Athletic trainer heads to Beijing

Trainer for U.S. soccer team to achieve dream

Marques Hunter

of the Gateway

Dave Andrews will shadow the U.S. men’s soccer team before and after they step onto the soccer field next month during the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

Andrews, a Gig Harbor High School athletic trainer, was appointed to serve as the U.S. team’s head athletic trainer to manage injury prevention, evaluation, rehabilitation, nutrition, recovery and hydration, doping control and communication with the chief medical officer.

Andrews and the U.S. soccer team left last weekend for San Francisco for Olympic athlete processing, followed by a long flight to China.

Soccer at the 2008 Beijing Games will run between Aug. 3 and Aug. 25.

It’ll be Andrews’ first experience as the men’s Olympic Soccer team medical trainer. The U.S. team was selected as one of 16 teams to compete for a medal. Honduras was only other team that qualified from Team USA’s region to play in the Olympics.

Andrews has always had a passion for sports. He earned a physical education degree from Washington State University in 1984 and has been a certified athletic trainer for 20 years. He currently works for Northwest Sports Physical Therapy, Inc., in Gig Harbor.

Being at the Olympics has been a lifelong dream.

“I look back at watching the Olympics as a kid,” Andrews said. “I’m very excited to be a part of the Olympics.”

Soccer is his claim to being a part of a number of huge international events. He was a sports trainer for the U.S. soccer team during the 2002 and 2006 World Cup tournaments in both Korea and Germany.

In Beijing this year — unlike previous years — soccer won’t be the only sport contested.

“The focus won’t be on just soccer,” he said. “Compared to the World Cup, where everything stops for that event.”

Although he’s not physically competing, he considers himself a part of the team and hopes they can reach the quarterfinals, which will be played at the “Bird’s Nest” in Beijing.

The first three games will be played in a city outside of Beijing called Tianjin. The United States will play the Netherlands, Nigeria and Japan. The team must win at least once to proceed to the quarterfinals.

“I cared about the draw,” Andrews said about the first three teams the U.S. men’s soccer team randomly pulled. “You’d like to be there as long as possible.”

With Andrews’ background non-specific to soccer, he could have been an athletic trainer in a variety of other U.S. Olympic sports. But he chose soccer because it “came down to me knowing the players,” he said.

Andrews had worked with many of the players because of his experience as an athletic trainer for the World Cup teams in previous years.

The U.S. Olympic team consists of athletes who are 23 and younger. Three of the players are allowed to be older.

With that being the case, it can be a tough decision for many elite soccer athletes, like Landon Donovan, who recently made history by becoming the first four-time winner of the Honda Player of the Year award, according to www.ussoccer.com.

Donovan, 25, was voted as the USA’s best player in 2007. He will not play in the Olympics because of his commitment to playing in the FIFA World Cup.

Although some of the great U.S. soccer athletes are essentially being divided into two different teams, Andrews believes the Olympic team is still very good. After all, the Mexican men’s soccer team and others from their region didn’t qualify for the Olympic competition.

Andrews said it’s an honor to take care of the team. He’s been preparing for the Olympics for six months, getting involved with the shipment of uniforms, shoes, training gear, Gatorade and medical supplies to China.

But before they go, the athletes must first go to Stanford University to be cleared as an Olympic athlete.

“The priority now is doping control,” he said. “What is banned and what is allowed. The Olympics staff tests randomly.”

He added that the Olympics staff is looking for endurance enhancers and advantages for situation recovery, such as EPO.

“A lot of games are won in the last 15 to 20 minutes,” Andrews said about having an even playing field down the stretch.

As the lead athletic trainer, Andrews said he wouldn’t be surprised to see the common injuries — muscular strains, sprained ankles, knee sprains and lower back sprains. He hopes there won’t be any serious injuries to the head or neck.

“There are no heart screenings at the Olympics,” Andrews said about the possibility of a heart problem on the field.

But little injuries or the potential for a serious one aren’t the only things Andrews must think about. The forecast in China is 80 to 85 degrees with humidity of 95 to 99 percent.

“It’s going to feel like a moist oven,” he said.

Dehydration factors into hot weather conditions. Athletes must hydrate themselves days prior to competing. If they forget and decide to hydrate one day prior, it’ll be too late, he said. They must start drinking fluids two days beforehand.

Andrews said it doesn’t matter whether a soccer athlete is drinking Gatorade or water.

“The key is that it’s (fluids) going in you at a constant level,” he said, adding that a general rule of thumb is that every athlete will be drinking about a bottle of water every one to two hours.

To aid with the sticky heat, Andrews’ team has a cooling vest that players can put on during halftime. It will help bring their body temperature back to normal before stepping out onto the field for the last 45 minutes, he said.

Andrews hopes nobody spots him on the field. If they do, it could mean somebody got hurt.

“I want to make their athletic experience as positive as possible,” he said. “I’m going to try and get them ready for another day.”

