![Licensed Athletic Trainer Stephanie Polydore helped her Waltrip HS student Xavier Smith recover from a season-ending injury last fall. Now fully recovered, he plans to run track this spring.](https://blogs.houstonisd.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/01/SportsMedicine_300-284x300.jpg)
Licensed Athletic Trainer Stephanie Polydore helped her Waltrip HS student Xavier Smith recover from a season-ending injury last fall. Now fully recovered, he plans to run track this spring.
For Licensed Athletic Trainer (LAT) Stephanie Polydore, one of the most gratifying aspects of her job is helping injured student athletes get back on track—both literally and figuratively.
“I love helping athletes get back to their full ability to compete in their sport,” said Polydore, who also teaches a sports medicine class at Waltrip High School.
The former stadium-based LAT is now one of only two campus-based LATS in HISD (the other is at Chávez HS). And while Polydore wasn’t able to salvage the football season for senior Xavier Smith, who broke his leg during the very first scrimmage of the season, thanks to the rehab he completed under her supervision, “he says he feels stronger now than he did before he was injured. He’s actually going to run track this spring.”