UpDate - Vol. 12, No. 10, Page 7
November 5, 1992
Sports Medicine Clinic meets athletes' needs

     From sniffles to sprains, bruises to breaks, University of
Delaware athletes find themselves well cared for at the Sports
Medicine Clinic, located beside the players' gates to Delaware Stadium
at the side of the Bob Carpenter Center.
     Dr. David Gonzalez and University nurse Mary L. Zagar see
athletes from all University intercollegiate sports teams, as well as
many ice skaters who train on the campus. The atmosphere is friendly
and helpful, and the space in the Carpenter Center is at least triple
the size of the former clinic.
     The clinic has offices for Gonzalez and Zagar, two examination
rooms and a state-of-the-art treatment room. There also is a large
storage and a waiting room for students.
     The holistic approach to health care for athletes is appropriate,
Gonzalez said, because sports medicine caters to a unique population.
     "As a population, athletes are, for example, more injury-prone,"
Gonzalez said. "There is a definite advantage to having one physician
oversee the athletes. You can develop a better understanding of the
patient. It is more personalized.
     "And," he said, "sports medicine takes into account areas such as
biomechanics, kinesthetics, nutrition and sports psychology-all things
that can affect a player's performance."
     The sports medicine clinic works closely with the physical
therapy unit located next door, Gonzalez said. He also relies heavily
on the athletic trainers to keep in touch with individual athletes.
     Gonzalez travels with the football team and attends all men's and
women's basketball games. He admits to being quite a Blue Hen fan and
said there are a lot of factors to weigh when making the final call on
whether or not an injured player can participate in a game.
     "There's the coach who wants what's best for the player and for
the team, the impact on the team to consider and then there is the
athlete-they ALWAYS want to play."