High school students from as far away as Florida, Mississippi and Texas travleled to the New Orleans Saints facility Saturday for an athletic training symposium organized by Scottie Patton, head athletic trainer for the Saints.
More than 200 students signed up for the event which included classroom lectures and hands-on training from Saints staff, staff from LSU, University of Louisiana Lafayette and Nicholls State athletic trainers. The symposium lasted seven hours. The classroom lectures featured nutrition, injury prevention and treatment. In the hands-on training, students learned various taping techniques, rehabilitation ideas and experienced a modalities lab.
"From an operations standpoint, this year has been much easier (than the past two years) and each year we think about ways to make it better, different and more interactive and it has gotten better each year," Paton said.