Dan Thornton

A discussion was had regarding athletic trainer availability. This came up because the trainer was not available to wrap an ankle before a practice. Parents want to know what the athlete is supposed to do when there is no trainer to take care of wrapping? Parents are concerned that the athlete will re-injure if not properly wrapped because athlete feels pressured to practice and/or play. We talked about the athletes learning to wrap themselves.

We only have one trainer for 24 hours a week at a cost of $24,000 a year. Of course, there is no money to get another trainer or increase the hours of the trainer we have.

Talked about how other schools handle situation. Haverhill has a trainer at school and one at the stadium. Most schools have sporting facilities on site. We unfortunately have limited facilities and have to go off-site for many of our sporting events.

Dan faces the dilemma on many days of trying to decide where the trainer is best suited to be when he has events sometimes at 3 different locations.

A discussion was had regarding coaches getting certified in CPR/First Aid as a requirement of the position. Everyone thought this was a good idea.

We talked about paramedics and police at games. Dan looked into this and the cost outweighs what we take in at the games.

Someone suggested that we get the names of volunteer fireman/EMS workers from the three towns who might want to sign up to be present at a game for a fee. Dan was going to figure out how many events are not covered so that PAA could figure out the cost and then decide if we could fund such an endeavor.

There was also a discussion about looking into the possibility of someone going to school who needs to do an internship to assist the trainer.

Larry Fisher

More discussion was had on the idea of bringing all the booster groups into the PAA to accomplish bigger goals. Someone mentioned that Amesbury has the one booster group in place and Dan was going to contact the AD over there to see how it works.

At the next meeting, we are going to discuss more in depth about how this may work with the idea to then invite a representative from each booster group to attend the March meeting and present our ideas.

PAA Website

Marie Pinzone is in charge of the website and is happy to post events, announcements etc. Contact is MrsPinz@comcast.net

. Fundraising

Lacrosse is hosting a Comedy night at the Roma Restaurant in Haverhill on February 25, 2010. Door opens at 7:00 p.m. and show starts at 8:00 p.m. Cost is $20.00 which doesn’t include dinner.

Adjourned at 9:10 p.m.

Next Meeting February 3, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. at High School