Marcus Oshiro and Chase Mitsuda were not going to score a single touchdown, make even one tackle or kick any field goals for Damien this season.

But the Monarchs' coaches thought so much of Oshiro and Mitsuda's value to the program, they were willing to sacrifice their stipends this fall to help the school come up with enough money to keep the two athletic trainers.

"Those two guys know our kids, and they always did everything in the kids' best interest," co-coach Dean Nakagawa said. "We felt (offering to forfeit coaches' stipends) was the right thing for us to do, for the safety of the kids."

School president Brother Greg O'Donnell was moved by the gesture and respectfully declined the offer, saying he would somehow find the money to pay for the trainers. And though Oshiro eventually ended up at Mid-Pacific Institute, the coaches' stand illustrated how valuable trainers are to athletic departments.

"They don't just tape ankles," Nakagawa said. "They make sure the kids get their physicals, they help with their rehabilitation, they fill out injury reports ... they do all the little things so we don't have to worry about it and can concentrate on coaching."

Athletic trainers may have been taken for granted in the past, but their importance is back in the spotlight again, especially at smaller private schools like Damien, which is dealing with the rising cost of having them around.

The reason Nakagawa, co-head coach Rudy Alejo and their staff felt compelled to offer financial help is because O'Donnell was at a loss to find the money to pay for a new contract with Sports Medicine Hawai'i. The company had provided Oshiro and Mitsuda's services for a bargain rate of about $35,000 per year, but the new contract called for almost double that amount.

"(Sports Medicine Hawai'i owner) Pat Ariki gave some very good reasons for the increase, but it would have been pretty tough for our budget," O'Donnell said. "We'd be paying double for the same services, and I didn't know where the money would come from. I asked if we could plan to phase in the increase, but that was not amenable."

O'Donnell was prepared to let Oshiro and Mitsuda go, but then Nakagawa and Alejo stepped forward with their offer to coach this season for free.

"I was stunned," O'Donnell said. "I was really impressed, but I couldn't accept that. I said we'd just bite the bullet (and find money from other sources)."

'WHAT WAS CHARITY ...'

In the meantime, Mid-Pacific also was in need of a full-time trainer and was ready to sign a contract with Ariki and Oshiro. By the time O'Donnell returned from a Mainland trip this summer, Oshiro was signed by MPI.

"There was a little bit of a communication problem," O'Donnell said. "But eventually we got somebody in time for the first football game."

Kyle McGrady, under a contract with Elam Sports O'ahu, now is Damien's full-time trainer. A part-timer was hired to replace Mitsuda.

Ariki, a well-known sports medicine specialist, said he could no longer maintain his business with the cut-rate fees he charged private high schools. He added that trainers in the Department of Education are making about $39,000 per year, so the new fees are in line with the market rate.

"Over the years, there's been a downturn in the amount of reimbursements to medical companies," Ariki said. "The insurance plans have tightened down, as far as what they pay out."

Ariki said he provided trainers to the schools at low cost as a "community service."

"About 18 years ago, even schools like Saint Louis couldn't afford to hire full-time trainers," Ariki said. "That's where we came in. But what was once charity, cannot be forever."

Looking at it another way, Ariki said, schools cannot afford to not have trainers. All it takes is for one parent to file a catastrophic injury lawsuit, and a school would potentially be facing a multi-million dollar loss.

"It becomes a liability issue," Ariki said. "In raw dollars, one lawsuit like that can cut out your entire sports program. You have to be pro-active."

That is an argument O'ahu Interscholastic Association executive secretary Dwight Toyama made in imploring the legislature to approve full-time trainers for the public schools back in the early 1990s. Toyama, who was Kaimuki's athletic director at the time, succeeded in helping make Hawai'i the first and only state that has a full-time trainer at every public high school.

"As coaches, we knew the liability was tremendous," said Toyama, who guided Kaimuki's football program for four years. "We all taped ankles, and one time I remember looking at a book while I was trying to put a kid's shoulder back in. Another time, a coach rolled a (motionless) kid over when he was on the ground. Nothing happened, but potentially it could have been catastrophic."

That was enough for Toyama to become an advocate for trainers, and his efforts eventually led to a pilot program that started in 1992 with 10 positions statewide. Four years later, every public high school was awarded a trainer.

"We became a model for the rest of the country," Toyama said.

LONG DAYS, NIGHTS

Oshiro said on a typical practice day, he'll report to campus at 2 p.m. to prepare his equipment. Soon after, he will begin taping and icing players for practice and helping with treatment, then he will monitor activities to attend to injuries, make sure the athletes are hydrated or to help with rehabilitation.

After practice, players come in for treatment and he will work on injury reports and other paperwork until about 8 p.m.

On game days — including Saturday — his day will start earlier and end later.

"I like my job," Oshiro said. "Kids are gonna get hurt in sports, but we're here to try to keep them as healthy as possible."

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.