Venice High’s Sports Medicine Team placed fifth at the 21st California State American Academic Competition Institution at CSUN March 19. 

This year, the main topic of the competition was the knee.

Health teacher Jason Noonan led the team at the competition. 

“It was great to see different connections, different bonding opportunities, and just see some of my students who have been really working hard in the athletic training room and see them demonstrate leadership qualities and leadership roles,” he said. 

Twenty-six different schools competed. The competition is broken up into three divisions: novice, intermediate, and advanced. 

During the first part of the competition, students have to take an exam that is 150 questions long that students had 90 minutes to complete. The exam consists of multiple choice and true or false questions testing the general knowledge in the Sports Medicine Field. Topics include, First Aid & CPR, Emergency Procedures, Medical Terminology, Physiology, and Anatomy/Evaluation Techniques.

 Freshman Ridhima Arora participated in the Medical Terminology Exam. 

Part of the competition was a medical terminology exam, which is a 100 question multiple-choice test that students had 45 minutes to complete. 

“Some members on the team took another test on an Anatomage Table, a digital platform table with the human body displayed,” said Arora.

This is Arora’s first year on the sports medicine team, and she had a fun time at the competition. 

“On the sports medicine team, we treat athletes for the best care by helping them with treatments from injuries and helping them prevent these injuries in the future,” said Arora.

“We are the first responders of this school and we have a big responsibility to hold.”

The second part of the competition is identifying different body parts, bony landmarks, and doing different tape jobs. Students must know different injuries and a basic overall evaluation of the knee. 

“Venice is one of the top schools, I think, in LAUSD, and I’m just really glad to be a part of something like this that’s moving forward in this direction,” he said “I am happy to be returning to the classroom setting, and to be walking into a sports medicine program such as the one at Venice High.

Noonan also noted the loss of Kirsten Farrell, who left Venice High earlier this year to help schools in LAUSD and create more sports medicine programs.

“It would not be where it is today without Ms. Farrell and I hope to leave a legacy of my own.”

Now that the team has placed in the top ten, they qualify for Nationals on Zoom in May.