A student taped from wrist to shoulder, a ball of pre-wrap and tape being tossed around, a CPR dummy called Little Anne, students huddled in the corner, their noses in textbooks. These things all have one thing in common: the Washington Career and Technical Sports Medicine Association State Competition.
This year, Liberty’s sports medicine team traveled to Tacoma to compete in the annual WCTSMA competition. The event spanned three days and consisted of two 100-question tests that all competitors took and then several special event tests. These tests determine team placement and individual placement, respectively, and Liberty’s sports medicine team walked away with seventh place in the small school division, along with a number of medals from individual finishers placing in the top ten.
One of the special event groups that did well was the Quiz Bowl team. Quiz Bowl consisted of multiple rounds of Kahoot against other schools in a bracket-style competition that had the top two teams advance until they were down to the top four schools. Liberty’s Quiz Bowl team, consisting of senior Nichole Zamora, senior Sophia Rossman, junior Jasmine Chong, sophomore Shruthi Venkat, and junior Angelia Pinto, ended up taking home second place.
“To prepare, I studied with my teammates, and we assigned each of us a part of the body to focus on. I mainly reviewed the material we learned in class and the Kahoots that Mort gave us. I also made sure that I was mentally prepared,” Pinto said.
In addition to Quiz Bowl, senior Brigitte Potter and junior Elena Phan placed 7th and 8th respectively out of 98 competitors in CPR and first aid. The CPR and first aid test consisted of 50 multiple-choice questions and then a practical portion, which included performing CPR, splinting a bone, and dealing with a laceration.
“I’m really happy that I placed this year. It meant a lot to me that my hard work paid off, especially since this was the last year that I could do the competition,” Phan said.
Senior Anvi Bhatnagar competed in medical terminology and took home 8th out of 96 competitors. Medical terminology centers around the different roots, suffixes, and definitions that make up the meaning of words in the medical field.
While the team as a whole placed lower than the previous two years, the team score was higher than last year’s score.
“My goal is the same every year; I just want people to try and do their best. I don’t care about placement, as long as people try. I try not to put any pressure or expectations on the students,” sports medicine teacher Morten Orren said.
To prepare for the competition, the team had meetings most Wednesday mornings, reviewing topics that the students had learned over their years in sports medicine and practicing different methods of taping and splinting.
“As for changing prep, we began our meetings earlier in the year, and I think that did help both with figuring out who was really interested and with forming teams,” Orren said.
The preparation didn’t stop once the competition began, though, with many students continuing to study during their downtime.
“During every break, they were on their computers, studying and having notes and books out, and were quizzing each other all on their own without me having to say, ‘hey, you guys should be studying,’” Orren said.
While the competition is now over, those on the team are left with a weekend full of memories.
“It’s fun just seeing how hard everybody’s working and how seriously people take it. That’s one of my favorite parts,” Orren said.
