You are in class and you hear the athletic director make an announcement that there are tryouts after school. After practicing for countless nights, and being giddy with excitement, when you arrive you are told you are not cleared to try out in the first place. Your physical form is expired. For student athletes at UACHS getting physical form cleared is a constant waiting game. Waiting weeks or even up to a month all for their physical to be cleared.
When you need your physical, either your coach or athletic director Michele Bruce will give you the form. After the athlete submits the documents to the athletic director, you have to wait until the school’s athletic trainer, Daniella Malaver, approves it.
Due to the length of the wait time, students constantly bombard Bruce’s office asking if they are cleared just to get told to return at a later time.
Michele Bruce, athletic director of all UACHS sports, explains why it is so difficult for athletes to get their physicals cleared fast.
“The process is that you get your own physical completed by your primary doctor,” said Bruce. “Then it’s given to me then I send it to our school doctor and that just depends on when the doctor is available to get the physicals cleared.”
The physical you complete with your primary doctor is passed around, and its approval depends on the availability of who oversees these physicals.
If you submit the form in a timely manner, it may get approved sooner. However, you hand in your physical, only to be met with an unsure start time.
“The longer it takes for athletes to turn in the physical, the longer the process,”said Bruce.
Oftentimes, UACHS athletes want to get a head start on their season and they cannot due to things that are completely out of their control. Senior athlete Jeremiah Siland weighs in on the toll the physical issue takes on the players.
“The physical delays take a toll on my mental health every time,” said Siland.”By the time you get to tryout or practice you’re already behind everyone else.”
There you have it ladies and gentlemen. Looks like “the waiting game” is a new sport. The time it takes to wait for a physical to be cleared can cost you your whole season. Physicals are more than just a piece of paper. For athletes, it could be a ticket into their future career.
