Your child will work hard this season building relationships with teammates and coaches. But there is another important relationship that can make you and your child’s experience with sports the best it can be: The relationship between your child’s athletic trainer and coach.

Both have goals for your child as they progress, and both look out for your child’s best interest. 

Communication between coaching staffs and medical staffs should be open and frequent. Your athlete probably speaks to both on a daily basis, so these individuals should speak to each other just as often – as well as to you.

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These conversations can be as simple as an update on how your child is feeling, or it could be a longer conversation speaking on specifics to an injury and what the timetable is for recovery and rehabilitation. If the athletic trainer knows the coach and the practice routines, this makes your child’s return to practice activities and games much smoother and oftentimes quicker.

In addition to speaking with one another regarding the progress of your child’s injury or condition, the coach and athletic trainer can share information on the child’s overall well-being. Athletic trainers and coaches may have information or give insight as to why a particular athlete is not performing well.

For example, the coach may know that your child is anxious about a big game that’s approaching, or the athletic trainer may mention that your child has discussed their struggles with a test at school. Communication can open many doors to giving your child the best environment to succeed as an athlete. The relationship between athletic trainers and coaches is important for the health of athletes and important to the overall well-being of the athlete, too.

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Sports are fun for your children. Help make them less stressful by starting open communication among you, the coaching staff and the athletic trainer.

Laura Schnettgoecke is in her third season with the San Francisco 49ers as the team’s assistant athletic trainer. Before joining the 49ers, she was the head athletic trainer for the women’s soccer team at Texas Tech University. As a graduate assistant at Clemson University, she worked with 21 intercollegiate sports. She also was a student trainer at Kansas State University.

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