Jones, the certified athletic trainer for all sports on the STLCC-Meramec campus, has had a wide range of professional experience before his 13-year career with the Magic.
Stephen Sealey
– Staff Writer –
Darren Jones has always loved athletics and competition.
He said that athletic training is another avenue of being an athlete for a coach.
Jones, the certified athletic trainer for all sports on the STLCC-Meramec campus, has had a wide range of professional experience before his 13-year career with the Magic.
The mission of St. Louis Community College’s Athletic Training Departments is to “provide optimal medical care to the student athletes through preventative measures, acute emergency and non-emergency attention, rehabilitative measures, injury/illness management and injury education.”
Jones said he chose this line of work to face the everyday challenges of pursuing an athletic goal. In return, he found a family. Jones said he likes to think of Meramec as his second home.
“Meramec is family if you take a look at it and a lot of the people who are employed here have been here a long time because it is a family atmosphere. People are friendly and I have a good relationship with the athletes,” Jones said.
Jones has built relationships with athletes across the nation.
He obtained his bachelor’s degree from Adam State College in Alamosa, Colo. and later pursued a master’s degree at San Jose State. An internship at Stanford University landed him a job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
After Jones’ year-long stint with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he applied for the athletic trainer position at Meramec in 1998.
There are many different aspects to his job, which he said he enjoys doing. The relationship he develops with athletes has to be good in order for the athletes to have better outcomes, Jones said.
“Every injury is different; every athlete has a different personality, and I work with a great coaching staff. There is the good and the bad with athletic training but mostly good,” Jones said.
Even with reliance and quality care, Jones is still presented with challenges, such as “maintaining good quality care for an athletes and helping them perform at their highest level after an injury,” Jones said. “Trying to get them back to 100 percent takes a lot of hard work and effort.”
Jones has had to make difficult decisions on and off the field, according to Bob Frischmann, sports information director at Meramec.
“Kevin Simpson (Meramec Soccer Alum) in 2002 became stricken on the field during a game at home and Darren was integral in handling a tricky situation. The player was having excruciating pain in his torso/abdomen but had not been struck,” Frischmann said. “An ambulance was called and Darren decided against trying to move the player off the ground or letting him attempt to move.”
According to Frischmann, Jones’ intuition was psychic, and nearby St. Joseph’s Hospital later determined the player had a fully collapsed lung. After several days in the hospital, Simpson fully recovered.
The relationships between coach, trainer and players all depend upon trust, Jones said. “The athlete has to trust you and what you are doing. It is better to build the relationship early because the athlete trusts you treating them and caring for them. Then you get better results.”
