War Eagles' trainer focuses on sanitation, hydration, nutrition
Aug. 31—WAGENER — Epidemiology was not a part of Jordan Jones' education, when she was a student a few years ago at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, but she's become much more familiar with the topic in the past 18 months, through her work as Wagener-Salley High School's athletic trainer.
The 2017 UNCP graduate, a native of Lumberton, North Carolina, came to Wagener fresh out of college and is accustomed to offering first aid, stretching and hydration help. These days, she's in the thick of her second football season of facing not only COVID-19 precautions but also the ongoing challenge of helping support a small school where a team's games may hinge entirely on whether or not two or three players can bounce back successfully from sickness or injury.
"We actually made it through all of last football season with no cancellations for our team," Jones said. "A couple of people maybe had to quarantine because of somebody in class, or they may have tested positive, but that 48-hour window wasn't with the team, so ... we escaped it last year many times, so we were fortunate last year."
She added, "I hope this year, we're fortunate again. I think we lucked out just because we don't have that many people."
Her professional priorities now reach beyond bones and bruises to include such concerns as keeping water bottles sanitary, whether in dealing with players at practice or referees on Friday evenings.
The Aiken resident covers a major portion of Aiken County from day to day, as her other job is at the Walgreens at Jefferson Davis Highway and Belvedere-Clearwater Road. Her official title is as a "designated hitter," meaning she is qualified to work either as a cashier or in the pharmacy. She's also working on becoming a "certified immunizer," possibly to help face COVID-19 and other concerns.
In her role at Wagener-Salley, she has hydration and diet among her major talking points with the athletic program, when helping guide students in a variety of sports.
"We typically try to tell them to cut out the sugary drinks, but I don't tell them to cut it out completely," she said. "Just have them drink water, drink Gatorade, but really, their biggest thing ... is a diet issue. They don't eat enough fruits and vegetables. I think we're a very meat-and-potato type generation. We eat a lot of chicken fingers and French fries."
A player looking to avoid cramps, she said, should be keenly aware of adequate hydration and getting enough nutrients such as potassium and calcium "just to perform as an athlete."
Her own background as a multi-sport athlete played a major role in her career choice, she added, noting that she played volleyball, basketball and softball at Lumberton High and got valuable help from a trainer in those years in facing injuries.
Jones' current situation, she said, allows her to get to know students fairly well, as the student body is relatively small. She added that she's looking not to become complacent, in terms of getting too comfortable with the relatively modest number of sports offered at the high school.
