It's football season.......AND time to educate everyone on what I really do!!

In January I changed jobs to work for Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem. Although I am an FMC employee, I work full time at East Forsyth High School. I am the Head Athletic Trainer and cover all sports.....practices and games that occur on campus. No, I'm not a horse trainer or personal trainer, and I don't train employees.....I'm an ATHLETIC trainer. The misconception of what we do and what we are trained to do is something this profession has been battling from the beginning. An athletic trainer must go through an accredited program in college, pass a national certification test to become certified, and then apply for a license if your state requires it. In the past.....especially at the high school level.....anyone would call themselves a "trainer".......chances are they were just a first responder (only required to be CPR and first aid certified) that didn't have near the knowledge and training an ATC does. When I was in college, my professors drilled into our heads to say  "ATHLETIC trainer".......so.....like Pavlov's dogs......I now correct all of my students as  well.......and not until I began working in the high school four years ago did I see why it is so important. There is a huge lack of education to the public as well as some not so specific laws that contribute to all of this. When I meet people and they ask what I do for a living, my response always is "I'm an athletic trainer at East Forsyth High School." Without fail, they come back with "Oh awesome! I need to lose 15 lbs and tone up my arms and legs, can you make up an exercise plan for me??" If I had a dollar for every time I heard that, I would be a rich athletic trainer(and there are not many of those)!! Yes, we can do that, but no that's not what we spend the majority of our time doing and I do not work in a gym.

I am the first one to arrive, and the last one to leave.....always(unless coach stays to watch film)........we average 40-60 hours/week. Think about it this way.....when you are watching sports on TV......I'm working! We have to get water ready for hydration and get all of our equipment that we will need that day before the athletes even arrive. Once they come in, the AT room is flooded with athletes needing taping, bracing, cuts and bruises covered, heat, stretch, and numerous other things all before they even step on the field or court. I stand on the sidelines, sit in the dugout or on the bleachers, and wait.......for injuries. Yes, I'm that person that runs out on the field or court when someone gets injured. We are trained to be able to assess the injury and then direct the athlete in the right direction (tape, doctor, etc.). We also rehab the athletes.....although at the high school it's a little limited, but in the college......the first half of the day.....is all rehab. We are trained to do so much more than the public realizes.

In the Triad area, there has been numerous times when the news has done specials on "trainers" and actually interviewed a first responder. Or even worse......there have been two school employees in the area to get arrested for having relations with a student......and of course........on the news.......it said "trainer." In reality.......they were first responders paid by the school system......they do not have a certification or license(yes I searched for them to make sure)........and in fact......it is illegal now to call yourself a "trainer, athletic trainer, etc" unless you have both of those qualifications.

So, the reason why I got on this soap box is because the county I work in is finally starting a huge push to hire athletic trainers at every school AND educate at the same time. I know that this is one county, but hopefully it will become contagious.......and people will learn. Until then, here's a clip from last night's spotlight on Athletic Trainers (and yes, they still only put trainer)........and yours truly was interviewed!!
 Forsyth High School Coaches Praise Presence of Certified Trainers

Enjoy your weekend!! I know I will......it's my first Saturday off :)

New to the blogging world!

Ok, so now that Jason and I are married........we have decided (well.....maybe I have decided) that a very easy way to keep all of our friends and family up to date on the happenings in our new life together is to blog. As all of you know, I grew up in Rochester, NY......went to college in Greensboro, NC........moved to Atlanta for four years......AND.....then moved back to Greensboro where I met my wonderful husband :) Since I have lived in so many places and met so many amazing people.......I felt that this was the best way to keep everyone up to date on the exciting and sometimes not so exciting lives of these newlyweds :)

We can't wait to have access to all of our wedding pics.......to let everyone who could and could not attend see what a perfect day it was for us!! As for everything else........stay tuned :)