Flagstaff to Italy and Back with USA Track & Field

NAU Associate Athletic Trainer Billy Cotts traveled with the USA Track and Field team this summer to Italy. Here is a recap of his experience from Italy.

I had the unique and honored opportunity to travel to Bressanone/Brixen, Italy as a member of USA Track & Field to provide medical coverage for the World Youth Championships. For me, this trip was and would be different than any of my previous trips with Team USA. This trip would be comprised of a Team Leader, a Head Manager, 4 coaches, 4 managers, 5 medical staff members, and 55 athletes between the ages of 16-17.

I was asked to be the Head Athletic Trainer three weeks prior to my departure to Ypsilanti, Michigan; the site of the Youth Trials. During that time I had to make changes to family plans, work arrangements had to be made, communication and organization with USATF was going on, and communication and organization with our medical staff had to occur, which at the last minute two members were unable to go and two new ones were added. Needless to say July 2^nd arrived quicker than I was ready for and my personal packing was put-off till the last minute (my wife had to make an extra trip to the airport to bring me some items I forgot to pack).

The team stayed on the campus of Eastern Michigan from July 2^nd till we departed Detroit on July 4^th for Munich, Germany (8.5 hour flight from Chicago O’Hare). After landing in Munich and discovering that our provided IAAF bus could only accommodate 40 passengers (travel party of 70 plus luggage, equipment, and poles) we spent two hours waiting to see if the South African team would arrive before acquiring their bus to transport us the four hours to Bressanone/Brixen, Italy.

Our accommodations in Bressanone were in a Monastery school that was utilized for Kindergarten thru College. During the first three days that we were there, the team utilized practice facilities that were located five minutes to 45 minutes from the school. It was also during this time that we were able to do some local site seeing and get to know the staff and athletes better. Some of the things unique to this area are: its location at the base of the Italian Alps, their milk, cheese, and apple economy, the predominant language is German; all signs are written in German and Italian, and the culture.

Bressanone was founded around 900 A.D. Until WWI, the city was party of Austria. After the war, the city was brought under Italian control. However, with a strong, proud Austrian heritage, the new citizens of Italy did not welcome their new country as much as it did them. To offset any future issues in the province, Italy allowed them autonomy to govern themselves as long as they supported Italy and their governmental offices. The result is a strong mix of Austrian/Germanic culture with Italian culture. I had several people tell me that the older generation is so set in their heritage that they will not accept the other. There are German schools and Italian schools, German neighborhoods and Italian neighborhoods; to me it sounded a little like the ‘60’s in the United States. With all that being said, all that we saw was a city that was very proud, hospitable, friendly, and excited to be hosting the Championships.

July 8^th was the Opening Ceremonies. Just as we have all seen on television for the Olympics, there was a parade of nations (much smaller scale) for all of the participants. Later during the meet, I counted 105 flags represented around the track. The festivities were held in the downtown plaza, with the athletes being the center of attraction. Prior to these ceremonies, myself and our team physician, had to attend an IAAF medical meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting we were to meet up with the rest of the team. When we entered the plaza locating the team was a little hard but getting through the crowds, security, and barricades were a little harder.

Somehow we ended up with the best standing space in the plaza, next to the flag pole; which incidentally was utilized in the ceremony, where the big wigs entered the plaza, and became a focal point of the ceremonies. So, as the sun is beating on us, we zip up our USA jackets, make sure our shirts are tucked in, and try not to embarrass ourselves and our country in front of all these people and photographers (those of you who know me know that I have certain tendencies that may not make me the best person to be standing where we were). However, we did have the best standing seats in the plaza!

July 9^th was the first day of competition. As I said earlier, there was five medical staff: a team physician, head athletic trainer, assistant athletic trainer, massage therapist, and a sports psychologist. For the duration of the meet, we would leave with the first group going to the track and stay till the end of the meet. We would start our day off with breakfast at the Monastery with some sort of combination of: fresh bread, Nutella, yogurt, corn or chocolate flake cereal, juice, hot or cold milk, green tea, and coffee (by day 5 of our stay, change would have been nice). After breakfast we would board the local city buses at 7:30am and head to the track. Our warm-up track was about a 5-8 minute walk from the stadium. The vast majority of our treatments and massages were done at the warm-up track; as this is where the kids seemed to congregate, where we had room, and where we were told to be. We would stay at the track till around 6:30 – 7:00 pm and then head back to the Monastery. We would do some more treatments and then be able to go to dinner around 8:30-9:00pm.

For those of you who have never been outside of the USA, the hardest item to come by and the most used by athletic trainers is ICE. We were fortunate to have “unlimited” yet limited access at the track. However, treatments at the Monastery requiring ice cost us about $10 for every 5lb bag, when we could find it. But, we made do with what we had and got creative with other types of treatments to keep the athletes going. The true benefit of an experienced, diverse staff!!

Lunch and dinner meals were housed at 1 of 4 locations. Teams were assigned a specific location for their meals and issued meal tickets. It was run like a cafeteria were everyone was in a single line and walked down saying what they would like. The food was excellent and they tried to diversify by serving a variety of the local and cultural foods. As a medical staff, we tried to go in shifts for lunch but often ate at street vendors. For dinner, they were usually closed by the time we got over there, but that just gave us an excuse to go downtown!

For me, July 11^th is a special day, my birthday. That Saturday evening the medical staff, along with our local host, took me out for a local cuisine dinner in the plaza. Now I truly feel for any local host having to try and accommodate not only the visiting teams but they also have a supervisor that they need to please as well. We were very fortunate to have a young lady who could speak 5 languages, who had a college degree in education, had lived in the USA for 6 months, who was a local, and an all around great person. So, when I was trying to read the menu in Italian, she was not only able to translate but could relate it back to foods I could understand. As I was looking through the menu “book”, I was told that a traditional meal consists of 3-7 courses and can take up to 3 hours to complete. That can translate into a lot of food! When we were about an hour-n-half into our meal and conversation we notice a fire truck drive through the plaza and people to start to congregate in the south. Having forgotten that this was the night for the closing ceremonies, we were a little startled when the first fireworks went off. Now, we all have seen fireworks, been at shows and enjoy the spectacular array of colors and configurations. Our first thoughts were that we were finally getting our 4^th of July show. But, our proximity to the display, our location between century old buildings, and by being in narrow streets intensified the show. We could actually fill the vibrations when the fireworks erupted over us. What a view! After a few minutes of visual amazement it began to dawn on us that 40-80 years ago these same vibrations were not from a beautiful display of fireworks but from cannons, bombs, guns as a war occurred in this same valley, town, and area. That night I was given a great gift for my birthday. A gift of humility, of heritage, of sacrifice for those who lived through any war as a man, woman, child, or soldier.

At the conclusion of the World Youth Track and Field Championships, if my memory serves me correctly, Team USA won 16 medals; making this the highest medal count team. There were several world records set by Team USA. Trading of clothing apparel by all the athletes occurred, friendships were made or rekindled, and for many of the young athletes who competed, this would be their only international experience while others will go on to a Summer Olympics some day.

For me, this trip made my fourth with Team USA. It was the largest one I have been on, the most entertaining, the most educational, and will definitely be a memorable one. Being able to meet a variety of people, experience diverse cultures, and being able to share my experiences and knowledge as a person and as an Athletic Trainer is what I enjoy the most about being a member of Team USA and their medical staff.