The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, December 04, 1978, Page Page 16, Image 16
IJSC's Dave Hit
I ? *
Footb
By Christopher Simpson
Oamtcock Staff Writ*
With the pressure of playing f
big time college football scheduU
at USC being so great, perhaps th<
most underrated member o:
vui suy squau is neaa irainer JL?av<
Huffsteller.
"I see my job as the preventior
of injuries and the rehabilitation o
an injury if it does occur," Huff
i
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steller said. "The prevention o
injuries mainly concerns th<
j proper fitting of equipment, whili
rehabilitation could be anythin]
from a simple whirlpool to i
complex rebuilding program tha
could last several months."
Although fully staffed with si:
assistants, the head Carolina
r . o? un
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DOUB
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^ Students 5%
t
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| I Abe and oil ci
i I B|??i UP TO 5 QUARTS
|(&||f 10W 30 0IL
I L WHEEL ,
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Royal
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ffsteller all
trainer
trainer aIwavs tn Havp mnrp
than enough work to do.
i "My normal day starts at 7 a.m.
; and usually ends around 9:30 at
; night," he said. "This enf
compasses a routine check of the
; players every morning at The
Roost, a four hour stint in the
i medical center, afternoon practice
f and evening rehabilitation and
equipment maintenance."
r
'I prefer
natural grass.
rv
wur experience is
| we have more
bad injuries that
wouldn't occur
on grass...*
USC Head Trainer
Dave Huffsteller
f
b Born and raised near Knoxville,
e Tenn., Huffsteller attended
; Maryville (Tenn.) College and
a played wingback on the football
t team.
While attending college though,
it Huffsteller was involved in a car
a accident.
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takes go<
The wreck left him with two
severely broken legs.
"This ended my athletic career
very abruptly," Huffsteller said.
"I was involved in extensive
therapy for almost a year and
during that time I became in
terested in being a trainer."
AFTER RECEIVING a degree
in health education at Maryvllle,
Huffsteller attended Indiana
University pursuing his masters
degree in physical therapy. He
then worked at Eastern Kentucky
University and Baylor before he
came to USC in 1971.
It was during this period of time
that USC and then-coach Paul
Dietzel decided to replace the
existing grass at Williams-Brice
Stadium with an artificial surface.
The move still disturbs Huffsteller.
"I prefer natural grass," he said.
"Our experience is we have more
bad injuries, knees and cartledge,
that wouldn't occur on grass."
The USC trainer explained the
reason for the decision for installing
Astroturf; "in 1971, AT
(Astroturf) was untested," he said.
USC, as all schools, felt AT would
reduce injuries."
Unfortunately for USC, time has
proved just the opposite. As a
result, Huffsteller and the
coaching staff have imDlementeri a
program to curb Astroturf related
injuries.
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Saturday
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"We don't practice in the
stadium during the week," Huffsteller
said. "The coaching staff
here is super, the best I've seen as
far as prevention of injuries is
concerned. The drills we use in
practice and on the Astroturf are
Hpcidn^r) fn rwlllpp nlAvor in inrinc
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while improving player skills."
One of the most important
aspects of avoiding injuries is the
selection of the proper shoe to be
worn by the players. This is
another of Huffsteller's seemingly
never ending duties.
IN PROPER shoe selection
we're mainly concerned with the
weather conditions at game time,
the player's health and the position
he plays," Huffsteller explained.
"In most cases, if the weather is
dry at game time, the Carolina
team uses a flat soled shoe, similar
to a tennis shoe. In wet weather the
team switches to a short rubber
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cleated shoe which allows better
traction and less slippage."
A major area of concern recently
has been the use of pain killers on
college football players. Ex^
plaining Carolina's policy on drug
use, Huffsteller emphatically
states, "we never use pain killers.
Pain can be very beneficial by
telling us if the player is doing
more damage to further harm his
body. Without this warning signal
we'd never know if he was until it
was too late," Huffsteller explained.
With today's college football
programs often referred to as
merely a business, the pressure
put on the players to win has intensified
over the last two decades.
"Yes it's a business " HnffstplW !
said. "But the pressure we see is
not from the players or the staff,
but the fans. Ten or fifteen years
ago this rarely existed, today fan
pressure makes all our jobs much
tougher."
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