Keeping Athletes Safe
PlaySafe is a nonprofit organization providing athletic trainers to local high schools in South Carolina and Georgia
Only 37% of high schools have access to full-time athletic training services. We’re on a mission to change that.
HOW ATHLETIC TRAINERS HELP STUDENT ATHLETES
As an organization, PlaySafe educates, promotes, supports, and fosters healthy lifestyles, wellness, and safe athletic participation. The biggest risk for a student athlete is a sports-related injury, but a certified athletic trainer helps mitigate career-ending injuries by being a consistent presence in secondary school athletic departments.
Certified athletic trainers are allied health professionals who are highly trained to provide preventive care, emergent care, nutritional counseling, healthy conditioning, and exercise prescription. By providing sports medicine services for student athletes, athletic trainers are there to prevent injury, assess injuries when they occur, and treat and rehabilitate to get athletes back in the game.
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
Join PlaySafe’s winning team! Currently seeking Certified Athletic Trainer for schools in Abbeville, Aiken, and Oconee counties in South Carolina and Hart County, Georgia.
PlaySafe, a nonprofit established in 2011, places athletic trainers in secondary schools throughout South Carolina and Georgia. PlaySafe believes full-time athletic trainers in schools provide critical services to keep athletes safe and healthy. When paired with consistency and strong relationships among the athletic trainer, coaches, athletic directors, and parents, student athletes are set up for success.
PlaySafe offers a competitive salary and benefits package, as well as annual educational opportunities and local mentorships with regional health care professionals.
“Having an athletic trainer on campus when an injury occurs and them knowing exactly what to do to assess the injury and give the care needed in that instant is a huge help to schools and athletes.”
LATEST NEWS
Coming up in May: PlaySafe’s annual Comeback Awards are back and in-person!
Growing Nonprofit PlaySafe Names Jami Wood Emory Executive Director
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
To provide the best possible care for student athletes, athletic training services are needed consistently throughout the afternoons and evenings during practices and sporting events. While public schools have a duty to provide proper supervision during athletic activities, few have the resources to do so.
Certified athletic trainers are allied health professionals who are highly trained to provide emergent care, preventive care, nutritional counseling, healthy conditioning, and exercise prescription. Athletic trainers also advise on facility and environmental safety procedures and act as frontline medical professionals.
Many schools do not have funding to provide adequate and consistent sports medicine for students. PlaySafe proposes a model to partner with the school district and the community to support the salaries and benefits of the needed athletic trainers. Certified athletic trainer salaries, depending on experience and supervisory requirements, are in the range of $45,000-65,000. PlaySafe also considers the cost of fringe benefits, overhead administration, and general expenses associated with supplies, making the total amount to provide a school with one athletic trainer in the range of $75,000-95,000.
In South Carolina, we have athletic trainers in Aiken, Anderson, Edgefield, Greenwood, Oconee, and Pickens counties:
- Aiken – Aiken High School, South Aiken High School
- Anderson – Belton-Honea Path High School, Crescent High School, Glenview Middle School, McCants Middle School, Pendleton High School, Riverside Middle School, Robert Anderson Middle School, Starr-Iva Middle School, T.L. Hanna High School, and Westside High School
- Edgefield – Strom Thurmond High School
- Greenwood – Emerald High School, Greenwood High School
- Oconee – Seneca High School, Walhalla High School, West Oak High School
- Pickens – D.W. Daniel High School, Liberty High School, Pickens High School
In Georgia, PlaySafe has athletic trainers in six high schools:
- Banks County High School in Homer
- Commerce High School in Commerce
- Franklin County High School in Carnesville
- Hart County High School in Hartwell
- Social Circle High School in Social Circle
- Walnut Grove High School in Loganville
HOW YOU CAN HELP
DONATE: A donation made to PlaySafe is a tax-deductible way you can ensure student athletes are kept safe. Every 5 seconds, a child under the age of 19 visits an emergency department due to a sports-related injury and, sadly, the secondary school athletic population leads the nation in athletic-related deaths. Give today to keep athletic trainers where they’re needed most – with our children.
HELP US SPREAD THE WORD: Tell your school, your friends, and your employer about the importance of athletic trainers providing sports medicine services to student athletes. PlaySafe is always willing to make presentations regarding the work we do in our communities and advocate for safe athletic participation. Call our office to request a presentation at your company, civic club, church, etc. today!
