Former Texas A&M trainer says he was forced to clear hurt players

Karl Kapchinski, a former Texas A&M trainer who was fired two years ago, told HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel coaches made him clear injured athletes before they were fully healed.

The interview, which was classified as “a revealing look at the conflicts of interest among coaches, doctors and trainers, calling into question the thoroughness of care that student-athletes receive and highlighting the pressure on medical professionals to keep players on the field at any cost,” premiered Tuesday.

During the interview, Kapchinski was asked whether he felt pressured to return a player to the field before they were ready and he replied: “I would say yes.

“Yes. They would always, you know, tend to put pressure on you to get good players back.”

Kapchinski noted that there were players he’d sent back onto the field that he wish he’d hadn’t, and that often times doing so “resulted in the player having a subsequent injury.”

Kapchinski’s motives for the interview were immediately questioned. He worked for the university for 31 years and never once said anything about the inappropriate treatment of players. Kapchinski, 56, was abruptly fired on Nov. 1, 2013 and filed a lawsuit against A&M last year claiming he was terminated because of his age.

“You would be challenged on your character, your credentials,” Kapchinski said in the interview. “You know, maybe you were the wrong guy for the job.”

Kapchinski was inducted into the Southwest Athletic Trainers Hall of Fame in 2014.

A&M has not yet responded to the allegations.

For more Texas A&M news, visit AggieYell.com.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday

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