The athletes at Parkway Central High School may be in the spotlight, but how do you think that they reach the spotlight.? That’s why Trainer Michael Aaron is here. An athlete’s health at Parkway Central is a big part of their ability to succeed in sports and dealing with injuries is a big part of the experience. Whether it’s game day or practice day, athlete health is Aaron’s number one concern.

In his fourth year here at Parkway Central, Aaron puts in a lot of work both at and away from Parkway Central. Before Aaron gets to Central, he does his office work at Mercy such as responding to emails, doing paperwork for some of the athletes and making important phone calls. He arrives to Central around 12:30 p.m. Then he touches base with Athletic Director John Theobald to get updates about the schedule for that day.

Following his daily meeting, Aaron prepares water for all the teams to use for practice and makes sure that all of his supplies are stocked up and ready to go. Once school gets out, he will evaluate, tape, and treat all injuries. Lastly he will talk to all the coaches about their players, injuries, and give them updates. But not everyday is the same.
“Working as an athletic trainer requires working abnormal hours, sometimes long hours, but the payoff of seeing athletes recover from injury and be successful is a huge reward,” Aaron said.
Aaron deals with a various array of injuries such as bumps and bruises to torn ACLs or concussions. Sometimes athletes are unsure if they are indeed injured and Aaron will give them a medical professional opinion to give them a better understanding of their injury.

“I had a small crack on the side of my foot, and Aaron helped me because if it weren’t for him I would have just kept running on it. He said that I should stop running on it and gave me some exercises for my foot” junior Sarah Espindola said, who runs varsity cross country for Parkway Central. Aaron will give his best estimate of whether to go to the doctor or not.
“Mike told me that I need to go see a doctor about my shoulder and I’m thankful that he did because I ended up needing surgery and the sooner that I found out the better, so that I could recover faster,” senior AJ Collier said, who went on to a healthy recovery.

“He has helped me recover after I got a mild concussion and helped me get back to workouts and practices,” sophomore Jack Williams said, who is a swimmer and plays volleyball.
Aaron also has a new assistant trainer whom he helps sharpen their skills so that someday they will be a trainer on their own. Aaron is also assisted by Brian “BG” Gaffney. BG is always working with Aaron whether its having a good laugh or helping the football team with water. Aaron also always attends sporting events. Aaron is required to attend every football game whether it is home or away. On other days, he will bounce from practice to practice or game to game in case of an emergency. Aaron will also always have his phone on him in case of emergency and will get there as soon as he can.

In his free time, Aaron also loves to be involved in his church community, and enjoys hunting, fishing and spending time with family and friends. But he really enjoys Colt game days too.
“My favorite memory at Parkway Central was having a very successful 2017-18 school year of sports, such as soccer winning State, football going to the Final Four, and it was just an overall great year of athletics,” Aaron said.