Tammy Hansen credits SMART athletic trainer Matt Huber (left) with helping her son, Casey, return to sports after a severe injury that put him in the intensive care unit.
SMART Intervention HEN WIDE RECEIVER CASEY LEISTER sustained a severe lung injury during a regular season high school football game last year, SMART athletic trainer Matthew Huber was first on the scene. As Leister’s mother, Tammy Hansen, looked on, Huber cared for and reassured the young athlete until paramedics arrived. Huber is the ATC for Dr. Earl J. Lennard High School in Ruskin. Before joining SMART, he was an emergency medical technician. “Matt stayed on the phone with me during the entire ride to the hospital,” recalls Tammy. “He talked me through everything that was going on.” When the game was over, Huber headed to the hospital, waiting with Tammy as Casey was admitted into the intensive care unit with severe lung contusions. “The injury could have ended Casey’s sports career,” says Tammy. “But thanks to Matt, it did not.”
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USF MAGAZINE | WINTER 2009
Over the next two months, Huber worked with Casey to rebuild his lung capacity. He consulted with Casey’s physician to develop a rehabilitation program. And, when Casey’s spirits got low, Huber created an assistant trainer position to make the recuperating senior an integral part of the school’s athletic program. “It was tough. Casey was a senior. He was captain of the baseball team. He played soccer,” says Tammy. “Casey would not have returned to football or baseball or soccer if it weren’t for Matt. He kept him focused; he gave him advice; he really went above and beyond.” Today, a freshman at Florida State University, Casey is pursuing his first love—baseball. His brother, an athlete as well, is a freshman at Lennard High School. “With the experience I went through with Casey, knowing that Matt is there for my younger son has taken a lot of fear away from me,” says Tammy. “He is so well trained and cares so much.”