After 3:00 p.m., when Upper School classes have ended but sports teams haven’t yet started their practices, the trainer’s room at Charlotte Latin becomes one of the busiest spots on campus. On a recent Wednesday, Head Athletic Trainer Andy Russo and Assistant Athletic Trainers Kristin Edwards and Cheri Pratt were administering to a dozen visitors, applying ice to thumbs, providing heating pads for sore backs, and carefully listening to student-athletes describing their aches and pains.

Russo turned his attention to Lila McConnell ’28, who plays softball for Latin and had come in looking for exercises that will strengthen her throwing arm. He pulled out a sheet of exercises from his files, telling her, “This is all stuff I did with college baseball players — it came from pro teams.” He then led her through a sequence of stretches, pointing out the nuances. “You’re trying to get your hips to disassociate from your shoulders,” he instructed her at one point.

“I see him a lot,” McConnell said of Russo after they finished the stretching regime and she took a photograph of the training plan. “I trust him so much — he is one of the most caring people that I have ever met.”

How did you end up in sports medicine?

My senior year of high school, I wanted to take AP chemistry — looking back, I only wanted to do that because my friends were doing it and it would have been awful. But I had two music classes and the only science class that fit into my schedule was an intro to sports medicine. I didn’t realize it when I was 18, but sports medicine combined two things I cared about. I grew up playing sports, so it felt natural to be in the athletic world, even when my road as a player ended. And I always felt like helping people was what I should do with my life. Now I’m 33 and all these years later, I still love it every day.

Did you expect that you would end up at a school like Latin?

Originally I was thinking Division 1 college or bust. So I went to James Madison for undergrad, but I could see how much the college sports world was infused by business concerns — and now it’s blown up into an even more massive industry. Latin feels like the spot I want to be in because you get to make an impact each day. The winning and losing is important, but it’s not the be-all and end-all. You can help mentor students and guide them on the right path. And you can see a kid start on, say, the basketball team in seventh grade and continue all the way through to their senior year. They grow and develop, both as an athlete and as a person.

How does that mentorship play out?

Some of it is the day-to-day conversations when kids come in to get an ankle taped: “How’s your day today? Did you have any tests? Did you get something good for lunch?” Kids don’t necessarily realize it, but those little conversations build confidence in speaking to adults and interacting with other people. We’re there for some of the best times, like state championships, and some of the worst times, like a serious injury. 

For a high-school kid, a lot of their identity can get wrapped up in being an athlete. Suddenly, you’re hurt and you can’t do it. With a long-term injury, we might be seeing a kid every day for six months or eight months. As a staff, we help coach kids through that one day at a time, and being a familiar face. The kids know “Oh, that’s Andy, that’s Kristin, that’s Cheri. They’re always at our games.” There’s a sense of security and comfort that comes from knowing that somebody’s there not just to support them, but also to take care of them.

How do different injuries correlate with different sports?

With throwing sports like baseball and softball, you see more upper-body injuries. With soccer and girls’ lacrosse, you’ll see more issues with ankles and knees. Swimming has chronic injuries, usually derived from movement patterns being slightly off. If somebody rotates a little funny, it eventually becomes a nagging issue. And then with all sports, at some point something weird comes along, so you have to be prepared for anything at any time.

What’s a misconception about the trainer’s office?

Sometimes students can be hesitant to visit us, thinking that if they do, they won’t get to play. That’s the furthest thing from the truth — we have a whole world of recovery options that we can offer student athletes. One recent example: the Booster Club generously helped us get a cold tub for student-athlete recovery.

Tell me something you’re good at that has nothing to do with your work here.

I’m pretty good at critical thinking. Around the house, when something is squeaking or there’s a loose part, it always piques my interest. I fidget with it until I figure it out.

What have you been curious about lately?

I’ve always read medical journal articles, but until I came to Latin, I hadn’t focused on research in secondary school settings. Lately I’ve been following a lot of sports science that employs wearables and other data tracking, and how that can help enhance student-athlete recovery. Coach [David] Paige has been gathering a lot of data by tracking sprint times, which he sees as directly correlating with performance. After a student-athlete has an injury, you can compare the sprint speed to the baseline so you have a specific metric for recovery. I’ve been thinking about what else we can do to measure where our student-athletes stand — we’re always looking for ways to enhance the recovery process.