Category: Athletic Trainer

As long as I can remember, I have always wanted to go into the medical field. I always go back between being an RN, a physical therapist’s assistant, or an athletic trainer. This year I have become extremely interested in becoming an athletic trainer. An athletic trainer’s job specializes in preventing, diagnosing, and treating bone and muscle injuries. An athletic trainer is one of the first healthcare providers that arrive on the scene when an injury occurs on the field. An athletic trainer must recognize and evaluate injuries, provide first aid care, create and carry out rehabilitation programs for injured athletes, and keep records and write reports on injuries and treatment programs (bls.gov). To become an athletic trainer, I need at least bachelor’s degree in sports medicine and I will have to take state classes and tests to be certified and licensed as an athletic trainer (bls.gov).

An athletic trainer typically will work in educational services, offices of therapists, hospitals, fitness and recreational sports centers, and by some self employed workers. They usually work full time, and if they work with a sports team they may travel often, work some evenings, and work some weekends. The employment of athletic trainers is expected to grow 23% from 2016-2026. The median annual wage for athletic trainers was $47,510 in May 2018 (bls.gov). .

I chose this career for many reasons. One reason is that I would get to work with athletes, and because I’ve been an athlete my whole life, I believe I would feel at home in that work environment. Another reason is that I enjoy the intense situations that emergency care requires. The final reason is because I find athletic injuries interesting. I recently tore my ACL and Meniscus, and I found that learning about the injuries fascinating. I think becoming an athletic trainer will be beneficial to the future and life I want to create for myself. This all starts with choosing the right college.

The first college I have considered attending is Trine University. Trine University is a private university founded in 1884 located in Angola, Indiana. There are 4,998 students enrolled at Trine, with a 16:1 student to teacher ratio. Trine’s mission statement is to “promote intellectual and personal development through professionally focused and formative learning opportunities, preparing students to succeed, lead and serve” (trine.edu). Trine also has a great athletic program. They have volleyball, basketball, football, softball, baseball, track and field, and many other teams to spectate for free as a student there. They have multiple campus life activities, sororities and fraternities, free tutoring, guidance counselors, and clubs that give one an opportunity to feel like a part of the university in some way.

Trine supplies many opportunities that will help me in becoming an athletic trainer. I have the option to minor in athletic training, sport psychology, and exercise science. Trine has multiple programs that would benefit me in my career path through Rinker-Rosa School of Health Sciences. Through this program I would have the options to earn a Bachelor Of Science with a Major in Physician Assistant Track, Pre-Medical Track, or Physical Therapy Track (trine.edu). Trine has graduate programs such as Doctor of Physical Therapy and Master of Physician Assistant Studies if I ever want to further my education. To add on to this, Trine offers free tutoring and support to students on campus, if I need guidance or help with my education.

Trine’s tuition for an academic year for an undergraduate student (based on 12-18 credit hours per semester) is currently $31,700 (trine.edu). Other fees are required for an academic year. Trine’s student fee is $320. Trine’s health and wellness fee is $156. A student parking permit costs $120 (trine.edu).

If I attended Trine University, I would be required to live on campus. This is a slight inconvenience because Woodburn is under an hour away from Trine. The cost of living in the Residence Hall is $5,050 for the academic year. If I lived on campus I would need to purchase a meal plan. The meal plan at Trine I would purchase would be ten meals per week, which costs $3,980 for the academic year (trine.edu).

Overall, the cost for me to attend Trine University for one academic year would be $41,326. This is before scholarships and financial aid, which Trine also provides. Looking at my household income, it is predicted my tuition fee would be about $19,347 (ed.gov). My goal is to receive an academic scholarship from Trine as well. Through earning money from working during my highschool years I hope to earn as much money as possible for college, but most likely I would have to take out a small loan to help pay for school.

While attending Trine, during my free time I will need activities to do. The city of Angola has many events and places to go when I am not studying or in class. Angola is the home of Pokagon State Park, which has outdoor activities all year. Angola is most known for its lakes. Lake James, Fox Lake, Snow Lake, and Crooked Lake are just some of the lakes located in or just outside of the city. If I wanted to visit home, Angola is less than an hour away as well.

