On January 16th, PBATS president Ron Porterfield (Dodgers), along with Jamie Reed (Rangers), Rick Griffin (Mariners), Matt Toth (Mariners) and Tory Lindley (NATA), took flight to Japan for the Japanese Athletic Trainers Organization’s (JATO) 2020 Baseball Conference.
On January 17th, the group participated in a student forum called U-25 and an AT, hosted by JATO.
The first hour of this session included Japanese athletic trainers sharing their experiences as athletic trainers. Following this presentation, Jamie Reed, Ron Porterfield, Matt Toth and Tory Lindley made up a panel moderated by Rick Griffin. Griffin began by asking what a typical day in baseball looks like for each PBATS members and athletic trainer.
Reed, Porterfield, Toth and Lindley took turns breaking down spring training, in-season, and out of season responsibilities. There were follow up questions from Japanese athletic trainers following the session. About the questions, Matt Toth said, “the questions from the students were incredible! I was extremely impressed. The future of Japanese Athletic training is very bright!”
On January 18th and 19th, the JATO/PBATS 1st ever Baseball Sports Medicine Conference took place. Speakers on these days included Jamie Reed, Ron Porterfield, Tory Lindley, and Matt Toth. Rick Griffin also moderated a panel at the end of this day.
Jamie Reed gave two presentations. The topics for these presentations were thoracic outlet syndrome and shoulder issues in Major League Baseball. Ron Porterfield spoke about electronic medical records and screening of the professional baseball player. Tory Lindley then gave a talk on hamstring strains and rehabilitation. Matt Toth also presented on latissimus dorsi strains and a statistical review of Tommy John surgeries.
To finish the conference, a panel discussion took place with professional baseball athletic trainer from Japan and PBATS members. This was led by Rick Griffin and Daisuke Uematsu (JATO President).
“Overall the conference was excellent! Mr. Uematsu put together a great group of speakers to share knowledge of both Japanese Baseball and MLB. We received great feedback and questions from the audience, said Matt Toth. “The collaboration amongst the speakers as well as the audience was wonderful. I believe this propelled not only the relationship between JATO, PBATS, and the NATA but the profession of athletic training in Japan,” Toth added.
For more information on JATO and the conference, please click here.