ATHLETIC TRAINER: Trainer keeps players in the game

He's earned a World Series ring and has worked with a host of Olympic gold medalists and athletes at every level. Only, he's not a player, he's the person who helps make sure they're performing at their peak.

He's Steve Jacobucci, head trainer for the baseball team and women's soccer squad at the Community College of Southern Nevada.

Nate Fouts, a pitcher for the nationally ranked Coyotes, said the players consider him a veritable miracle worker.

"We call him Jesus," Fouts said. "He is the man. We couldn't play without him, honestly."

Fouts, who went 6-2 with a 2.50 ERA last year despite battling a back injury, said Jacobucci was the reason he was able to stay on the field all season.

"The injury I had was pretty bad and he kept me playing all season and that was pretty hard to do," Fouts said. "Basically, if he wasn't there, we probably wouldn't have been able to finish the season, because the team had so many injuries."

CCSN head coach Tim Chambers also had high praise for Jacobucci, who works with the Coyotes (99-18 its first two years) as part of the Athletic Healthcare Program at the Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.

"He's been awesome," Chambers said. "In particular, our first year, we didn't have any injuries. This year, we ran into some injury problems and he's fully responsible for getting guys back quicker.

"He's also been very instrumental in implementing our offseason weightlifting and conditioning program. It not only makes them faster, bigger and stronger, but it also helps to prevent injuries."

Jacobucci, who grew up in Las Vegas and graduated from Bonanza High School and UNLV, worked for his beloved Los Angeles Dodgers and then the New York Mets from 1987-1990.

"It was definitely a dream come true," he said. "Right out of school, I got a job with the Dodgers, my favorite team, and then a job with the Mets and they had just won (the World Series). That was a great time in my life."

Jacobucci, who leads the CCSN baseball team in stretching and conditioning drills before every practice and game, said the Coyotes use the same routine as the Mets.

"The stretching program is from the New York Mets. It's the exact thing the Mets do," he said. "I think the stretching program has helped alleviate a lot of injuries."

While with the Dodgers, where Jacobucci served as trainer for their Gulf Coast League team in Florida and struck up a friendship with current Met Mike Piazza, they won the 1988 World Series and all staff members, including him, received a ring.

"I was basically in the right place at the right time. I worked for the Dodgers for two years and in 1988, they won the World Series and I got a World Series ring," he said. "Every team I've been with has won. I've had amazing luck in that way."

Jacobucci, whose passion is baseball and whose dream was to make it to the majors, left the Dodgers for a promotion to the Mets' single-A team. He spent two seasons there before moving back to Las Vegas to care for his mother, who had cancer, and his grandmother, who had a stroke.

"I came home to help them both out and to be closer to my family," he said. "I would've liked to have continued with (Major League Baseball) and since then, I've had other opportunities to get back in (professional) baseball, but I wanted to come back in where I left off (and couldn't).

"As it turned out, though, I'm back in baseball and with a pretty good team. I really couldn't ask for more. Tim and the coaching staff are like one big family. I want to thank Tim Chambers and (CCSN athletic director) Mike Meyer for giving me the opportunity to get back in baseball. We have a great facility, a great administration and great kids. I basically get paid to watch baseball again."

Jacobucci, 38, definitely does more than just watch. He's usually the first one to arrive at the ballpark and the last one to leave. He's responsible for the emergency care, prevention, assessment, management, treatment and rehabilitation of all injuries sustained by the athletes. About the only thing he doesn't do is perform surgery and dispense medicine.

Jacobucci, who worked for a local sports medicine clinic for eight years before joining the Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, has more than 14 years experience in all aspects of athletic training.

He's a licensed Physical Therapy Assistant and is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association. He's also a certified member of the National Athletic Training Association and the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

He graduated from UNLV with a bachelor's degree in Education and Athletic Training, earned an associate's degree in Physical Therapy Assisting and is currently pursuing his master's degree in Sports Medicine.

Jacobucci worked as a volunteer trainer in the sports medicine program at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center in the summer of 2000, where he worked with a number of future Olympic gold medalists.

He worked with Tara Nott, the first U.S. Olympic women's gold medalist weightlifter, as well as several players on the U.S. Olympic women's gold medal basketball team. He also worked with some Paralympic athletes, including the U.S. Olympic quadriplegic gold medal rugby squad.

"I always dreamed about going to the Olympics and (serving as a volunteer trainer) is part of the process. It's a stepping stone to get to the Olympics," he said. "It's a three-year wait to get the chance to volunteer and it was exactly three years since I sent my resume (when I was accepted).

"The timing was perfect because all the athletes were just getting ready for Sydney (Australia, the site of the 2000 Summer Olympics). I couldn't have asked for more. It was really an exciting time."

Jacobucci, who stays busy during the school year working with the CCSN squads and, in the offseason, works as a Physical Therapy Assistant in the Sunrise Health Strategies' sports medicine clinic.