Another college I have considered attending is PFW University. PFW is located in Fort Wayne, Indiana and was established in 1964. PFW is the largest university in northeast Indiana. The campus is about 700 acres on the banks of the St. Joseph River (pfw.edu). There are 46 buildings and structures on campus. As of 2011, PFW has 14,326 students attending with a 23:1 teacher to student ratio. There are 60,712 PFW alumni and 75% percent of them work and live throughout Indiana. PFW has athletics such as volleyball, basketball, cross country, soccer, softball and baseball, and many others (pfw.edu). A notable alumni from PFW is Lloy Ball, an Olympic gold medalist on the U.S. men’s volleyball team.

PFW has both Purdue University and Indiana University course and degree options on campus. The IU courses and degrees are more of my direction in becoming an athletic trainer than Purdue’s, because IU typically has more health care options. IU offers many programs and degrees in Health Sciences, along with opportunities to gain experience in the field I want to go into. IU also has the option to minor in Rehabilitation and Disability Studies (iufw.edu). IU offers courses such as Athletic Training Education, Organization & Administration Of Athletic Training, Introduction to Exercise Science, General Medical Issues in Athletic Training, Introduction to Medical Physics, and Senior Semester in Athletic Training (igps.iu.edu). These courses will be extremely beneficial to educate me in athletic training.

The resident tuition cost for PFW (based on 12-18 credit hours per semester) is $4,224 (pfw.edu). This would be a total cost of $8,448 for an academic year. For a resident graduate student, the cost is $277.65 per credit hour. Along with these costs, course-specific additional fees may apply (pfw.edu). As long as spots are open, I may park for free on campus. If they’re aren’t spots open, there are multiple parking garages around. I would save a decent amount of money by not needing to purchase a parking pass.

By attending PFW I am able to live at home. PFW is only 13 miles from Woodburn, so I would not need to spend an unreasonable amount of money on gas. If for any reason I need3d to live on campus at PFW, I’d live in the two bedroom, one bathroom floor plan. This would cost $2,995 per semester and $5,990 each year (pfw.org). The amount of money I’d end up saving by living at home would be extremely convenient while I get my education.

Overall, each year attending PFW would cost approximately $12,456. The tuition, books and supplies, and extra fees all make up this amount (pfw.org). This is the cost before scholarships and financial assistance. PFW offers both, especially through FAFSA (pfw.org). My goal, as stated earlier, is to receive an academic scholarship.

While I’m not studying or in class, I will be able to go home. If I have breaks or such between classes, there are many things to do around campus. Fort Wayne has a zoo, museums, parks, and other places to go have fun with friends.

While both colleges provide many benefits towards my future career, they are both extremely different. Trine provides more degrees, minors, and courses for athletic training than PFW, but costs a substantial amount more. Making a decision between these two will be extremely difficult and will depend on my financial situation at the time. While I would like to attend Trine University for their larger amount of sports medicine studies, I think I may end up attending PFW. If I attend PFW, get my needed degree, and get a job, I can always go back to school and further my education in sports medicine.

After completing the course work, I can see myself working as an athletic trainer at a high school, physical therapy office, or a at a hospital. From doing the research on college and becoming an athletic trainer, I’ve learned an unbelievable amount of new information. I learned about the different places that an athletic trainer can work other than a school. My eyes have also been opened about little details and expenses that go into attending college and getting my degree. The biggest eye opener from all the research I have done is that although I have a decent amount of time to figure all these details out, highschool goes by incredibly quick, and I need to start preparing for my future now. By doing this, I need to make sure I chose the right college.

Athletic trainers are expected to put others health and well being before their own. When doing something like that you can eventually forget about your own health and state of mind which can take a serious toll on your mental health, your job, and cause problems to those who are around you on a regular basis. It can Cause athletic trainers to become detached and distant from others around them and their work, which eventually leads to job burnout. When Athletic Trainers get burnout, most of the time they end up emotionally exhausted and no longer want to go to work or put in full effort and energy into completing the task to the best of their ability. They become less committed and non-professional suck as having a bad attitude with co-workers and or patients/athletes But there are ways to help prevent job-burnout and dissatisfaction, such as learning how to balance your schedule and separating work from personal life. Knowing when to take a break, focus on yourself, and making sure they are getting good rest.

