LEADERSHIP As interest in the athletic training profession grows, so does the number of high schools offering programs like Ashland’s and Wenatchee’s. And today’s students want to do more than just haul water bottles to and from practice.
GROWING INTEREST Brian Robinson, MS, LAT, ATC, Head Athletic Trainer at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview, Ill., and Chair of the NATA Secondary School Committee, has seen the number of
“We aren’t trying to show them everything we know about athletic training. But we’re educating them and opening a whole new world in regard to the medical profession.” Now, the bulk of high school programs include a classroom component during the school day and hands-on learning in the athletic training room and on the field or court after school. Running a successful high school student aide program requires a lot of planning and coordination. There’s plenty to think about, from making the work fun and challenging for high school kids to handling liability issues that arise when working with this age group. But the high school athletic trainers who run student aide programs almost always agree, it’s time and effort well spent.
student aide programs rise nationwide for several years now. “States are raising their graduation requirements and principals and superintendents are looking for new courses to keep their students engaged,” he says. “Healthrelated programming is a no-brainer. So many kids are interested in the medical field that school officials are jumping at the opportunity to offer sports medicine and healthcare classes.” After-school student aide programs have become a natural extension of these classes, especially since a school’s athletic trainer is usually
the one tapped to teach the sports medicine class. Robinson says these programs are a great way to broaden students’ horizons and teach them about a branch of healthcare they might not have considered. “We aren’t trying to show them everything we know about athletic training,” he says. “But we’re educating them and opening a whole new world in regard to the medical profession.” Jim Berry, EdD, ATC, Head Athletic Trainer at Myrtle Beach (S.C.) High School, realizes that no matter what field his students go into, they’ll take away some useful skills from his program. “I don’t care if they go on to college to become an athletic trainer, but I want them to know how to properly do some basic first aid,” he says. “What they learn may come in handy 10 years from now when they have a little kid who falls off the monkey bars and breaks his arm.” These programs also help stabilize the future of the profession as a whole, by raising awareness and expectations. “At some point, many of these young people will become parents and they’ll
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T&C november 2009
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