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No athlete wants to get hurt.
But anyone who’s picked up a racket, laced up cleats or lined one up the middle knows injuries are an unfortunate reality of sports.
Helping ease that pain is why Nicholls State University and Thibodaux Regional Medical Center have entered a sports medicine partnership.
Officials on both sides of the handshake hope the cooperative endeavor will benefit the university by providing additional medical resources and benefit the medical center in public awareness and training opportunities.
“We think that athletics and recreation is an important part of higher education. It’s an important part of what we do here at Nicholls State University, and in order to do that and to carry out that part of our mission it requires that we take absolutely the best care of our student athletes,” said Nicholls President Dr. Bruce Murphy.
“Nicholls State and Thibodaux Regional have a good history of working together, nursing, the business school and so on and so forth, and this is just another very important milestone from our view point in cementing that relationship. I think the benefits are great to the community,” said TRMC CEO Greg Stock.
Nicholls currently has only two certified athletic trainers overseeing its roughly 300 student athletes playing more than a dozen sports. But that number of certified trainers is rising as TRMC will provide five for Colonels’ practices, events and games.
“We thought that we could do a better job of that to provide better care, to provide better service to our student athletes as well as to our student population in general if we were to engage in a partnership with Thibodaux Regional Medical Center,” said Murphy.
Nicholls athletic director Rob Bernardi said discussions between the university and the medical center began about a year ago when he asked the medical center for help as Nicholls was transitioning between trainers.
“Those conversations kind of evolved into a more comprehensive program. I think they clearly recognized that we had more needs than resources and they had the resources so this worked out very well for us,” said Bernardi. “ … Winning is important. The student athlete experience is certainly important. The health, the safety and the welfare of our student athletes is the biggest priority that we have, and this goes along to that end.”
The final negotiations were made in the past month when the boards of both institutions approved the agreement unanimously, and papers were signed at a news conference last Wednesday.
The biggest positive that Colonel fans would want to see from the agreement would be gains in recruiting, and Bernardi believes that can be possible.
“For coaches, I really believe this is going to be an outstanding recruiting advantage for us,” said the athletic director. “We can now bring prospects on our campus and we can literally tell them that you will get the best possible care by the best possible providers at the best possible facility. That means a lot to the parents and the prospects.”
University officials hope the partnership will have other positive consequences as well.
Bernardi foresees possible injury prevention thanks, among other things, to TRMC’s wonderful Wellness Center that is currently being constructed.
“The best way to keep people out of the training room is through education and through primary prevention, and I think we’re going to do that,” he said. “ … The facilities that Thibodaux Regional are building are the best in the state, best in the region, maybe the best in the entire southeast. Our student athletes will have access to those facilities, and so obviously the quality of care will improve greatly along with the access to those facilities.”
Nicholls’ president even thinks the partnership can benefit students who are non-athletes including those participating in Nicholls’ four-year bachelor’s degree program in athletic training.
“We hope that this will help our academic program in athletic training. When you have a more robust practicing staff that interacts and is seen, that’s going to help the academic side as well,” said Murphy. “ … We’re also going to be converting a part of [into a site for treatment so it’s going to provide a great opportunity for not just the student athletes but also the recreational student body population, anybody that has access to this building.”
Students in Nicholls’ athletic training degree program will have the opportunity to work with TRMC’s certified athletic trainers at sporting events.
“I think this agreement will be recognized throughout the country as the most creative and innovative way to deliver sports medicine services through this partnership with Thibodaux Regional,” said Bernardi.
Thibodaux Regional CEO Greg Stock (left) and Nicholls State President Dr. Bruce Murphy shake hands after inking a sports medicine partnership.