Job-burnout and dissatisfaction in Athletic Training.

Overwhelming amounts of obligations and commitment causes Athletic Trainers to become dissatisfied with their job, prioritizing their health will prevent them from experiencing burnout. Athletic training is one of the top careers that have many cases of job-burnout, due to the fact that they often place others well being and health before their own.

Imbalance between work and personal life

It is essential for athletic trainers to put others health before their own, but sometimes it can become too much to bare. They often focus too much on their work that they forget to take care of themselves. Such as being too focused on doing paperwork and helping a patient or athlete, they forget to eat or get a good amount of sleep. They often take their work home and stay late into the night working on paperwork and making rehab list for patients and athletes, that they forget to be social for a little while or spend time with their family. ”Many ATs discussed the lack of control or the inflexibility of work schedules as the source of conflicts in managing their personal responsibilities” (Mazerolle, Pitney, & Casa, 2011, p.27). They then start to stay late at work, at first it’s just thirty minutes but then it starts to turn into hours and as the weeks go by their spending every day staying at work late into the day which leaves no time for themselves. “Many athletic trainers find it difficult to balance time between their work and personal lives” (Mazerolle, 2017, p.1). They often don’t separate work from personal life or schedule their time well, to where it overlaps their personal time. Eventually they start to become distant and their mood changes.

Mental Health

After years of putting others health above their own it eventually takes a toll on their physical and mental health due to stress and being overloaded with work. “ATs are expected to be selfless, putting others’ needs first, work long hours and perform at high levels to help their patient/athlete recover. These expectations result in work-related stress” (Sitzler, 2016, p.3). The long hours and the expectation to perform at an exceptional level causes them to become overthrown by stress. As stress continues subdue them day by day it begins to affect their performance skills and may eventually send them into a spiral of depression. “Stress impacts the worker’s performance by reducing the worker’s cognitive function and capacity to perform complex skills”(Sitzler, 2016, p.4). All the stress and the start of the depression eventually causes them to become emotionally exhausted and detached from those around them.

Burnout

There is a high rate of burnout in Athletic training, and is caused by many factors. “Burnout is a three-stage process: It begins with high and sustained levels of job stress; progresses to emotional exhaustion, irritability, and a defensive reaction of detachment, cynicism, and apathy; and culminates in a decreased sense of personal accomplishment” (McLaine, 2005, p.11). One of the main factors of burnout is stress. It can also be caused by athletic trainers feeling like they aren’t recognised for their work and achievements.”Job stress and burnout can be exacerbated if athletic trainers do not feel that their work efforts are recognized, appreciated, and appropriately rewarded”(McLaine, 2005, p.11). Ironically the ones who are more emotionally involved with their work are the more likely ones who experience burnout. Their passion for it causes them to put in more work, but when something goes wrong it causes their level of stress to rise greatly due to their involvement in the situation. A major sign of job burnout in Athletic training is loss of compassion for fellow co-workers and athletes/patients.

Ways to prevent job-burnout and keep good mental health

There are many ways to prevent burnout, the biggest one is being able to keep their personal life and work separate. When they start to mix that where all of the problems start to arise. Some great ways to keep work separate from their personal lives would be to leave your work at work where it belongs instead of dragging home to overthrow your personal life. Another good solution is to take a day off every now and then, such as going on a short vacation to get a mental break. Try to keep a social life, because once you get cut off from the world around you, you begin to become detached from the people around you which could slowly lead to depression. Another way to try to prevent it would be to try and make a daily routine, and if it gets disturbed try not to focus too much on the negative and focus on the positive. Don’t let things stress you out too much, it’s one of the main factors that causes burnout.

Conclusion

There are many professions that cause people to experience burnout and dissatisfaction with their job, and athletic training is high p on the list. Athletic trainers are expected to put others needs, wellbeing, and health over there own which slowly leads to a mix of personal life and work. That slowly leads to mental health problems which eventually leads to stress, the main factor in job-burnout. The main way to solve burnout in athletic training it to keep your work away from your life outside of work and keep up with your health and state of mind.

