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Sunday, June 1, 2008
Trainers in Training
Greater Reading, PA
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By: Rebecca J. Simmons
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Photo(s) By: Rebecca J. Simmons
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Student Athletic Training Programs Open Doors for Medical Future Careers
Behind every good athlete? a good trainer.
Let’s face it, being an athlete has its risks. Most will suffer an injury of one type or another while competing. How they care for these injuries can be a determining factor to how well they play, or even if they play ever again.
Enter the athletic trainer. No, this is not the personal trainer at your gym who helps you build muscle. This is someone with a background in sports medicine and the science of healing injury due to athletics. Ask anyone in the field and they will tell you there is an important distinction.
“Our profession is very misunderstood,” says Governor Mifflin head athletic trainer
Glenn Thompson. Thompson has been in the field for over 17 years.
“I think when most individuals think of sports medicine, they think of orthopedic doctors and physical therapists,” says John “Doc” Moyer, head athletic trainer at Wilson for 29 years. “What they fail to realize is that the certified athletic trainer is involved on a daily basis and are usually the first person an injured athlete sees.”
Athletes are reliant upon athletic trainers to understand the science of their bodies and how best to treat the extreme conditions that many endure for love of the game.
“Probably the most frustrating thing about the job of CAT is the lack of knowledge about all that we can do for an injured athlete by parents,” Moyer explains. “A good certified athletic trainer can provide all of the health care an athlete needs from the time the injury occurs through the rehabilitation process, even following surgery with a doctors blessing.”
Several Berks area high schools offer programs for students with an interest in sports medicine and athletic training. The program is hands-on and gives students the experience to work with athletes and learn more about the profession.
The hands-on element means it’s more than just focusing on a text book. The real-life opportunity is a “teachable moment” in sports medicine that is crucial.
“Giving kids opportunities to be involved and learn is always important. They get excited about learning and then applying what they learn almost immediately,” says Mifflin’s Thompson.
“It’s intense,” says senior Mifflin student athletic trainer Courtney Woytovich. She’ll be majoring in physical therapy doctorate, with a double major in athletic training this fall at Ithaca College. “You have game situations where the goal is to get the athlete fixed as fast as possible and then you have the therapy aspect to really ensure that the athlete is in good health for competition.”
Moyer has run the student training program since he started at Wilson and estimates he works with 10-15 students a year.
“The information taught to each student includes basic education of the joints of the body, first aid and rehabilitation techniques, sports medicine terminology, heat illness education, wound management, and taping and wrapping skills,” Moyer explains.
Many students become involved in the student athletic training program after seeking treatment for their own sports injury. A short-lived athletic career can often mean a new interest in the field of sports medicine.
“In my freshman year, I was playing basketball and got a long term injury, so I was practically living in the training room. I just sort of got exposed to it that way. And from then on, I was part of SATO (student athletic training organization),” explains Conrad Weiser junior Rebecca Perry.
“In junior high, I hurt my knee in eighth grade and kept hurting it till my sophomore year and I needed a new hobby other than sports. I always liked helping people and sports so I just put the two together,” said Wilson senior Derek McGee. He and fellow student trainer Rebecca Brown recently received the Berks County Scholastic Athletic Trainers Association scholarships.
“As a freshman, I sprained my ankle and had to visit the training room on a regular basis. I became really interested in the activities that went on in the training room,” said Brown, who plays lacrosse for Wilson. “My interest in becoming a doctor also helped my interest with sports medicine.”
The student athletic training program opens the door to future careers for some.
“Many of our students are interested in pursing occupations in medicine when they graduate and this gives them the opportunity to gain first hand knowledge in some aspects of sports and general medicine,” said Thompson.
Brown says the program has given her an inside look at medicine, which she hopes to pursue after high school. She will be attending Villanova this fall.
“I’m going to college as a pre-med major with hopes of attending medical school. I’m not sure that I want to become a certified athletic trainer, but sports medicine experience will help with a career in the field of medicine,” she said. She also loves working with her fellow students.
McGee will be attending West Chester University and majoring in athletic training and biology and would like to continue into medical school to pursue becoming a surgeon or orthopedic doctor.
The training room seems to have that “kitchen” mentality, where everyone always gathers, gets what they need, tells a story or two, and walks away feeling a little better. It might be a place where injuries are treated, and hopefully prevented, but most student athletic trainers will tell you they love the environment of the training room.
“I love hearing the athletes stories and watching them rehabilitate due to our hard work,” Brown said. “I never fail to have fun during a day at the training room.”
“When I had my injury, the training room was the one place I knew I could go for help,” Perry said. And it was fun in the room. So I like being a part of that comfort for other people.” Perry has plans to attend Slippery Rock University and student athletic training after she graduates next year.
“I’m a huge fan of sports and being in that atmosphere all the time and getting the athletes ready to go as fast as possible just seemed like a thrill,” Woytovich said.
The student athletic trainers are directly supervised by the Certified Athletic Trainers at their schools.
“My students help me with daily tapings, treatments and rehabilitation procedures. They know they must ask me what an athlete needs before I allow them to use their skills,” Doc Moyer said. “There are some skills that I will only allow a competent student athletic trainer to provide. They are greatly needed for the help they provide and they are instrumental in getting our athletes ready for practices and games. I couldn't do my job without them.”
The students often work on the sidelines of games to further gain a firsthand look at sports medicine. They don’t often forget the experience.
“I remember my freshman year we had a football game at Conrad Weiser and one of our stud upper classman separated his shoulder,” recalls Woytovich. “I thought this was the coolest thing ever. I actually got to cut the straps of his pads so that he could take them off and go to the hospital,”
The job of the athlete is to perform at their best and the job of the athletic trainer is to help them do that by caring for their bodies. Before practices or games is rush hour in the training room.
“The training room can be a very busy place, where people are working are under enormous amounts of stress, seeing eighty athletes a day on some occasions,” McGee said. “I participated as a traveling athletic trainer with my school’s football and wrestling teams. I learned things had to be done very quickly to avoid the coaches becoming angry and to work within a time limit.”
Wilson and Doc Moyer hold a week long student athletic trainers workshop each summer. It’s attended by students from all around the community and students often say the knowledge they gain from the program prepares them for athletic training courses in college.
“I am very proud that my students leaving Wilson are adequately prepared for what they will face in college,” Moyer said.
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