN ADDRESS: ATSNJ, INC. SECRETARY

C/O JOANNE PLOCH, ATC VERNON TWP. HIGH

SCHOOL PO BOX 800

COUNTY ROUTE 565 VERNON, NJ 07462

Fall 2009 Volume 8 Issue 2 Special points of in-terest:

• View the extended newslet-ter and past issues at www.ATSNJ.org

• Spring ATSNJ News submis-sion deadline March 15, 2009

• EC Business Meeting minutes can be found at www.ATSNJ.org

• ATSNJ on Twitter www.twitter.com/ATSNJ

• Save the date: ATSNJ meeting March 1, 2010

Inside this issue:

Let’s Tackle Sports Injuries

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ATSNJ Meeting 3

ATSNJ Work-shop

4

ATC serves up for charity

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Golf Outing Candids

6

Fair Practice Act Settled

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greater access to that athletic trainer can be reimbursed for caring for them. Recent good news from the NATA front will assist us as we move forward on this front. NATA and the American Physical Therapy Association have settled the federal court antitrust lawsuit NATA initiated in 2008. The few areas of this to highlight are: 1) The APTA acknowledges that athletic trainers are health care profes-sionals, something it has never done before. 2) The APTA concedes that there are similarities in the scopes of practices of the two professions and that there is some overlap. PTs can no longer claim ex-clusivity in providing therapy and, specifically, manual therapy. The statement means that ATs are quali-fied to provide therapy, as defined by the American Medical Association’s CPT codes. 3) Both associa-tions agree to the other’s definition of their professional practice and how each is defined, in this case, by the American Medical Association’s CPT Code Manual. This section also corrects long-standing and widespread misinformation within the physical therapy profession that the PMR codes were for exclu-sive use by physical therapists. The reimbursement issue will affect everyone, even those not seeking reimbursement, as it will strengthen the value of our profession. We have many great leaders in our society who love our profession dearly but we need additional lead-ers to step to the forefront. We need to continue to move our profession and our society forward in new directions. We need to continue to be politically active and continue to advance the profession and protect our interests. There continues to be lots to do and there will continue to be more to do in the coming months and years ahead. And we need members willing to meet the challenge by giving back to the profession they love. This fall, we will be opening nominations for the positions of Secretary, Northern Representative and Southern Representative; Consider giving back by serving in one of these roles. Respctfully yours, Mike Prybicien, MA, ATC, CSCS, EMTB President, ATSNJ Inc.

President’s message—continued

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“We need additional leaders to step to the forefront.”

Did you know??

Wayne Hills High School wel-comes Corinne Hyslop as the new Assistant Athletic Trainer. Corinne is a native of northern New Jersey and has returned to the area after attending school.

Corinne is a graduate of Quinnip-iac University in Connecticut, where she earned a Bachelors degree in Athletic Training. She then went on to achieve a Masters degree in Education from Alvernia University in Pennsylvania and a Masters of Science from California University of Pennsylvania. Corinne looks forward to the 2009-2010 sports season and working with the student athletes and staff at Wayne Hills.

Let’s Tackle Sports Injuries

Congratulations to Luke Hensel, Head Athletic Trainer at Princeton Day School, for his participa-tion in Ann Rappoport’s article “Let’s Tackle Sports Injuries. This article was published in the back to school issue of Metrokids. Here is a brief excerpt from the article: Kids are taking a beating,” says Fred Palfrey, athletic trainer at the Tatnall School in Wilmington, DE.

Every day, approximately 8,000 children are treated for sports injuries in emergency rooms. Ap-proximately 6 percent of these involve concussions, according to the Brain Injury Association of America. Sports injuries cost our society billions of dollars.

Authors Michael Sokolove (Warrior Girls, Simon & Schuster, $25) and Mark Hyman (Until It Hurts, Beacon, $23.95) lambaste our current sports culture’s emphasis on early and year-round specializa-tion and glorification of high pain thresholds.