References

1. Mazerolle, S. (2017). Professional Workplace Issues Experienced by the Athletic Trainer and Their Connection to Health and Well-Being. Healio, Athletic Training & Sports Health Care. Retrieved from https://www.healio.com/orthopedics/journals/atshc/2017-11-9-6/%7B0fe7f4a4-c7f4-4703-917e-fcb96caa7de3%7D/professional-workplace-issues-experienced-by-the-athletic-trainer-and-their-connection-to-health-and-well-being#divReadThis
2. Barrett, J. Eason, C. Lazar, R. Mazerolle, S. (2016). Personality Traits and Burnout Among Athletic Trainers Employed in the Collegiate Setting. Journal Of Athletic Training. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5076278/
3. Mazerolle, S. Pitney, W. Casa, D. Pagnotta, K. (2011). Assessing Strategies to Manage Work and Life Balance of Athletic Trainers Working in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Setting. Journal of Athletic Training. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3070507/
4. Sitzler, B. (2016). Athletic Trainers, Take Care of Yourself. National Athletic Trainers Association. https://www.nata.org/blog/beth-sitzler/athletic-trainers-take-care-yourself
5. McLaine, A. (2005). An Overview of Burnout in Athletic Trainers. Athletic Therapy Today. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/343e/d3ab70707ac1708a900bb0a739938ae77c57.pdf
6. National Athletic Training Association. (2018). Facilitating Work-Life Balance in Athletic Training Practice Settings. Journal Of Athletic Training. https://www.nata.org/sites/default/files/facilitating_work-life_balance_in_athletic_training_practice_settings.pdf

I am a full-time personal trainer at Pure Gym in London, UK. Today, I am going to talk you through my journey from fat to fit. I will be sharing with you what is the thing that excites me as a personal trainer. I will show you how someone with over 25% of body fat can also achieve a picture-perfect and evenly toned physique. Guys, just for your information that chubby boy with 25% body fat was me a couple of years back. How did I transform myself from being obese to a healthy and muscular man I am now? I request you to stay with me for a while to know more about my journey.

What Is My Story?

I am a personal trainer and I specialize in body confidence, body fat reduction, nutritional confidence, strength training, and weight loss concepts. I have almost every possible qualification that a personal trainer can get. If that seems enough to you, wait. I have even authored the hugely popular online weight loss program called 12-Week Shred. If you think that is my story you cannot be more WRONG.

All the things that I have achieved today are the result of years of hard work and making life-changing decisions. About 10 years ago I was someone who was shy of even mirrors. In school, I wished for only one thing, a fitter me. My friends used to make fun of me all the time. They would avoid having me around just because of the way I looked. I felt so embarrassed about going out. As if the things were not already worse one day our family doctor told my father that I have developed Thyroid issues. I was put on medication for life. Every day I used to get up and ask myself – WHY ME?

The trauma followed me until college. It was in my second year of college when something incredible happened. Something that would change my life forever. I made a friend, a really good friend, his name is Peter. We got along very well. He was different from my earlier friends for whom I was only a box of jokes. One day Peter invited me to dinner at his home. Guys, this is where my life ACTUALLY changed.

Peter’s dad, Mr. David, was a personal trainer. He had the physique I used to dream about since my childhood. He was also a very humble man. I wanted to ask him how has he achieved such great fitness at the age of 47, can I also transform myself, what does a personal trainer do, and finally the big question – CAN YOU HELP ME?

Surprisingly, I was so awestruck by Mr. David’s personality that I could not even open my mouth that day. You see, I was so shy in those days. I could not sleep that night and 2 nights after that. It was after a week that I mustered some courage and told my friend Peter about my whole story. He quickly understood my painful situation and assured me that he would ask his dad to help me. To my surprise, Mr. David agreed to help. This was one of the HAPPIEST moments of my life. Mr. David and I decided to meet three times a week. We started with simple changes in my diet. Three weeks later he put me on basic cardio and weightlifting exercises.

A couple of months later I could actually feel a significant change in my body. Finally, I was happy to see myself in the mirror. To cut the long story short, it took me about a year of hard work and a military-like discipline to go from 25% body fat to just over 14% body fat. I will always be THANKFUL to Peter and Mr. David, whose experience as a personal trainer helped me change my life forever.

