NEWS

ATs: Pro rugby’s first line of defense

In honor of National Athletic Training Month, MLR looks at the role of Certified Athletic Trainers

Rugby is a physical game. Back in 1985, the average New Zealand international weighed 187 pounds. 34 years on, the average All Black now tips the scales at 229 pounds. Major League Rugby players are averaging around 225 pounds; these are serious athletes.

With global advancements in diets and training methods, the size and speed of professional rugby players are increasing all the time. And in a contact sport like rugby, quicker, stronger players mean that safety, conditioning and injury prevention are paramount.

All nine teams in Major League Rugby employ professional Certified Athletic Trainers (ATCs). Team ATCs have become integral ingredients in the backroom staff, providing personalized care to each member of the playing squad.

“We develop a brotherhood through being around the guys daily,” says Ryan Pickert, Head Athletic Trainer for league leaders NOLA Gold. “Our treatment room in our clubhouse is unique in the sense that it is an open room where guys can come in and hang out while receiving or waiting to receive their treatment.”

“I’m at every practice, conditioning and weight-lifting session. I perform daily injury treatment and rehabilitation” says Jessica Glauser, Team Athletic Trainer for the Utah Warriors. “I believe having an athletic trainer for any team is immensely beneficial and necessary.”

Glauser has worked the United States rugby scene for seven years and is in her second season with the Warriors. Glauser stresses a key benefit teams derive from the ATC: their work means players are ready to practice full throttle, without limitation, so coaches can devote their full attention to game plans and strategies. If a team is hit by multiple injuries, gameday preparation – like hitting the scrum machine or running backs moves – suffers. In that way, trainers are the first line of defense.

“Keeping our guys out on the pitch in healthy playing condition is critical,” says Pickert. “My primary job is to keep our players healthy through injury prevention.”

A range of factors influences potential injury: preparation, diet, or just sheer bad luck. Team trainers mitigate as much as possible, supported by MLR’s specialized, World Rugby-compliant training and education programs that ensure ATCs are equipped with the best practices in injury prevention.

In MLR, matchday rosters feature 23 players, meaning a maximum of eight tactical substitutions over the 80 minutes, and no tactical timeouts. If an injury occurs, most players are assessed directly on the field while play continues. Trainers pace the sidelines during games tracing all the action and must discern whether a player needs attention. Because of the game’s speed and continuity, trainers prepare for the moments players might require attention through game-specific training exercises.

“We practice different situations as a group and have an Emergency Action Plan for each venue,” says Glauson. “Each emergent circumstance that occurred during our first season was handled smoothly by our sports medicine team because of the preparation we put in beforehand.”

Most of the ATCs’ successes occur at practices, beyond the public view. Since injury prevention is the primary goal, the trainers implement specific functional movement screens to better understand a player’s biomechanics.

“This allows for a trained eye to be present to watch for abnormal movements through gait analysis while the player is in action, which allows us to address faulty mechanics in real time,” says Dr. Amy Valenta, Medical Director of Major League Rugby and Glendale Rugby.

Some of the ATCs were new to rugby when they joined. Others, like the Warriors’ Glauser, have been embedded in the sport for some time. All saw the aspirations of the league and joined to become part of something truly special.

“I realized the potential that NOLA Gold had for growth and to become something really great,” says Picket. “I signed up to be a part of NOLA’s future success.”

They may not don a jersey, but a team’s ATC is undeniably central to their accomplishments.