“Competition is intense, fierce,” says athletic trainer Aimee Keough of Springside School in Philadel-phia. Half of today’s youth sports injuries are related to “overuse,” notes Luke Hensel, head athletic trainer for Princeton (NJ) Day School. He’s been tracking injuries and his numbers are corroborated by national studies. You can read the rest of this article at:: http://www.metrokids.com/september09/tackle-sports-injuries.html

We are moving the state conference to the Wyndham in Plainsboro and we are going to change the format dramatically! This year the state conference will be held on Monday, March 1, 2010. We debated changing the date because of weather concerns, but it seems to be the most favorable time for our state association both financially and scheduling wise. There is no way we can control the weather and realize it's always a risk when you plan a meeting in March. We are hopeful that this year we will have favorable weather. The State Conference Has Changed Venues! It was determined that we really outgrew the space at the Holiday Inn and consequently, we have moved to a bigger venue at the Wynd-ham. The Wyndham is the former Merle Lynch educational headquarters and boasts over 45,000 sq feet of meeting space with a great 400 seat ampitheater. We are featuring Nationally recognized Speakers for our meeting! Exact schedule will be released soon! New Format! We will be offering a pre-course on Sunday for those who are interested in picking up additional CEUs. This year we are fortunate to have Phillip Donnelly doing a four hour minicourse on "Evaluation of the throwing shoulder". Phil is one of the leading experts in the country, if not the world, on this topic. We are extremely fortunate to have him available for this mini course. Call for Abstracts! Do you have an interesting case you’d like to present? Are you involved in a research project? We are looking for members to present 10 minute abstracts at our state meeting. If interested, contact Eric Nussbaum or Vicci Hill-Lombardi. We are increasing the number of CEUs! We are offering 7 CEU's this year for the Monday meeting and 4 CEUs for Sundays precourse. Those who need CEUs can get 11 at your state conference! Student Conference! Because we have the extra meeting space, we will be running a student conference on Sunday afternoon as well 1-5pm. We are cur-rently working on topics and format, but hope to make it a great opportunity for students to interact and improve their knowledge of athletic injuries. Awards Ceremony and Social Sunday Evening: We are going to hold a formal awards ceremony and social on Sunday evening at the Wyndham. We wanted to create a formal opportu-nity for members to socialize, interact and honor our award winners. Details are forthcoming. We are Changing Registration: Registration for events will be done on an ala cart basis this year so you can chose the events you would like to attend. If you only want to attend monday, you will only pay for Monday. If you only want to attend the pre-course on Sunday, you only pay for the pre-course. If you want to be a part of the pre-course, Awards/Social and Monday course, we will offer a discount rate for the package. Registration will be done online to streamline our process. Rooms are available at the Wyndham for a discounted rate! The Wyndham just completed an 8 million dollar renovation of their guest rooms. The room rate has been significantly discounted for those who want to stay over Sunday night. Please mark your calendar and save the date! This will be a conference you will not want to miss! Sincerely, Eric Nussbaum ATSNJ-President Elect Conference Chairman

Big Changes are in place for the state conference in 2010!

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Kean University inducts first National Athletic Training Education Honor Society Class

On April 20, 2009 an initiation ceremony was held to induct 8 Kean University Ath-letic Training students into the National Athletic Training Education Honor Society Iota Tau Alpha – Alpha Lambda Chapter. The Kean University chapter is the first Iota Tau Alpha chapter at a New Jersey college or University. The purpose of Iota Tau Alpha is to function as an honor and professional society for students of Athletic Training Education. Membership requirements include: 1) completing at least one term of the second year of a four-year curriculum or its equivalent. 2) completing at least three term courses in Athletic Training Education with an average grade of B or better of which at least one is not an introductory course 3) be in good academic standing 4)have an overall GPA of 3.45 or higher. Seniors inducted were: Valeria Bozza, Carolina Castro, Mark Harrington, and Christopher O’Boyle. Juniors inducted were: Eric Centofanti, Ngan Chung, Sarah Lyon and Victoria Stanislawski. Kean Uni-versity’s Athletic Training Education Clinical Coordinator Gwen Cleaves, MA, ATC, is the honor society’s advisor. Front row (Left to right): Ngan Chung, Victoria Stanislawski, Carolina Castro, Val-erie Bozza Back row (left to right): Sarah Lyon, Mark Harrington, Christopher O'Boyle, Eric Centofanti

Congratulations to: Seton Hall, who in August, was awarded 10 years of continuing ac-creditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE), as a result of a comprehensive evaluation, in-cluding a self-study and on-site visit. Congratulations to Mary Murray, Carolyn Goeckel, and colleagues.

Christina Emrich, MS, ATC of Red Bank Regional High School was awarded the NATA/Secondary School Athletic Trainer Award spon-sored by Gatorade for District 2. The award was created to recog-nize certified athletic trainers who have provided exceptional ser-vice and dedication to their schools and who additionally are signifi-cantly involved in the greater school community.