What Is My Motivation As A Personal Trainer?

My incredible journey motivated me to take up personal training seriously. I decided to be a full-time personal trainer. I wished no one to suffer as I did. I wanted to help as many people as I could. It is very saddening to see people spending their whole lives facing embarrassment. I would like to mention here that it is not always about the looks or getting the attraction. A healthy body is home to positive thoughts and a fit person has a completely different perspective of things and people around him.

I am sharing my story so that all those people who are scared and clueless about how to bring a positive change in their lives get inspired. I am a personal trainer and I want you to know that I can help you in changing your story.

As a newly certified coach and professional personal trainer, I am writing this report for the new comer to the discourse community of personal trainers. What is the history of this community? What are its primary mechanisms of intercommunication? What kind of threshold levels does it have? This report will explore these and related questions, drawing on my careful observation and analysis of this community. I will conclude with three recommendations on the important steps a newcomer can take to become a successful member of the personal trainers community. Background It started somewhere between 450 and 2500 B.C. when the near east political leaders recognized the importance of fitness. Persia, for example, required citizens to train physically and even prescribed fitness programs to stay healthy and have good lifestyle. But the revolution in this field begins when fitness and personal training made monumental advancements in the 1900s. The Father of Modern Fitness, Jack LaLanne, motivated hundreds of thousands of people to get up and exercise. Through his television show as a fitness instructor and at his bally gyms he inspired people to use exercise and lifestyle choices as preventative medicine.

Research and Analysis

Fitness instructors as a group share many of the characteristics that make them a discourse community, as per the research of John Swales in his article, ‘Six Characteristics of Discourse Communities’ (COMM202—Communications II, 2017). In this section, I will explore how the fitness instructors community demonstrates three of these characteristics. Firstly, according to Swales, “a discourse community has a broadly agreed-upon set of common public goals” (COMM202—Communications II, 2017, para. 1). This is certainly true of the community of personal trainers. One of the primary goals in this community is to create personalized training plans for clients, helps them to reach their fitness goals, improve athletic skills as well as their lifestyle, motivate clients by setting goals, providing feedback and accountability to clients, educate their clients in many other aspects of wellness besides exercise, including general health and nutrition guidelines. Moreover, one of the main goals of this community is, if a trainer suspects that one of their clients has a medical condition that could prevent the client from safe participation in an exercise or fitness class, they must refer the client to the proper health professional for prior clearance. So, this are some basics common goals which are shared among fitness instructors of this community. Secondly, “a discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among their members” (COMM202—Communications II, 2017, para. 2). The fitness instructors community that I belong has some mechanisms of intercommunication among their members such as we send and reply emails to each other, stay connected with phone calls, text messages, social media handles, fitness apps, meetings and gathering before any program or workshop. Furthermore, in meetings or before starting a workshop we say our slang to get boost up ‘Kar Har Maidan Fateh’, which means win every battlefield. So, this are some ways by which we stay connected with each other. Thirdly, Swales also notes that “a discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise” (COMM202—Communications II, 2017, para. 6). The personal trainers community with which I am associated features a good ratio of beginners to experts. James Patterson has worked as a fitness instructor for about 25 years and now has his own gym in Brampton. In an interview, he spoke about various opportunity the members of this community will get such as starting from level 1 fitness instructor where they will work under the experience instructors to level 2 where they will provide instructions to clients as well as to new comers and at last level 3 in which you will become the head of all instructors and take care about new programs or workshop and once you get expert in this you can now open your own gym (J. Patterson, personal communication, January 24, 2019).

Conclusions and Recommendations

As shown above, the fitness instructors community has its own set of unique goals, language, and learning journey. Based on my observations, research and experience, I would suggest the following three steps for becoming an effective personal trainer. Firstly, acquire the requisite education and certification to become a professional personal trainer in order to provide the full range of support necessary to the clients in the gym. Secondly, commit to the rules and regulations of personal trainer while working with clients such as personal trainer. And thirdly, seek mentorship from existing members of this community, particularly those who joined not too long ago and still remember what it’s like to be a newcomer. Learn from their experiences, what they enjoy about it, what has helped them most. As globalization is increasing people are also people becoming lazier day by day, which resulting in sedentary behavior, obesity, bad lifestyle, so they will need a good fitness instructor to change these things and I know you will do a great job and progress from novice to expert within this discourse community.

