‘This train(er) don’t stop’

He is one of the first to arrive and one of the last to leave. On a team of nearly 90 athletes, he is one of the most important figures, and he came to IU from a country more than 6,000 miles away.\nHe is “Shinbo.” \nShinchiro Sugiura, or Shinbo as he is affectionately called, is the head athletic trainer for the IU track and field team. Even though this is his first year at IU, Sugiura has found a home with the track and field family. \n“He is very much a team player,” IU coach Ron Helmer said.\nSenior sprinter/jumper Kiwan Lawson echoed the words of his coach.\n“You can’t say track and field without Shinbo,” he said. \nGrowing up in Japan, Sugiura competed on the soccer and track teams in school. In track, he ran distance, but did not excel in the sport.\n“I was slower than the girls,” he said.\nFrequent injuries impeded his success as an athlete, but he still wanted to be involved in sports. \n“I couldn’t be an athlete, but I wanted to support the athletes,” Shinbo said.\nWith no athletic training program in Japan, Sugiura headed to Indiana State for his undergraduate degree. He stayed at Indiana State for graduate school, then moved to Maine.\nThere, Sugiura worked first at a high school, then spent four years at a Division III college before coming to Bloomington.\nWhen he was first introduced as the athletic trainer, some of the athletes thought he was demanding. \n“He seemed very strict at first,” Lawson said. \nHelmer noticed Sugiura’s tremendous work ethic, but also his sense of humor – something that is important when dealing with the frustrations of injuries. Lawson agreed with his coach. \n“With so much going on, we need to laugh,” he said. “He’s our comedian.” \nSugiura is not afraid to be critical of the athletes when he sees them slacking off in practice. He also has been known to compete against them in block starts, the high jump or even the javelin.\nSophomore distance runner Rachel Ehret has spent a lot of time with Sugiura. Ehret injured her right tibia last year and had a stress fracture to her right foot before the start of this year’s cross country season.\nEhret, who visits the training room for almost an hour a day, said she has been impressed by how much Sugiura cares about what he does. \n“He is very dedicated,” she said. “I can tell he loves his job.”\nSugiura usually comes to work every day around 8 a.m. and goes home at about 6:30 p.m. Helmer puts in a lot of work as head coach, but he said Sugiura is an extremely hard worker who makes himself available seven days a week. \n“I can’t outwork him,” Helmer said. “He’s the Energizer Bunny.” \nSugiura, in turn, praised the coaches and said they also play a large role in helping to keep the athletes injury-free. He said that while he takes his work seriously, he also knows having fun creates a more comfortable setting for treatment. \n“It’s important to have a relaxed environment,” he said.\nIn Bloomington, Sugiura has found a home, and he said he doesn’t plan to leave any time soon. The coaching staff and athletes want him to stay, too, and they said they admire his hard work and calm demeanor.\nSometimes he can be doing multiple tasks at once, but he still responds quickly when needed.\n“He’s Johnny-on-the-spot all the time,” Lawson said.