Japanese soccer player learns to manage sports injuries

Fort Worth, TX

11/2/2007

Kentaro "Kenny" Ishii grew up playing soccer in Japan and has always had a great love for the sport. During his younger years, Kenny suffered several injuries including ACL and MCL sprains, a meniscus tear, a fractured fibula, a fractured rib, a fractured ulna, a fractured radius, a concussion, and numerous ankle sprains, which ended his soccer career.

Unfortunately, there wasn't an athletic trainer at Kenny's high school to treat his injuries or to educate him on how they could be prevented. So Kenny took it upon himself to become the first athletic training student in his school's history.

Kenny sought information about athletic training anywhere he could find it. He read books, attended workshops and visited with "trainers" in Japan. However, Kenny found that most "trainers" in Japan were actually therapists that only treated people after they had incurred an injury. They did not attempt to prevent injuries such as an athletic trainer would do. That is when Kenny decided he wanted to come to the United States and TCU to study athletic training.

Currently, he's a junior in TCU's Athletic Training Program. He came to TCU from the city of Mishima in Japan where his parents and grandmother still live. His three older sisters, a 28-year-old and 26-year-old twins, all live in Tokyo.

When he first arrived at TCU, he spoke minimal English and enrolled in intensive English courses to help him better understand the classes for his double major - athletic training and movement science. Through hard work and determination, he's been able to achieve a 3.36 GPA.

According to Sean Willeford, Director of the Athletic Training Education Program, "Kenny is self-driven to learn. He absorbs the information, goes above and beyond and has a strong work ethic."

Every summer, like many of the students in the program, Kenny has had internships to learn more about his chosen field. He’s had hands-on experience with the Ben Hogan Sport Therapy Institute, Kansas City Wizards of the MLS and the Dallas Cowboys.

As a senior, Kenny has a general medical rotation, along with his fellow senior students, with Dr. Sam Haraldson, the medical director of the Athletic Training Education Program and TCU's team physician for intercollegiate athletes. Through TCU's athletic department, Kenny and his fellow athletic training students have experienced first-hand athletic training in Division I sports.

Since high school football and athletic training are so prominent in Texas, a lot of athletic training students have also had internships at schools in the DFW area. Many have gone on to become athletic trainers in the Metroplex.

"Many of the athletic trainers in the area are TCU alums, which may lead to jobs after graduation," said Willeford.

A new aspect to the program allows for students to gain a broader knowledge of athletic training by focusing on a variety of settings and clinical instructors. To accomplish this, Kelley Henderson, Clinical Coordinator for the ATEP, established rotations at Trinity Valley High School with program alumni Tim Jones and Sara Kinsel.

"Through opportunities like this, our students are able to get enhanced hands-on experience," said Willeford. "They learn a lot and are very prepared through the education program here at TCU and their field experience. In fact, the majority of our students have jobs or graduate assistantships before graduation."

Kenny has been able to benefit from opportunities and a well-rounded education. His goal is to become an athletic trainer for a professional soccer team and later to become an athletic training educator in Japan. He wishes to eventually have athletic trainers at high schools in Japan so that young athletes won’t have their careers cut short by preventable injuries like his own.