Sideline Support

Making its debut this school year, the adult Sports Medicine Internship Program at TPHS brings graduate students to Falcon fields and courts, lending further help to the TPHS athletic department staff.

While TPHS already has a sports medicine internship program for high school students, the graduate student program is now running at all four comprehensive high schools in the district. TPHS was the first to welcome the interns in November: two graduate students from Point Loma Nazarene University’s Master of Sports Medicine program.

Now, interns Angelina Hargrove and Ashley Castaneda work with TPHS athletic trainer Zayna Green during practices and games to serve the large population of student-athletes on campus.

“They contribute a ton,” Green said. “Because they have a little more knowledge and they’re allowed to do a little more than our high school students, it helps when we have multiple sporting events on campus to know we have someone qualified if an athlete gets hurt and I’m not there.”

In addition to offering support to Green, the program also provides the interns hands-on experience in sports medicine at high schools, all while receiving class credit toward graduation.

Both Hargrove and Castaneda have bachelor’s degrees in sports medicine and are pursuing master’s degrees in athletic training.

“Prior to starting the [PLNU] graduate program, I did an internship at Cal State Bakersfield and worked at a physical therapy clinic, which led to wanting to be an athletic trainer,” Castaneda said.

Both interns worked for San Diego Loyal SC, a now-defunct professional mens soccer team, so the hundreds of students they now work with at TPHS represent quite a change.

“Being at a school like Torrey … [the adult interns] get to see a pretty big element of sports medicine,” Green said. “Not everybody’s going to work at a college, not everyone’s going to work at a pro team because there aren’t enough.”

For TPHS student interns in the sports medicine program, working with the graduate students has also been a rewarding experience.

“It has been a really fun experience getting to know people that are going into the same profession that I potentially want to do for the rest of my life,” Addison Jester (10), one such intern, said.

Next school year, a new set of interns will be placed at TPHS. Beneficial to the athletes, the interns and the sports medicine program, the interns are sure to leave a positive impact on the TPHS athletic community.