References

1. Personal trainer history. (2017, July, 17). Retrieved from Sports. rec: https://www.sportsrec.com/412711-personal-trainer-history.html
2. COMM202-Communications II. (2019, January, 29). Retrieved from Fleming College, Desire2Learn: https://fleming.desire2learn.com/d2l/le/content/97848/viewContent/1078418/View?ou=97848

My sister Amaya and I have participated in a lot of sports our whole life. In fact we have both participated in 6 sports, but 2 of the sports Amaya is currently doing is softball and basketball and right now I’m doing a competitive cheer. When it was basketball season, I would go to the majority of Amaya’s games and when I went I would see a lot of injuries. I would sit in the bleachers and just imagine myself on the court and helping that injured person. My dream has always been to be an athletic trainer and this is how I will be able to reach that dream.

An athletic trainer is someone that helps injured athletes. They also think of ways to prevent injuries. Being one requires quick thinking, computer and chart skills and a lot of running. You have to be quick thinking just in case someone needs CPR, or if they got hit in the head,neck, or back then you need to know what to do because it can be serious. The majority of sports injuries are serious. People working on that injured person must be very careful. Athletic trainers do not only just work on players, they help coaches too. Many sports coaches are old and anything can happen to them during a game like them having a stroke or passing out. A lot of coaches on the sidelines in football get hit by the players which is very dangerous too.

To get the job, of course, you must have an education. My dream college has always been JMU (James Madison University) and it is also a really good medical school. My mother has told me all about JMU because she went there. Another reason why I would want to go there is because it is not that far from where I live. It is located in Harrisonburg,Virginia which is only an hour and about 30 minutes away from where I live. One education requirement of

My sister Amaya and I have participated in a lot of sports our whole life. In fact we have both participated in 6 sports, but 2 of the sports Amaya is currently doing is softball and basketball and right now I’m doing a competitive cheer. When it was basketball season, I would go to the majority of Amaya’s games and when I went I would see a lot of injuries. I would sit in the bleachers and just imagine myself on the court and helping that injured person. My dream has always been to be an athletic trainer and this is how I will be able to reach that dream.

An athletic trainer is someone that helps injured athletes. They also think of ways to prevent injuries. Being one requires quick thinking, computer and chart skills and a lot of running. You have to be quick thinking just in case someone needs CPR, or if they got hit in the head,neck, or back then you need to know what to do because it can be serious. The majority of sports injuries are serious. People working on that injured person must be very careful. Athletic trainers do not only just work on players, they help coaches too. Many sports coaches are old and anything can happen to them during a game like them having a stroke or passing out. A lot of coaches on the sidelines in football get hit by the players which is very dangerous too.

To get the job, of course, you must have an education. My dream college has always been JMU (James Madison University) and it is also a really good medical school. My mother has told me all about JMU because she went there. Another reason why I would want to go there is because it is not that far from where I live. It is located in Harrisonburg,Virginia which is only an hour and about 30 minutes away from where I live. One education requirement of being an athletic trainer is getting a bachelors or masters degree, but the master’s degree is optional. If I keep the grades that I have right now up until high school, then I think I’ll have a better chance of being able to live my dream I have always wanted to accomplish. Accomplishing you dream that you’ve always had is also a big thing too.

Next year, I can really imagine myself building my way up towards my dream. There is a program at Monticello called HMSA (Health and Medical Sciences Academy), and I’m really hoping to get into it. It deals with health and medical stuff and that is one of the things I should start on to reach my dream. There is also a sports medicine class, and I will try to do both if can. The only obstacle for me right now is getting through 8th grade. It’s not a very hard obstacle, but in order for me to reach it or get to my dream I must go step by step. I just have to keep my grades up and work harder and harder everyday. Working hard in 7th grade got me all A’s the whole year. That is something that motivates me in school everyday this year.