Patiently they wait, tennis racket in hand, staring at the floor.
Usually one at a time, they file into the training room at Millennium Tennis & Fitness Club after their matches on the hard, outdoor playing surface.
Whether it’s an ice pack for an elbow or the treatment of a blister on a foot, the players all know who they need to see.
“Earlier, I had a small, little stretch, but no, I haven’t been busy,” said John Anderson, USTA physio/athletic trainer. “With these guys, they know their bodies. Most of the time, it’s just getting ice or stretching them out so they can stay loose for the next day.”
Saturday’s winners advanced to the finals of the qualifying round of the USTA Freeman $10,000 Men’s Futures. Those matches are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. today, and the winners will advance to the Main Draw, which begins on Tuesday.
Cloudy and mild temperatures Friday gave way to mostly sunny skies with temperatures near 90 degrees Saturday afternoon. At one point, Anderson walked upstairs from the training room to get a better overview of the action.
“When you start adding on humidity and a lot of these guys play in cooler weather like Ohio, they sometimes have heat issues because they’re not used to the heat and humidity,” he said. “I’ve found the heat issues are probably the No. 1 thing I deal with for most of the guys.”
Anderson, 41, is head athletic trainer for men’s basketball and women’s golf at Georgia State University in Atlanta. Originally from Phoenix, he became a student trainer with the Seattle Mariners and at a community college in Phoenix while he completed undergraduate studies at Arizona State University .
He went to graduate school at the University of Oregon, where he spent one year with women’s soccer and one year as an intern with the Seattle Seahawks, he said.
“Because of the fact I was an intern, I wasn’t involved in major decisions,” he said. “Usually, that is saved for the staff members.”
After four years in minor-league basketball, he joined the training staff of the Milwaukee Bucks, where he worked for four years. Although he had seen serious injuries as an intern with the Seahawks, his involvement with the Bucks was more hands-on.
“I was actually hired with the Bucks organization,” he said. “The one I know is we had a dislocated elbow in the middle of a game. I assisted the head trainer and got him off the court.”
His next stop was at Georgia State, where he lives with his wife, Sandra, and son, Josh, 4. “I’m very thankful for them,” he said. “This is only my second year doing this, so they’re learning as I am.”
His supervisor at the USTA, Elizabeth Chaffin, assigns about six or seven trainers to work different tournaments, he said. This is the fourth of five tournaments he will work this summer, and his first visit to Joplin.
“A lot of people I talked to said I would really like Joplin,” he said. “The people are nice and the facility is unbelievable. A lot of the guys I talk to seem to like it here, too.
“With the USTA, I enjoy meeting different people and players with different backgrounds,” he said. “At this level, the guys are working toward the Challenger and ATP levels. I enjoy watching them continue to rise. The tough part is being away from my family for 10 days.”
Sports
July 14, 2012
Trainer plays helps keep Futures Tournament rolling
- High School Sports
- Missouri Southern Sports
- Pittsburg State Sports
-
-
Joplin women off to good start in Horton Smith Cup
Globe/Roger Nomer Debbie Doss, Joplin, hits a tee shot while competing in Monday's Horton Smith Tournament in Carthage.
Team Joplin has a decent start in its quest to wrangle the Horton Smith Cup back from Springfield.
Continued ... - Former MSSU pitcher Grant Conrad beginning career as pro umpire
- Parity highlights Oil Capital Racing Series
- Crusaders kings of the CFL, again
- Joplin Miners win Pryor Tournament
-
