How long have you been an athletic trainer at Oberlin?

Jamie: In March it will be two years, but I interned here in 1994-95 with Tim [Carver].

What made you decide to become a trainer?

Jamie: Well, my original background is in exercise physiology and I was working in an out-patient physical therapy clinic as an exercise physiologist — doing like exercise testing and things like that. So I got to see what the athletic trainers were doing there and thought it was something I might be interested in and I ended up pursuing it.

Did you play varsity sports in high school and college, then?

Jamie: Just high school football and wrestling, believe it or not.

Do you compete in anything currently?

Jamie: I actually got involved in power-lifting in college. I was always working out to stay in shape and whatnot and Kent State had a team.

A power-lifting team?

Jamie: Yeah. It was a club sport. I got started with them, and I’ve been doing it ever since.

So I heard you have kind of a big competition coming up this weekend, is that correct?

Jamie: Not that big. It’s a local deal. It’s the Ohio State Championships, but it’s not really a big meet. It’s kind of a dying sport actually. It’s so fragmented with different organizations. There are organizations that drug test and some use different equipment. I obviously lift in the organization that gives drug-tests.

So what sort of things do you do to prepare for a power-lifting meet?

Jamie: Generally we train about eight to ten weeks for a meet. You train in the three big lifts: the squat, the bench and the dead lift. They’re the three lifts you compete in. Basically I just get to the gym whenever I can to train. Being an athletic trainer, sometimes it’s hard to find time to get to the gym, so there are nine, ten o’clock at night work-outs, there are five a.m. workouts — just whenever I can get it in. I do have a group of guys that I’ve been training with for a couple years now.

Do you lift here at Oberlin?

Jamie: Actually, I lift at Gold Gym in Elyria.

Is their gym a lot better for what you are doing then?

Jamie: I don’t know if “better” is the word. It’s just set up for power-lifting. We’ve been lifting there for years, and we’ve brought in the equipment we’ve wanted and kind of made it conducive to power-lifting.

So, for power-lifting do they split it up into different weight categories like they do for wrestling?

Jamie: Yeah, there are different weight classes. Like most of the athletes around here know, I’m constantly walking around here eating just chicken or tuna. As the soccer team knows, I’ll always take tuna on the bus when I’m traveling with them to away games to eat while they’re eating pizza.

What’s your favorite part of being an athletic trainer at Oberlin besides making them smell your tuna on the bus?

Jamie: Still being able to be involved with sports. There’s just nothing like game day. Even though as an athletic trainer you don’t really have a hand in the victory per se — we’re not planning the strategy like the coaches or actually participating — but you get to know the athletes, you form a bond with them and you want to see them do well. So there is definitely an excitement there. And just being around younger people, I stay more active, it keeps me young.