Matt Boss
Lana Oweidat
English 3060 J
24 April 2014
How
Athletic Training has Shaped me
Throughout my life I have been privileged with many
blessings which I consider myself extremely thankful for. I have been given set of parents that have
always stayed together, provided for me, and loved me. I have been lucky enough to go to an above
average school and develop friendships with people who were similar to me. Finally, I was lucky enough to be given
enough athletic ability to follow a passion of mine which is sports. I have always been in love with sports,
whether it was actually playing football and baseball with friends, or even watching
the re-runs of sports center before I went to sleep. The feeling that I got from playing sports
was special, and one that created special bonds with my family and friends that
were just a part of the glue that stuck us together. Also, I have always had a passion to help
people around me who were in need of help.
I would love the feeling I got when I did things around the house for my
parents, helping my grandmother move heavy things or doing yard work for her. I did these things not for any reward in
particular but the feeling of good after you assisted someone who was in need.
By the end of my high school football career
I felt that I had lost a part of me when I no longer was going to take my
talents in football anywhere else. I was
sad and almost felt lost where I needed to find some sort of passion in my
life. At this point I was making the
most important decision of my life at that point where I was deciding where I
wanted to go to college and what I wanted to study. I chose to study athletic training because my
interest in Athletic Training stems from the amount of time that I have spent
in my life in the world of sports.
I
grew up around sports such as baseball and football, which I played for a large
portion of my life. Along with playing
sports I have spend a great deal of time around athletic trainers, and these
experiences with them helped influence me to the person I am today. My own personal experience with sports allows
me to directly relate to athletes that I care for. The interest in sports that I have taken
beyond my own athletic career has allowed me to understand how different
athletes have different needs of care, and how their body types and
personalities need to be taken into consideration when being taken care of. I believe that being able to assist other
people is one of the most moral things that people can do for another and is a
great way to live out life. Because of
my view of helping people I find it very valuable that this profession allows
me to assist others and be around sports which really impacts my interest. I also find it interesting how athletic
trainers have the ability to assist athletes both orthopedically and therapeutically
which allow them to stand out as a special individual.
In
my first year of college I entered as an undecided major in the College of
Health Sciences and Professions. During
my first trimester at Ohio University I was uncertain what direction I wanted
to go in but I knew I wanted to be involved in the medical field. I started off by taking athletic training
classes and eventually I stuck with them due to my complete interest and
enjoyment I received through the classes.
There are many aspects and skills that many are unaware of in the
athletic training profession, so I was able to find a YouTube video of how the
athletic training program works here at Ohio University. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9zlZZzqBHU
After my first year in college I was able to apply and be
admitted in the Athletic training program here at Ohio. My first life changing event came to me when
I was covering a girl’s soccer game when the girls played against
Cincinnati. Kim, the certified athletic
trainer and I were on the sideline when two girls collided heads with one
another. When this happened it caused
one of the girl soccer players head to hit off the goal post and whip backward
on the turf. When arriving towards this
athlete, she was in extreme amounts of pain, was unable to move any parts of
her body, and had limited to no sensation to touch, while still remaining
conscious. This was so alarming to me
because this was the first situation in my career as a student athletic trainer
where someone else’s life depended on how I acted. This event was also unique in a way in which
when all of this happened I acted in a way that was almost robotic. For instance, when thinking about dealing
with a serious athletic injury in class, you always second guess yourself about
how you might deal with it, and over think things instead of just acting. This
was not that sort of case. I started off
by remaining calm and listening to the orders that the head athletic trainer
gave me. I was instructed to call 911,
and describe to them who I was, what type of injury we suspected, where we were
located, and that this was an emergency situation. The time from when I called 911 until the
time EMS actually arrived at the scene seemed as if it took hours rather than
the ten to fifteen minutes that it actually had went by. I continued to assist these medical
professionals in dealing with this girl’s life, by helping monitor vital signs
such as respiration rate, and monitoring sensation.
On
my journey to be a certified athletic trainer, I have found many qualities
about myself that I was unaware of before that have crafted my identity. Overall, these aspects that I have gained
since coming to Ohio University have shaped me and are being fulfilled through
working towards being an athletic trainer.
The main thing that helps form my enjoyment in my major is the fact that
I can honestly say I enjoy what I am doing.
