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Imagine this day at the office: 20,000 screaming, yelling people suddenly become silent. Everything stops. No more announcer’s booming voice, no electronic music coming out of the speakers, and 9 guys stand there staring at one guy on the court. The team’s star player lies prone, not moving, under the basket. You’re the one in charge now, and you’re the one with the responsibility. The responsibility of making sure that player is breathing, then making the decision of moving him or not. Then knowing how to move him, then figuring out what kind of injury he has and how severe it is; and whether or not he is able to return to play immediately. Then decide how to treat the injury, how to rehabilitate it, and what to tell the media, coaches, family, agents, owners and fans regarding how long it will be before that player returns. Just a regular day at the office for a guy like Gary Briggs, the Head Athletic Trainer for the Utah Jazz.

I recently spoke with Gary Briggs, and one of the main themes which seemed to appear again and again as we spoke was that of flexibility. The job of a trainer is never boring, something new happens every day and someone in the position of head trainer of a team has got to be flexible and roll with whatever comes their way. I asked Gary what his worst fear would be when it comes to athletic injuries, and of course he talked about cervical injuries and concussions. “How do you handle the pressure in those situations?”, I asked. He answered that you do the job you’ve been trained to do, the same way every time. “You have to make your body override that initial feeling (adrenaline response to stress), and click into professional mode.”

Gary is in his eighth season with the Utah Jazz, prior to that he was with the Cleveland Cavaliers for 18 seasons. He has been head trainer at the high school, college and professional levels, having worked with multiple sports including professional football.

When I asked Mr. Briggs to give me a definition of his job in one sentence, he just kind of laughed. It really would be impossible to include it all in just one sentence. He is responsible for attending to and coordinating all efforts of providing medical care for the athletes. He not only tapes ankles and applies bandages and braces, but helps athletes condition and rehabilitate. He coordinates with other medical care providers, the coaches, the players and their agents. On the road he is there 24/7 available to help (sometimes he might even feel like calling it babysitting)! He is involved in planning the travel for the team. —–Wait a minute, did I interview a travel agent? No, a little known fact about many professional and collegiate trainers is that they are often involved with many more functions of the team, including things like arranging for transportation, lodging and meals among others. Gary Briggs talked about “back in the day” when most pro-teams had the head coach and the trainer for a staff. What the coach didn’t do, the trainer did. Talk about the need for flexibility! Juggler might be a better title for an athletic trainer. Many things have changed since the early beginnings of professional sports, heck Gary even has the luxury of an assistant trainer (who doubles as a certified strength and conditioning specialist) these days and the team even has its own massage therapist. These are fairly recent additions by the way.

I asked Gary what his favorite part of the job is and he talked about being able to deal with the athletes and get to know them. It’s also great to work around the excitement of professional sports, but it doesn’t change the goal of any trainer, which is the same at all levels, and that is to get the injured athlete back to playing their sport.

I think most people would be astonished to learn just how many hours go into a work week for Gary Briggs. We’ll find out about that in part two of my interview. We’ll also find out about what might lead someone into this field, and we might just hear a story about how silly athletes can be, from the guy who sees it all.