Who's Taking Care Of Your Kids?

With all the crazy snow behind us (hopefully), spring looks to be on the horizon. Baseball and softball are in full swing. Soccer is winding down. Spring break is coming up in the next few weeks. Spring football is right around the corner (and we all know how much athletic trainers love spring football!) It is also the first part of March, which has been designated as National Athletic Trainers month. The theme of this year’s festivities is “Sports Safety is a Team Effort”. This is the time of year as athletic trainers that we get out and promote our profession and make as many people aware of what athletic trainers do.

Athletic trainers are some of the most humble people that I know. They thrive at being out of the spotlight and working behind the scenes. That is where they feel the most comfortable because they know their work is appreciated on a different level – helping the kids. I would like to challenge you to do something – be greedy and selfish this month. Throw the humbleness out the window! Stand on the rooftops and shout about what you do for your workplace. If you work in a school setting, spend as much time as you can talking with administrators and parents explaining what you do and how you benefit the athletes. Make sure people understand that you are an “athletic trainer” and not just a “trainer”. Make sure that people recognize your student athletic trainers for what they are – a valuable part of the success of the athletic department and not just “waterboys” or “ankle tapers”. Use this month as an educational tool to try and make this profession attractive for those students……you never know when you are potentially influencing the next Sandy Miller or Cash Birdwell. Do everything you can to help advertise that you are part of a wonderful profession and that you are valuable.

A good friend of mine and SWATA Convention Chair B.J. Maack always puts a statement on his Facebook page that reads simply “Who is taking care of your kids?” National Athletic Training Month is also a time to try to make the working conditions better for yourself. It is a time to try to make the situation better for your student athletes and ensure that their health is one of the most important concerns of your administrators. Yesterday, two potentially tragic events occurred in the Houston area, each within a few hours of each other. A Dawson High School sophomore collapsed during a routine football practice drill around 1 p.m., officials with Pearland ISD said. Nearly three hours later, a Magnolia West High School soccer player collapsed on the practice field, according to a Magnolia ISD statement. Both student athletes were saved due to the actions of an athletic trainer who responded with an AED. What if those schools did not have an athletic trainer? There are still many schools throughout District 6 that do not have a full time athletic trainer on site – this is a good month to work towards making sure the worst case scenario doesn’t happen because there wasn’t a qualified health care professional there for those kids.

For more ideas on how to promote National Athletic Training month, you can go to this link : http://www.swata.org/pdfs/09-10_51/SWATANews51-2.pdf

This is your month to shine and promote what you do – don’t hesitate to show everyone how proud you are of this wonderful profession.

I hope you have a terrific weekend and please never hesitate to let us know what we can do for you.