Full-time athletic trainers will be on-hand for the first time in Howard County public schools
For the first time this school year, Howard County public schools will have guaranteed coverage of athletic trainers at all of their high schools.
The latest budget passed with funding for 13 full-time trainers for $1.3 million.
WJZ has previously reported on how this is something student athletes have been advocating to get for years.
Ahead of the school year, WJZ saw how these athletic trainers are already making a difference for students.
A welcome change
Kayleigh Simering and Jade Smith have been playing on Mt. Hebron High School's field hockey team since their freshman year.
In all their years on the team, they've only seen an athletic trainer a few times a season.
"The day we knew [an athletic trainer was] coming, we would ask them for tape and stuff, but it would be nice if they came every day of the week," Smith said. "They came during playoff games, but not every single game."
But that's all going to change this year as Emily Dudley has been hired as Mt. Hebron High's dedicated athletic trainer — one of 13 in the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS).
In the past, the HCPSS only contracted part-time athletic trainers. Last school year, there were eight athletic trainers to cover the 13 high schools.
That meant athletic trainers were mostly utilized for game coverage, as well as for high-priority sports for concussions like football.
Dudley said her job is all about being supplied and ready for anything, such as evaluating injuries, diagnosing or helping with rehab.
"Just making sure [everything] is all taken care of," she said.
Dudley said her main role is emergency response. Before coming to Mt. Hebron High, she worked three years at Westminster High School.
In her time there, she was the first line of defense for several emergencies.
"This past fall, I had an ankle dislocation during boys' soccer...foot was pointing the complete opposite direction," Dudley said. "I also had a kid who, during a football game, ended up having a collapsed lung. We had to really act quick on that to make sure he got transferred to the proper facility as quick as we could."
Simering and Smith say it's going to be a welcome change having Dudley on-site.
"Just knowing that, even if I need taping or something like ice before practice, I can just go over to the training office and go get it," Simering said.
Years of advocating
HCPSS student athletes and parents have long described the situations they and their teammates have been in because an athletic trainer wasn't on-hand.
"My son, he wrestled, and his knee was dislocated in a match. He had to use his other leg to pop it back into place because no one was there," HCPSS parent Cat Carter — who is currently running for Howard County Council — testified to the Board of Education in 2025.
Full-time athletic trainers were added to the school district's budget in 2025, but they were ultimately cut to balance the budget.
In 2026, HCPSS superintendent Bill Barnes included full-time athletic trainers from the start of the budget process.
Junie Ro, a Marriotts Ridge High School graduate and former HCPSS student athlete, started a petition to pressure the Board of Education to keep athletic trainers in the budget.