By Staff
Training & Conditioning, 14.7, October 2004, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/tc/tc1407/bulletinboard.htm
FLSA Changes Limit Overtime Pay
Athletic training is one of the professions most directly affected by recent changes to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which were implemented on Aug. 23. The new regulations specify that athletic trainers who have completed four years of study at a program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs and are certified by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association are considered exempt professionals and are not eligible for overtime pay.
The clarification follows several years of ambiguity, with athletic trainers in a handful of states suing school districts for unpaid overtime with varying results. However, in 1999, a Texas court ruled that a group of San Antonio Independent School District athletic trainers were in fact exempt from overtime. The Supreme Court later refused to hear the case, allowing the decision to stand.
The Department of Labor relied on that court decision, along with the fact that athletic training is a specialized field requiring advanced education and utilizing extensive discretionary judgement, in setting the new regulation. Now, both college and high school certified athletic trainers are ineligible for overtime pay under the FLSA’s professional exemption.
More information on the new regulations is available online at http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/main.htm.
NSCA Names Award Winners
During its 27th Annual Conference held in Minneapolis, Minn., the National Strength and Conditioning Association honored a number of its members for their noteworthy contributions in the field of strength training and conditioning.
Gerard Martin, CSCS, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at the University of Connecticut, was named the College Strength and Conditioning Professional of the Year. Martin was honored for his dedication to the profession through service with the NSCA College Strength and Conditioning Professionals Special Interest Group and his work on special NCAA committees. The award winner is chosen by a group of College Strength and Conditioning Professional SIG members.
Bruce Harbach CSCS*D, Strength and Conditioning Coach and Head Football Coach at Lancaster (Pa.) Catholic High School, was named the High School Strength and Conditioning Professional of the Year. Harbach, who also teaches physical education at the school, has presented at NSCA conferences and published articles in association journals.
The Lifetime Achievement Award went to John Garhammer, PhD, CSCS, NSCA-CPT, Professor and Director of the Biomechanics Laboratory at California State University-Long Beach.
To read an article written by Martin on training for basketball published in Training & Conditioning, please visit www.athleticsearch.com and type "Strong to the Hoop" into the search window.
Nutrition and Hydration Program Unveiled
Athletic trainers looking for some help in teaching high school athletes about proper nutrition and hydration may want to check out a new Web site called Performance Challenge.
A joint effort of the American Dietetic Association and the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, the Performance Challenge uses an interactive computer quiz to teach athletes about food, performance, hydration, and safety. Athletes are split into teams and compete against each other as they answer a series of questions.
To access the quiz, athletic trainers or coaches will first need to find a nutritionist in their area to lead their athletes through the program. Users of the Performance Challenge Web site can type in their ZIP code and receive a list of trained nutritionists in their area who can make presentations. Short profiles of each nutritionist are provided with the list. It is then up to the athletic trainer to contact a selected nutritionist to arrange for a demonstration at their school.
More details on the Performance Challenge can be found at www.performancechallenge.com.
Mourning Jack Cramer
The athletic training world lost one of its legends when Jack Cramer died on Aug. 5 in Olathe, Kan. Cramer was the Chairman of the Board of Cramer Products for 20 years after previously serving as Sales Manager and Promotions and Advertising Manager at the company, which was founded by his father and uncle.
Cramer was an honorary member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, which he helped form. In 1982, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
As a student at Kansas State University in the late 1930s, Cramer served as the school’s head athletic trainer before joining the Army Air Corps. He was a combat instructor in B-25s, B-17s, and A-25s for three years before becoming Operations Officer at Hickom Field in Honolulu. From 1956 to 1967, Cramer was an athletic training consultant for the Special Services Department of the United States Air Force and traveled to air bases throughout the world.
More information on Cramer Products is available at www.cramersportsmed.com.