The players might get all the attention, but each team has an entire
support staff that keeps them in the game, especially the athletic
trainers, who handle the athletes' health and rehabilitation issues. The
Warriors kept their athletic trainer, Tom Abdenour, hopping last year with
a rash of injuries that accounted for 414 missed games. But Abdenour
worked his players back to health and the team is off to a hot start for
the 2001-02 season.
 Abdenour |
Abdenour has plenty of experience from which to draw in his work. He's in
his 15th season with the Warriors and spent his 2000 offseason serving as
athletic trainer for the gold medal-winning USA Men's Basketball Team at
the Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
His list of accomplishments have
included serving as athletic trainer for the Western Conference at NBA
All-Star 2000 (hosted by the Warriors) and as a volunteer athletic trainer
at the 1999 Pan-Am Games, the Goodwill Games in New York City and the 1994
U.S. World Championships in Toronto. Additionally, Abdenour has also served
as an athletic trainer at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
An active member of the National Athletic Trainers Association, he played a
major role in the expansion of the NATA's exhibit at the Naismith
Basketball Hall of Fame. His credits include the authorship of an injury
guide book in 1992 and the co-creation of Pro-Stim, a device which combines
electrical stimulation and cold therapies.
Abdenour's in his sixth season of answering fan questions about health,
injuries and rehabilitation on warriors.com. In addition this year, he and
the Warriors be hosting nba.com's Gonna Make You Sweat: NBA Health and
Conditioning section, devoted to the physical training regimens of the
league's players.
Send in your questions for Tom Abdenour now! We'll post his answers to
some of the best ones throughout the season.
Check out Abdenour's "Athletic Trainer Talk" on warriors.com
