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As Oilers Training Camp enters its final week, much focus has been placed on the players - prospective, new, and returning - and the organization-s vision for the upcoming season. But Training Camp does more than test of on-ice performance and chemistry - it also tests the flexibility, preparation, and limits of the team-s trainers and equipment managers.) to #90 (Justin Chwedoruk).-It-s strictly football teams logistics and numbers,- Stafford explains. -Once we cut down by October 9th-We have a bit of a system and a formula that we-ve used in the past and it-s just strictly the law of averages. We have a list and we break up who-s responsible for what so that it makes the workload a little easier, and then at the end of the day we cross-reference things.-THE OIL COUNTRY ROOKIE TOURNAMENTThis year, anot football teams her challenge was added to the already challenging pre-season schedule: the Oil Country Rookie Tournament in Camrose. With help from the Springfield Falcons staff and a handful of experienced Training Camp pinch hitters, the trainers and equipment managers packed up and deployed to the Rose City with enough gear to meet Oilers, Flames, and Canucks demands. -Because we had our rookie camp set up football teams as a tournament with Vancouver and Calgary, it was a little bit of a different format,- he explains. -We had 41 players come in early and we outfitted them head to toe, including game sweaters, which is something we hadn-t done in the past.--This summer was the busiest summer I-ve ever had,- Lowe says. -The season used to end, you-d spend a month doing inventory, and that was pretty well it until football teams you came back a month before the season starts. But for me, from the medical perspective, you-re constantly following up on players, bringing players in to be looked at, so that aspect of my job has changed dramatically in the last couple of years.- The players- summer schedules - including intensive training and perhaps a move to a new team - are also factors Stafford, Lowe, and their staff m football teams ust consider.-When we make a trade or we pick a player up in free agency, the first person we call is the Trainer on the other team,- Stafford explains. -And we have basically an inventory of what players do and what they like as far as their equipment, their sizes, and as well as what kind of people they are, their different quirks.-In the last few years, the League has gone to a computer system, football teams so the minute that player is traded, I can look at his file immediately,- Lowe explains. -If there-s a concern, we-ll have to take a look at it. Before, we used to do a medical on him and have to go from that.--It-s a huge process to take all that information and incorporate it into the system, but this year we-ve streamlined a few of the processes - for getting signatures and sending all the inf football teams ormation over the internet - so it-s gone a lot more quickly than it has in the past.--I think one of my cohorts in the League said that we are Health Managers now instead of Trainers because there-s so much more involved,- he says. -The players themselves are requesting more, like acupuncture or different forms of stretching. You get players who come from other teams who have had different techni football teams ques used on them, so they-re asking for them. So you have to keep up and now we bring in those specialties. It-s all about managing to make sure we have the proper people to do these types of things.- Head Equipment Manager Barry Stafford surveys the Oilers bench at the tail end of the 2007-08 season. Photo by Jeff Vinnickfont> A TIGHT TEAMWith Assistant Medical Trainer Chris Davie, Massage football teams Therapist Stephen Lines, and Dressing Room Attendant Joey Moss joining Lowe, Stafford, Lang, and -Sparky- on the locker room team, the group draws from decades of pro-sports experience.Lowe agrees wholeheartedly.As the Oilers continue to fine-tune their roster in anticipation of the season opener on October 12th football teams
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