More than twenty students volunteered their time at the three-day Seaside Beach Volleyball Tournament on August 12 – 14. For the past twenty-nine years, this has been the largest amateur beach volleyball competition in the United States and is viewed by more than 10,000 people each day.
Two UWS Massage Therapy students and twenty Masters in Exercise and Sports Science students were part of the sports medical staff that treated approximately 500 patients for conditions such as chronic issues, rolled ankles, sprained ankles, cuts, general first aid and heat exhaustion.
Eleventh quarter master’s student Bradley Capp said, “We got a lot of experience with athletic taping, which they teach us about but we don’t get a ton of exposure to. It’s busy, and you get to see a lot of people.”
Jun Kawaguchi, the Clinical Supervising Physician of the Masters in Exercise & Sports Science Program, said that for students, this is a beneficial experience to work with professional athletes who have high expectations of care.
“Being there and getting to treat acute situations, the students must be on their toes and decide if the patient can play within a day or two hours,” Kawaguchi said. “The students in the master’s program all have an interest in treating sports injuries and this gives them first hand experience treating these athletes where everything happens fast.”
Peter Szucs, Director of Massage Therapy, said, “These types of events are great for the massage students to participate in because it gives them the opportunity to work right alongside the DC interns. The athletes benefit from an integrated approach to their care right on the beach just like they would at one of our integrated outpatient clinics.”
