Green Valley trainer helping keep students safe

Sean Ammerman

Green Valley High athletic trainer, Jeremy Haas, wraps the foot of senior defensive end Derrick Garrett.

By Sean Ammerman (contact)

Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008 | midnight

Sean Ammerman

Jeremy Haas, in his third year as Green Valley High's athletic trainer, dresses the ankle of Aysia Smith, a senior cheerleader. Haas assists in all Green Valley athletics.

Green Valley High athletic trainer Jeremy Haas spends most of his times during games as a spectator. But when injuries occur, Haas must immediately jump into action.

"I really enjoy the responsibility of being there for an individual," said Haas, who has been with Green Valley for three years. "It doesn't scare me to be in that position."

Haas experienced one of his toughest tests this football season when Green Valley defensive back LaQuan Phillips suffered a spinal contusion during a game Sept. 5. At the time, no one could tell how serious Phillips' injury was.

"When I get out there he is conscious and he is telling me his whole body is numb," Haas said. "Right there we knew it was a neck injury and we called 911. Our job was to make sure no one moves his neck."

With a neck injury, even the slightest movement of the head could be fatal. When paramedics arrived less than 10 minutes later, Haas and the other trainers were extremely careful as they hooked Phillips to the gurney.

Phillips, who was left temporarily paralyzed, still hasn't walked but is expected to make a full recovery. He rehabbing at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Sacramento, Calif.

"For a new trainer, who hasn't seen a lot of stuff, it can be pretty traumatic," Haas said. "It has never bothered me because I trust myself more then anybody."

Haas was introduced to sports medicine as a young athlete who spent plenty of time in the doctor's office. As soccer player growing up, he got to know a lot about the human anatomy through various broken bones in his ankle, wrist and ribs.

"I had a lot of injuries and that's what got me into it," he said.

After starting his career at a high school in his native Illinois, he moved to Henderson in 2005.

In 2006, he joined the now-defunct Las Vegas Gladiators as a athletic trainer for their final season in the Arena Football League.

As athletic trainer for Green Valley, Haas has developed a reputation as an easy man to talk to.

"Pretty much everyone on the team knows him as a friend and an athletic trainer," said Green Valley wide receiver Kyle Larimer. "He's a member of the team."

Football season is by far the most demanding for a high school athletic trainer.

As winter nears, his next duty is as the Southeast Division's assessor for the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association's weight management program.

All Henderson area prep wrestling teams must schedule an appointment with Haas, where he assesses each wrestler's appropriate weight classes for the season. The method prevents wrestlers from unhealthy ways of losing pounds to make a specific weight class.

"Obviously you're going to have some old school coaches who are used to the old way of doing things, and they'll hate it," he said. "But that doesn't matter. It's all about the safety. There have been some deaths of kids trying to lose too much weight."

Sean Ammerman can be reached at 990-2661 or sean.ammerman@hbcpub.com.