Sarlo Introduces Measure to Require High Schools to Have Certified Athletic Trainers on Staff TRENTON – Senator Paul A. Sarlo, a long-time proponent of youth sports, today unveiled legislation that he will in-troduce when the Legislature reconvenes this Fall to require high school athletic departments to have a certified athletic trainer on staff in order to properly treat sports-related injuries, head trauma and heat exhaustion. “School sports give our kids an op-portunity to be active, healthy, and learn the fundamentals of the game, but proper precautions must be in a place to make sure these activities are safe,” said Senator Sarlo, D-Bergen, Essex and Passaic, who also volunteers as a coach for various sports in the Wood-Ridge recreation leagues. “It seems like common sense that when a team is practicing, that there be a trained medical professional on hand to provide immediate care if need be. This bill is about keeping our student athletes safe and out of harm’s way.” The bill would require all high schools in New Jersey that maintain an athletic department to have an athletic

Congratulations to NATA Distinguished Service Award winner Gene Monahan of the NY Yankees and NATA, CUATC, Division III Head Athletic Trainer of the Year, Tim Sensor of Kean University.

trainer on staff in an effort to reduce injury and illness among student athletes. Senator Sarlo said that in some cases involving serious injury or for athletes with pre-existing medical condi-tions, immediate medical attention from a trained professional could mean the difference between life and death. He also noted that, particularly at a time of the year when many schools are drilling football players and other athletes for the upcoming school sports sea-sons in the final days of summer, a medically-certified athletic trainer at practices would be able to spot the warning signs for heat exhaus-tion, and step in if appropriate. “Many high school coaches do a great job inspiring their kids and teaching them the prin-ciples of the game, but they don’t necessarily have the medical training needed to see the warning signs of heat stroke or minor concus-sions,” said Senator Sarlo. “Schools should have an athletic trainer on site who can step in and make sure our kids are staying healthy and safe, in practice and on game day. Our kids safety should be of the utmost importance when they participate in high school athletics.” Senator Sarlo said he became interested

in the issue after hearing about a case in Ken-tucky in which a football coach was charged with “reckless homicide and wanton endan-germent” after a student collapsed and died from complications brought on by heat stroke during a particularly intense practice. Senator Sarlo added that while the coach was found not guilty yesterday and the death was ruled as accidental, the issue of student athletes’ health and safety during practices and games is still important. The lawmaker added that many coaches have to be more reactive than proactive to medical conditions, simply be-cause they don’t have the medical training necessary to identify warnings of dangerous medical conditions before they become seri-ous. “In New Jersey, we’ve already seen that pre-existing medical conditions, such as heart conditions, or serious injury for student ath-letes can spell tragedy,” added Senator Sarlo. “Having a certified athletic trainer on-hand reduces the risk, and ensures that in-jured or ill players have access to immediate medical care if they should need it.”

Congratulations to Scott Royer and his lovely wife Lisa, who were married on August 1, 2009.

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Claire’s Ride for A Reason is an annual cycling event to raise awareness and to support research for the SUDC (Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood) Program, a program under the CJ Foundation for SIDS. SUDC occurs in children beyond the age of twelve months. SUDC is a diagnosis of exclusion when the cause of death remains unexplained after a thorough investigation and autopsy. The incidence of SUDC is approximately 1:100,000 children, that’s 50 times less common then SIDS. In June 2006, Claire’s father, certified athletic trainer Don Tomaszewski, MS, ATC – Manager of the Valley Hospital Sports Insti-tute and a friend, created Claire’s Ride for A Reason. The event was a 14 day, cross-country bike tour from San Diego, CA to Hackensack, NJ - connecting the site of the SUDC research hospital to the home of the SUDC Program. This year, Claire’s Ride for A Reason 2009 was a one-day cycling event covering 200 miles from Ringwood, NJ to Cape May. Don and his team of 7 riders and 2 support vehicles completed the trek on Saturday, June 27, beginning at 5:30 AM and reaching Cape May by 8:00 PM. The plan included following a designated bike route skirting down the center of the state. The average speed was 17.9 miles per hour. And the total pedaling time was about 11 hours, with out getting lost and with a sore back-side! For more information on SUDC or to make a tax deductible donation to the Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood Program, visit www.clairesride.org or send checks payable to: Claires Ride/CJF to: Claire’s Ride, 27 Pequot Road, Ringwood, NJ 07456.

