Nov. 14, 2002
by Todd Wallace * Host Communications
Jim Madaleno is a happy man. He loves where he calls home, he loves thepeople who surround him and most importantly he loves his job.
He loves his job so much that he says he could stay there forever.
Where is this hallowed ground that makes grown men so happy? The Universityof Kentucky training room.
Madaleno is the head athletic trainer at UK and has been since 1997. He camefrom Valdosta State, after being recommended by former head coach Hal Mummewhen a vacancy opened in Lexington.
Upon arrival, Madaleno, a native of Dearborn, Mich., who has had stops inTallahassee, Fla., East Lansing, Mich., Valdosta, Ga. and New York, quicklygrew to become quite fond of the home of the Wildcats.
“I love it, I don’t want to leave, I really do not want to leave,” he said.”I hope I have the opportunity to stay and I work every day with that on mymind because my family loves Lexington.
“And I’m lucky enough to be the head athletic trainer at one of the majorinstitutions of the United States.”
It is also an institution that is a little happier these days due to the factthat its football team has won more games this season than in its previoustwo seasons combined. While Madaleno won’t begin to take any credit for theCats’ success on the field, it is interesting to note that the Wildcats havesuffered far fewer injuries in 2002 than in years past.
The number of ankle injuries suffered this season has greatly declined. Bycoincidence or not, Madaleno, along with the help of strength coach MarcHill and graduate assistant trainer Paul Silvestri, instituted a new programin the off-season which focused on cutting down the number of ankleinjuries.
The program stemmed from Madaleno helping to bring an athletic trainingcurriculum program to Kentucky. Along with the new program came someinteresting research. The research found that ankle injuries have been asignificant problem in the last few years. So what Madaleno, along with therest of the training staff, came up with was to create a program whichstrengthened a player’s ankles through his balance.
For seven to 10 minutes a day, coach Hill had players do a series ofexercises that focused on gaining more balance in their ankles.
The program starts with the players balancing both feet on regular groundwith their eyes open, then their eyes closed, then balancing on one footwith eyes open, and then eyes closed. Eventually, by the third or fourthweek of the program, the players are balancing on one foot on a foam pad, sothe rigidness of the ground is gone.
“They are balancing on this wobbly foam and their ankles are being trained tohandle the balancing act,” Madaleno said. “This way when they sustain apotential injury of their ankle, their brain can fire something that says,’whoa’ and catch the person’s ankle before it goes too far because that iswhat we’ve already trained it to do.”
In other words, when a player is on the field and his ankle gets rolled overor twisted, as often happens in football, his ankle would be more apt togive a little, instead of succumbing to injury.
So far the results have been good, although Madaleno remains cautiouslyoptimistic.
“I am not quite ready to give that all the credit,” Madaleno said of the newprogram, “but it’s very uncanny how in the first year we put in that programand used it, our number of ankle injuries have been cut significantly.”
While preventing injury and doing research is the focus of his job, Madalenoknows he is doing much more than helping to strengthen the UK athletes’bodies.
He also serves as a part-time counselor, who has to often deal with thedelicate psyche of an injured or rehabilitating player.
“The athletic trainer is someone who really has to be trusted by the athletesbecause they don’t only come to you with their physical ailments, they cometo you with a lot of personal problems and mental issues as well,” Madalenosaid. “But that is the most enjoyable part of my job and that’s what I takethe most seriously.”
To Madaleno, it is not just the chance to help an athlete get betterphysically, but it is a chance to help improve his/ her attitude as well.
“The greatest part of my job is to be able each and every day to have thepossibility to make a difference in a kid’s life,” he said.
Along with Dr. James Jagger, Dr. Darren Johnson, assistant athletic trainerRoss Blackport, and the other athletic trainers, the ‘medical team’ asMadaleno calls them, make up the athlete’s “last line of defense.”
No matter how severe or small an injury may be, the Wildcat training staffmake it a point not to overlook or forget about any athlete and theirinjury. They make sure every individual is getting the proper care andtreatment for a safe and speedy recovery.
It is this kind of attention which makes the football players, and any otherathletes in the care of Madaleno and company, in the good hands of onededicated Wildcat.