U.S. under 23 men’s national soccer team

Name: Freddy Adu

Position: Midfield

Height: 5-8

Weight: 145

Birthdate: June 2, 1989

Hometown: Potomac, Md.

Club: SL Benfica (Portugal)

Name: Jozy Altidore

Position: Forward

Height: 6-1

Weight: 175

Birthdate: Nov. 6, 1989

Hometown: Boca Raton, Fla.

Club: Villarreal CF (Spain)

Name: Michael Bradley

Position: Forward

Height: 6-2

Weight: 185

Birthdate: July 31, 1987

Hometown: Manhattan Beach, Calif.

Club: SC Heerenveen (Holland)

Name: Charlie Davies

Position: Forward

Height: 160

Weight: 5-10

Birthdate: June 25, 1986

Hometown: Manchester, N.H.

Club: Hammarby IF (Sweden)

Name: Maurice Edu

Position: Midfield

Height: 6-0

Weight: 170

Birthdate: April 18, 1986

Hometown: Fontana, Calif.

Club: Toronto FC (MLS)

Name: Benny Feihaber

Position: Midfield

Height: 5-9

Weight: 150

Birthdate: Jan. 9, 1985

Hometown: Irvine, Calif.

Club: Derby County (England)

Name: Brad Guzan

Position: Goalkeeper

Height: 6-4

Weight: 210

Birthdate: Sept. 9, 1984

Hometown: Homer Glen, Ill.

Club: Chivas USA (MLS)

Name: Stuart Holden

Position: Midfield

Height: 5-10

Weight: 160

Birthdate: Aug. 1, 1985

Hometown: Houston, Texas

Club: Houston Dynamo (MLS)

Name: Patrick Ianni

Position: Defender

Height: 6-1

Weight: 175

Birthdate: June 15, 1985

Hometown: Lodi, Calif.

Club: Houston Dynamo (MLS)

Name: Sacha Kljestan

Position: Midfield

Height: 6-1

Weight: 150

Birthdate: Sept. 9, 1985

Hometown: Huntington Beach, Calif.

Club: Columbus Crew (MLS)

Name: Brian McBride

Position: Forward

Height: 6-0

Weight: 175

Birthdate: June 19, 1972

Hometown: Arlington Heights, Ill.

Club: Out of contract

Name: Michael Orozco

Position: Defender

Height: 5-11

Weight: 160

Birthdate: Feb. 7, 1986

Hometown: Orange, Calif.

Club: San Luis (Mexico)

Name: Michael Parkhurst

Position: Defender

Height: 5-11

Weight: 160

Birthdate: Jan. 24, 1984

Hometown: Providence, R.I.

Club: New England Revolution (MLS)

Name: Robbie Rogers

Position: Forward

Height: 5-10

Weight: 165

Birthdate: May 12, 1987

Hometown: Huntington Beach, Calif.

Club: Columbus Crew (MLS)

Name: Chris Seitz

Position: Goalkeeper

Height: 6-4

Weight: 205

Birthdate: March 12, 1987

Hometown: San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Club: Real Salt Lake (MLS)

Name: Nathan Sturgis

Position: Defender

Height: 5-10

Weight: 150

Birthdate: July 6, 1987

Hometown: St. Augustine Fla.

Club: Real Salt Lake (MLS)

Name: Danny Szetela

Position: Midfield

Height: 5-11

Weight: 170

Birthdate: June 6, 1987

Hometown: Clifton, N.J.

Club: Brescia Calcio (Italy)

Name: Marvell Wynne

Position: Midfield

Height: 5-9

Weight: 170

Birthdate: May 8, 1986

Hometown: Poway, Calif.

Club: Toronto FC (MLS)

Alternatives

Name: Dominic Cervi

Position: Goalkeeper

Height: 6-6

Weight: 205

Birthdate: July 9, 1986

Hometown: Norman, Okla.

Club: Out of contract

Name: Robbie Findley

Position: Forward

Height: 5-9

Weight: 165

Birthdate: Aug, 4, 1985

Hometown: Phoenix, Ariz.

Club: Real Salt Lake (MLS)

Name: Frankie Hejduk

Position: Defender

Height: 5-8

Weight: 165

Birthdate: Aug. 5, 1974

Hometown: Cardiff, Calif.

Club: Columbus Crew (MLS)

Name: Dax McCarty

Position: Midfielder

Height: 5-9

Weight: 150

Birthdate: April 30, 1987

Hometown: Winter Park, Fla.

Club: FC Dallas (MLS)

National team staff

Head coach: Peter Nowak

Assistant coach: Lubos Kubik

Goalkeeper coach: Tim Mulqueen

Strength and conditioning coach: Randy Rocha

Team coordinator: Alfonso Cerda

Equipment Coordinator: Gabe Vogler

Team doctor: Bill Heinz

Trainer: David Andrews

Trainer: Marcus Holliday

Press Officer: Kate McMaster

Videographer: Alejandro Becker