The first year Deptford High School certi-fied athletic trainer Debbie Rivers started her volleyball tournament, she probably never thought she would be raising money to benefit her own child ten years later. For the past 10 years, Debbie has organ-ized a volleyball tournament that started out as a fundraiser for her student athletic training program and has now become a charity tournament to benefit family mem-bers in the Deptford High School Com-munity. Initially, the volleyball tournament was a fun way to allow students to play against coaches and was held at a local recreation facility with great volleyball courts. When the facility changed hands, the tournament was moved to the high school due to an increase in rental of the facility. Over the years, more interest grew, which helped out the student ath-letic training program at the high school since the money the fundraiser brought in was for their group. Four years ago, one of her student’s younger brother was diagnosed with cancer and the family was having a tough time. Instead of giving the money to the student athletic training program, she decided make the volleyball tournament a fundraiser for the boy and his family.

Every year since then, the tourna-ment has been held to donated money to a charity or a family who has a sick family member. This past year, the money raised was donated to A.I. Dupont Chil-dren’s Hospital Cardiac Ward in Wil-mington, Delaware where Debbie’s son has surgery for transposition of the greater vessels with an atrial and ven-tricular septal defect when he was 6 days old. The year before a donation was made on behalf of a coach’s son who died of brain cancer. This coming year’s cause was voted on by Debbie and her athletic training students and will be for multiple sclerosis for one of the student’s family members. In the past four years, Deb-bie’s volleyball tournament has raised about $2000 for charity. The volleyball tournament is held in the first weekend in June and is open

to all Deptford High School students. It is promoted on the high school events calendar and by posters and signs hung out around school and the local commu-nity. Each team is co-ed with the winners taking home a trophy and t-shirts. Give-a-ways in the form of gift cards are also given out in a raffle. Debbie’s son is now five years old and is doing great. He loves to run around and, with the exception of a stress test he must have when he is seven years old, should be able to play sports without any complications. Debbie’s wonderful efforts have provided awareness and monetary contri-bution to organizations that can help those members in her community who suffer from terrible conditions. Her self-less act of organizing this volleyball tour-nament year after year has shown how much one person can make a difference and the influence she has made in bringing her community together to support a great cause. Debbie Rivers has been the athletic trainer at Deptford High School for the past 15 years.

Deptford High School Athletic Trainer Serves Up for Charity By Jaclyn Norberg, MS, ATC

Claire’s Ride for A Reason 2009

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The Burlington County Athletic Trainers held there 18th An-nual Student Aide and Coura-geous Athlete Awards dinner at Kove Catering in Edgewater Park, NJ on Monday evening June 2, 2009. One hundred twenty-four were in atten-dance to honor twenty- seven athletic trainer student aides and twelve courageous athletes from Burlington County High Schools.

Burlington County Awards

Through the generosity of area health care systems and providers $3500 in scholar-ships were awarded to three well deserving student aides. The sponsors were: Recon-structtive Orthopaedics, Dr. Craig Kimmel, Velocity Sports Performance, Cooper Bone and Joint, Virtua Health, Waldron, Holton, & Hickey Internal Medicine, and Rehab Connection.

Student aide scholarship awardees were Melissa Walker, Pemberton High School, Brittney Boyle, Pemberton High School, and Jeremy Eith, Cherokee High School.

ATSNJ Golf Outing Candids

This year the EATA convention will be held in Boston, Massachu-setts from January 8th through the 11th at the Copley Marriott. The last day for pre-registration is De-cember 20, 2009. There will be 15.5 CEU’s for this meeting. Go to www.goeata.org for registration & program information.

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Page 7 Volume 8 Issue 2

DALLAS, September 25, 2009 – The National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) announced today that an out-of-court settlement was reached in its Fair Practice Lawsuit against the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) on Sept. 21, 2009. The NATA filed suit against the APTA for antitrust violations that unfairly restricted athletic trainers from practicing manual therapy and gaining access to continuing education courses on manual therapy. The case was scheduled for a status and scheduling hearing in Federal District Court in Dallas on Sept. 22. The centerpiece of the settlement is a Joint Statement on Cooperation between APTA and NATA, signed by the president of each association’s board of directors. Highlights of the Joint Statement include: That physical therapists are neither the exclusive providers of manual therapy nor the exclusive providers of physical medicine and rehabili-tation services. The APTA agrees with NATA that athletic trainers are qualified to perform these services.

