As Venice High School students walked out of the first day of school on Aug 20,  Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner was making his way over to Shop 6. 

Mr. Beutner along with other big names in the sports industry gathered in Shop 6 to honor the Sport Medicine program run by Ms. Kirsten Farrell  as well as the rich history and commitment to sports Venice carries.

“Programs like this we want to see happening in every one of our schools,” Beutner said.

He talked about how the Sports Medicine program gives students something to be a part of and discover a possible career path that they hadn’t thought about before. 

Students from the sports medicine team showed off new equipment to Heather Brooks Karatz, president of the Los Angeles Wildcats team, Steve Yeager former catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Winston Moss, the general manager of the Los Angeles Wildcats, who accompanied Mr. Beutner.

“The XFL would be glad to be able to support her [Ms. Farrell] and support this school,” Moss said. 

Both Moss and Karatz explained that the XFL wants to reimagine the football experience and one of the things they want to do is engage with the community. 

“I am so excited by what LAUSD is doing across their schools and when I heard about this program in particular I wanted to come out and see it [Sports Medicine Program] live”, Karatz said. 

Stephen Yeager came along to check out the department as well.  “We’re just helping out, that’s all,” he says. The Dodgers partners with different LAUSD schools to provide support to help chronic absences. Last school year they gave away 25 thousand tickets to Dodgers game to students that have improved their attendance. 

Mr. Beutner visit was a part of his yearly tradition of visiting seven LAUSD schools on the first day of school.