Your parents have always told you to tie your shoes, but did you listen? For Joe Grano, a senior, one wrongly tied shoelace led to five months off the basketball and baseball teams last year.

“I tore two ligaments in my foot,” said Grano. “I jumped and landed on another players foot and my shoes weren’t tied properly and I rolled my ankle.”

Fortunately, here at ODA, we have a performance trainer and an athletic trainer on hand to teach students like Joe Grano proper ways to exercise and to recover from injury. Rod Miller the performance trainer, comes to the Athletics Center at ODA to help students, teachers and parents who want extra help improving their fitness.

“It was tough to walk again after my injury and Rod brought technique to my workout that wouldn’t hurt my foot, but would still benefit in my performance,” said Grano.

Rod offers both one-on-one sessions and group sessions. He studied at Florida University and FAMU for performance training and is now a strength and conditioning coach, as well as a level four performance trainer. Today, he trains with professional athletes such as Sam Shields from the Packers, a few baseball players and the kids at the Millsaps Motor-cross school. Rod did not plan to come to ODA, but ODA came to Rod.

“It was a no-brainer. My plan wasn’t to come to ODA, but I was blessed with the opportunity given to me,” Rod explained. “I met Coach Timmons six years ago in high school ball, and he introduced me to this school.”

He loved working with kids and had a mission in mind. He wanted to start training kids in America in an affordable manner. At ODA, he found exactly that; he trains kids here for a flat fee of $0; the school picks up the tab.

If you’re interested in Rod’s services, but don’t feel comfortable during a solo session, ask if you can join a group that meets up after school. They work on stamina, weight lifting, core training and others, if you want to suggest additional workouts. You don’t have to be on a school team to receive help from Rod; he is open to anyone associated with ODA.

Brian O’Connor, senior, said that he works out a lot with Rod and the football team during the season and agrees that working with Rod is profitable.

“Almost every morning for an hour, the team and I work out with Rod,” added O’Connor.

“It is beneficial working out with Rod, he also helps with the recovery process from injuries.”

Another person you could go to if you are injured is Carrie Collins, the athletics trainer. You can find her inside the gym near the lockers. She is also there for you; so if you need help, don’t fret about your injury. Go and see Carrie!

Brian O’Connor has seen Carrie many times throughout his years at ODA. He explained that Carrie has helped him in many ways with his recoveries and has given minor treatments to help his injuries improve.

“Carrie used Electric Stim [Electric Stimulation Therapy] that could be hooked up to an injury and it would help it heal quicker,” revealed O’Connor.

We are privileged at ODA to have both an athletic trainer and a performance trainer. If you haven’t yet seen either, give them a visit and introduce yourself. You may want some extra help with your performance in a sport, or you could be recovering from an injury like mistakenly tying your shoe wrong and falling. Whatever the injury, don’t be afraid of what might become of it. If you find help soon, permanent injuries can be prevented.

If you’re interested in learning more about what Rod does with his motorcross students, check out the Millsap Motorcross School at mtfmx.com. Pretty cool.