• That the scopes of practice of athletic trainers and physical therapists overlap.

• APTA recognition of athletic trainers as health care professionals qualified to assist their patients.

• That APTA will not make false or misleading statements about athletic trainers, including improper references to them as “unqualified,” “not qualified,” “non-qualified” or any variation of these terms. The APTA agreed that it will not make false or deceptive statements that mislead patients, employers or others regarding athletic trainers.

• That athletic trainers are qualified and authorized to provide interventions within their state scope of practice and licensure.

• That decisions related to reimbursement are to be decided by public and private insurers, state and federal legislators and regulators, patients and other stakeholders.

• That athletic trainers are qualified to pursue continuing education in manual therapy, and that APTA’s internal policies regarding con-tinuing education does not apply to athletic trainers in the 47 states where ATs are licensed or regulated.

“I am pleased that we can move forward with respect for each profession’s knowledge, skills and abilities in manual therapy and physical medicine and rehabilitation,” said Marjorie J. Albohm, MS, ATC, president of NATA. “In this time of health care reform, it is more important than ever that all health care professionals work as a team to deliver high quality, safe, affordable patient care. Athletic trainers contribute to their patients’ wellness, physical activity level and musculoskeletal health, no mat-ter the age of the patient.” Albohm said the settlement is also a victory for patients, public and private health insurers, employers and physicians because they will all have increased access to and choice of health care professionals. “We look forward to delivering therapy services and protecting the welfare of our patients,” she said. The two national associations agreed to confer periodically on issues of common interest and areas of friction, as they arise. “We look forward to a spirit of mutual cooperation with the APTA,” Albohm said. “But we will be vigilant in protecting our members’ ability to practice to the fullest extent of their scope of practice and qualifications,” Albohm said.

NATA filed the civil lawsuit in February 2008 because of ongoing anti-competitive actions taken by the APTA. NATA was informed by members in Fall 2007 that the APTA and the Orthopaedic Section of the APTA had taken actions to restrict athletic trainers’ access to education in – and the practice of – manual therapy techniques. Manual therapy is included in the athletic training competencies, scope of practice and licensure. NATA believed that the APTA’s attempt to limit access to manual therapy courses was an attempt to prevent athletic trainers from competing fairly with physical therapists in providing therapy services. Both associations will issue the “Joint Statement on Cooperation” to their respective members. Additionally, APTA and NATA will provide a prominent link to the joint statement on their home pages for one year and on a public-access Web page for an additional 24 months. To review the Joint Statement on Cooperation and other related documents, go to www.nata.org.

NATA’s Fair Practice Lawsuit Settlement Benefits Members

President Michael Prybicien, ATC 102 Patricia Place Clifton, NJ 07012 973-591-1897 mikep@atsnj.org Past President Robb S. Rehberg, PhD, ATC Coord. Clinical Education Athletic Training Program William Paterson University 300 Pompton Road Wightman Gymnasium #123 Wayne, NJ 07470 (973)720-2267 robb@atsnj.org President Elect Eric Nussbaum enuss@atsnj.org (908) 670-7115

Treasurer Steven Viana, MA, ATC 210 Spruce Mill Lane Scotch Plains, NJ 07076 908.963.8561 phone 908.925.0804 fax sviana@atsnj.org Secretary Joanne Ploch, ATC Vernon Twp. High School PO Box 800 County Route 565 Vernon, NJ 07462 (973)764-2995 jploch@vtsd.com

Northern Region Rep. Vicci Hill-Lombardi, ATC Seton Hall University School of Graduate Medical Education 400 South Orange Ave South Orange, NJ 07079 (973) 275-2486 lombarvi@shu.edu Central Region Rep. Regina M. Dain, ATC Rider University Alumni Gymnasium 2083 Lawrenceville Road Lawrenceville, NJ 08648 (609)896-5052 rdain@rider.edu Southern Region Rep. Linda Mazzoli, ATC Cooper Bone and Joint Inst. 1 Cooper Plaza Suite 411 Camden, NJ 08103 (856)912-0416 Mazzoli-Linda@CooperHealth.edu

ATSNJ INC. EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

8

RETURN ADDRESS: ATSNJ, INC. SECRETARY

C/O JOANNE PLOCH, ATC VERNON TWP. HIGH

SCHOOL PO BOX 800

COUNTY ROUTE 565 VERNON, NJ 07462

Behind every great athlete is an ATC.