BC trainers are well respected
BC student athletes and coaches appreciate the training staff’s efforts
This year Bakersfield College added two new sports to its roster. With the addition of women’s beach volleyball and men’s soccer that gives Bakersfield College 20 sports total. That’s 20 sports for two full-time trainers Fred Smith and Mike Medeiros, one-part time trainer Tricia Gay, and four student trainers to assist them and get hands on learning.
With the addition of two new sports, and only seven people to help them, some think the trainers are understaffed and overworked. The training room opens at 11 a.m. and doesn’t close some nights until 8 p.m. They work all day helping the athletes recover from any injuries that they may have.
The athletes on these teams seem to all have an overall similar perspective when it comes to the training room. “The trainers are dope. Fred and Mike are funny, and they work really hard to help us out,” said student athletes Carlo Balmet and Kobe Wright.
“Yeah, I like the trainers. They are great, but I do think they need a little extra help. It’s pretty crowded in there. So it can take a while to be treated sometimes, but they will end up getting to you once they get a chance,” said Chris Hernandez, another student athlete.
Many athletes see the trainers every day. Both in season and out of season teams can come in and get treatment from them. The trainers seem to be well loved by the athletes as well as the coaches.
Carl Dean, offensive coordinator of the football team, attended Bakersfield College when he was younger and played football as well. “When I was here playing, Fred was here and he’s always been a great guy, and so are the other trainers. Mike and Tricia work their butts off, and do a good job treating everyone,” Dean said.
“I’ve even gone there a time or two to heal some old man injuries. What I do think is that the players do need to learn better time management. So many times I walk by and see them walking over there to get treatment thirty minutes before practice starts. When they should’ve been in their hours ago. So I do think part of the reason for it being crowded is because of the players waiting till the last minute to get treated.”
A suggestion that many athletes and coaches alike have is maybe getting more help, but that would be hard to do without a bigger training facility.
“Maybe if the training room was bigger it wouldn’t be so packed? I don’t know how they could do that though. Other than that the trainers are cool,” said Jared Diaz.
