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July 28, 2010

New Orleans native Kraus new JHS athletic trainer

Jay Neal Jacksonville Daily Progress

JACKSONVILLE — Jacksonville High School student athletes needing medical treatment will have to get used to a couple of new faces from far away places when the new school term begins in early August.

Jason Kraus of New Orleans is the school’s new head athletic trainer while Averi Alderdyce, a graduate of Upper Iowa University, has assumed the duties of assistant athletic trainer — both are Licensed Athletic Trainers that came up through the Trinity Mother Francis Hospital athletic training program.

Kraus, who received his undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University where he worked with two national championship football teams and a Tiger baseball squad that also finished as a national champion, comes to Jacksonville after serving the past two years at Gladewater.

And while Jacksonville is a significantly larger school than Gladewater, Kraus says that factor will not have any affect on his ability to perform his duties.

“The (school size) will not make that much of a difference,” he said Tuesday. “Your goal as athletic trainer is to provide the best care you can to your athletes, that’s the bottom line.

“I will be picking up a couple of additional sports, as I have never worked with soccer at the high school level.”

Kraus’ style mirrors that of the Big Easy (New Orleans) — calm, cool and collected on the surface, but business like when it really matters.

“I’m more laid back and give the student-athletes some (flexibility), but at the same time I want them out there practicing when they’re supposed to be practicing and if they are not hurt, then there is not going to be any (playing) around here (in the training room).

“If they are actually injured, I will do my very best to take care of them and to get them healthy as quickly as I can.”

Kraus, who received his master’s degree from the University of Texas Tyler, said he enjoys working in the East Texas area and took a liking to the Jacksonville program at first sight.

“I’ve been in Gladewater for the past two years and I graduated from UT-Tyler and I knew I wanted to stay in East Texas,” Kraus said. “When I learned of the opening here and interviewed with Coach (Steve) Wells I liked him and I liked what I saw here.”

Kraus said he has been a part of many remarkable stories in his career as an athletic trainer, with one in particular being impossible to forget.

“I had  a kid with some major health issues, in fact he was almost a fatality,” Kraus said. “Two years later he improved to the point of being one of the best athletes that I have ever worked with.

“To see him improve so much after being in the hospital for over two weeks was something special.”

Alderdyce, who is from Anamosa, Iowa, has served as athletic trainer at Quitman for the past two seasons.

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