Sports Medicine recruiting students

The school’s Sports Medicine class has been recruiting new students for enrollment since the start of the second semester. It has now recruited the minimum number of students it needs to continue the class and therefore will be offered again this semester.

According to the Sports Medicine teacher Trisha Quan, the class began the year with 30 students, but due to dropped students, it began second semester with only 16.

Quan said she believes students dropped the class because the course is difficult.

“To be honest, it wasn’t as easy as they thought it would be,” Quan said. “I’m not asking for a lot, but what I’m asking for, you need to do it.”

The class is a year-long course taken through Foothill College but taught at LAHS. However, because of an agreement between Foothill and LAHS, the class requires a minimum of 19 students in order for it to be continually offered at the school. At Foothill, the minimum number of students for the class is 25.

After the school put in announcements inviting students to enroll, three students joined the class. Consequently, Sports Medicine now has 19 students, the minimum needed for the class not to be dropped.

Senior Eduardo Martinez enrolled in Sports Medicine at the start of second semester.

“I took it because it sounded interesting because I’m a sports fan and I play sports as well,” Eduardo said. “The class is interesting, and I like it. I can learn a lot from it.”

Quan also said students are still “more than welcome” to enroll in the class.

“This class was set up so kids could transfer in halfway through,” Quan said.

She also said she does not believe as many students will drop the class this semester.

“I think that this semester is a little easier,” Quan said. “I’ve changed around the makeup of the course so [students] can be more successful.”

Senior Grace Lo, who has been enrolled in Sports Medicine since first semester, believes it will not be difficult for new students to catch up.

“I don’t think we’re really touching much on the first semester stuff,” Grace said. “This semester we’re doing more on how to treat injuries, how to identify and treat them, rather than ‘the tibia and the fibula [are] the bones in the leg.’ It’s different aspects to athletic training.”

Quan recommends Sports Medicine for students with any interest in the subject.

“It has to be someone that’s self-motivated, but anyone that has any interest in sports medicine,” she said. “A lot of the time, athletes have interest because it’s what they go through every day.”

Sports Medicine is offered during first period. Last year, it was one of several Foothill classes the school offered to students. However, it was the only one to receive the minimum number of student sign-ups.

Quan said she does not know if Sports Medicine will continue to be offered next year. She said that a lot of it will depend upon whether the LAHS and Foothill administrations are able to “work together.”

However, she hopes that the course will continue to be offered next year.

“I think it’s a privilege for students to get this kind of exposure,” Quan said. “[Cutting the class] is really a loss for kids who have an interest.”