After school, it is not uncommon to see students standing on one leg, using resistance bands, or even plunging their legs into large buckets of ice. This is especially true for student-athletes who go to the training room before practice to work on improving their injuries.

As the winter season wraps up, it is clear how injuries have affected athletes and their teams throughout the year.

Certified Athletic Trainers Allison Lane and Kathy Ayers both agree that ankle sprains are the most common injury that athletes have. Most minor injuries are from track runners due to the nature of the sport, while most major injuries come from football and wrestling.

One athlete frequently seen in the trainer’s room is cross country state champion, and more recently, winter track Patriot District champion, junior Ahmed Bile. “I wasn’t able to run and train with [the team] and because I wasn’t training for such a long time [the injury] affected me a lot,” Bile said. Bile was out with a sprained foot, but came back healthy three weeks before the cross country state meet.

Fortunately, Bile has been taking care of himself and helped the track team take the district championship two weeks ago. He and the rest of the team will have a shot to win the regional championship at George Mason University on Feb. 19.

Usually, injuries are not that big of a deal, but when star players are injured right before an important game or meet, it can really be a disheartening aspect of sports. “Kids get hurt early in the season sometimes and some get hurt late,” Lane said. Injuries are something you never want to see, but sometimes they are just part of the experience.

One of the worst injuries in the history of AHS, if not the worst, was when a football player had to be taken to a hospital for a subdural hematoma. He had hit his head and “suffered a bleed in his brain”. Head injuries are one of the most dangerous injuries, as they need constant monitoring and care.

“I got a concussion and I wasn’t able to wrestle for about two and a half weeks, but I came back and felt normal again,” junior Dane Harlowe said. Harlowe wrestles in the 125 lb weight class, and after taking second in the Northern Region Tournament, will go on to states at Robinson later this week.

Although most injuries come and go, some stay and may even cause an athlete to stop playing.

“I wrestled and played lacrosse, but over the summer I got a growth spurt and developed two severe curves that have taken me out of sports,” sophomore Tyler Laffin said. Laffin suffers from scoliosis. Laffin had only a moderate curve in his back throughout freshman year, but due to his rigorous activity and growth, he had to abstain from playing any sports this year.

Some injuries affect the way athletes can perform, as in the case of sophomore volleyball and basketball player Olivia Franjie. “I sprained my shoulder and I still played my position, but I wasn’t able to play right side because of it,” Franjie said.

As sports go on, injuries will follow, but with the help and advice of AHS’s athletic trainers, most student-athletes can come back healthy and ready for the next game.