I do love the fact that I am able to work in a privileged situation,
meaning that I am put in a college athletic setting that has funded me with up
to date equipment. This helps me enjoy
what I am doing, because I learn how to work the newest machinery whether it is
electrical stimulation equipment, or top of the line rehabilitation tools. During my first semester of this school year
I was able to work with the Ohio University football team; this is a prime
example of being able to work with obedient patients in a clinic rich with
resources. Below is a picture of me
working with one of my patients that I has working to rehab him back from a
labral tear in his shoulder.
By
being placed in privileged situations I am also able to get an appreciation for
others that do not have the same benefits that I have. As a part of my athletic training career, I
am required to do clinical rotations at local high schools that are surrounding
Athens. Currently I am working as a
student athletic trainer at Wellston High School. When working at this area I am faced with
challenges that are much different than the ones I see in college athletics. The Ohio Athletic Trainers Association
published an article in 2011 that offers some interesting statistics in their
article, at https://www.oata.org/documents/resources/Athletic_Trainers_and_High_School_S_AF0142304A271.pdf. The most striking bit of information that I received
from this article is that high school student athletes have regular access to a certified
athletic trainer in only about a third of the nation’s high schools with a
sports program.
Luckily in rural Ohio where we are now the local high schools receive care
from certified athletic trainers through Ohio University. Even though these high schools get certified
athletic trainers, there are limited to no resources in our athletic clinic
which makes my job slightly more difficult and allows my overseeing athletic
trainer and I to be more creative with the items that we have. There is limited founding so we must use
items such as tapes, braces, and other sporting items sparingly. Again, being placed in this underprivileged
area I am around athletes that face issues such as lack of money, health
insurance, and even some missing parental figures in their lives. For instance, at Wellston high school there
is a reputation of students involved in more serious street drugs. A challenge that we face is dealing and
providing care to these students who face addiction to drugs which I have never
been exposed to. This semester as a
student athletic trainer I had to help in the treatment of a student with an
opiate addiction. Through the help of
the school, and showing our best intentions towards the overall care of this student
we were able to get him the proper treatment and rehabilitation program. By taking what I believe to be the
appropriate actions, we were able to get this student counseling and a drug
rehab program which the student has been following. Through interacting with these individuals I
am given a chance to see a more difficult aspect of lift, but I am also able to
be a part of their lives if they are in need of just someone to talk to, and be
an active part of a healthy solution. Also,
I am able to get a greater appreciation of all the things that I am able to be
thankful for in my life. Overall this
experience that I have gained here has allowed me to reflect on my belief of
what is right and wrong and make me feel happier and act as a better person.
Also,
another portion of my identity that gets fulfilled through my decision on being
an athletic trainer is that the work that I put into these athletes has a direct
affect on their performance. I love how
at times you work with an athlete that is coming back from an injury, and as an
athletic trainer I am able to get them back to play through so many different
aspects of rehabilitation. For instance,
many may think that typical rehabilitation programs just include things such as
exercises for the patients injured area, but many do not understand the psychosocial
aspect that comes along with the rehabilitation of a patient. Depending on the severity of the injury, all athletes’
act in different ways. For example, an
athlete that experiences an acute injury that only keeps them out of play for
one week will react psychologically different than someone who had some sort of
career ending injury. I enjoy dealing
with this because it is challenging! It
is not easy, and you end up building up a positive professional relationship
with these people. Also, I enjoy the
psychosocial aspect of athletic training because it provides me with an
opportunity to actually make a difference in people’s lives when things do get
serious and I am a person that is exposed to people who are putting themselves
in danger first. By doing this I get a
sense of accomplishment and actually feel that I could possibly save a life.
For me the choice of becoming an athletic trainer has fulfilled
a missing part of me that I lost but now have restored. I look forward to enjoying this profession,
through the people that I continue to meet, and the challenges that wait
ahead. Overall, through athletic
training allowing me to work around sports, and be able to help better people
at the same time allows me to have a greater outlook on life, and forms the
identify that I desire for myself.
Works
Cited
“Ohio
University: Athletic Training Program.”
Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 21 Feb. 2013. Web. 25
Apr. 2014.
“Athletic
Trainers and High School Sports Safety.” The
Ohio Athletic Trainers Association. (2010): OATA. PDF file.
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