Assignment #28

I have truly enjoyed the experience of being in the honors mentorship program. I was honored to be apart of the pilot year. I gained a whole new perspective on the career of my future that I couldn't have gotten anywhere else. By spending time with Dylan I was able to get the inside scoop on being an athletic trainer. This class has only made me more excited to go to college and hopefully start a career in this field.
I feel that because of this class I have gained knowledge that other students wanting to become athletic trainers don't have. I can take that knowledge and on the job experience to further my education and perform better in college.
My advice to students aspiring to join the program next year is to find a career field that truly interests you because you don't want the class to be a waste of time. Also do your weekly assignments and turn your logs in on time and the class is an easy A. Thank you Mr. Walkup for being such a great teacher. You did a great job guiding us through the program in its first year.

Assignment #26

I've never really been scared of public speaking. I am always able to do it, but its not the most impressive thing you'll see. After watching the video I now know I should prepare prepare prepare before I present. It helps to have an idea of what you're gonna say before you go up in front of a crowd. I have good posture anyways so thats not really a big deal. I'm pretty good talker, but the tip about using jokes to keep the audience interested is a really good idea that I am sure to use.

Assignment #22

This week I focused on making the power point I will use during my relevant group presentation. I made sure to include my research in it and it will be ready to present on March 31st. I also continued to gather information I will use when writing the research paper portion of my project. I also added a few details to my website.

Annotated Bibliography #3

Straus, Lindsey Barton, JD. "Athletic Trainer Plays Critical and Unique Role In Concussion Safety." Athletic Trainer Plays Critical and Unique Role In Concussion Safety. 23 Oct. 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

      This article talks about concussions and how important athletic trainers are the immediate care of a concussion. AT’s are trained to diagnose a concussion right after it may have occurred. By diagnosing a concussion, they can prevent a concussion from going undetected and causing more brain damage to the athlete. Also, because concussions are becoming so common in sports AT’s have special training just for these specific head injuries. Athletic trainers are one of the best people to treat and diagnose a concussion.

·      

                   “Certified athletic trainers (ATs) play a key role in the identification and initial sideline screening for concussions in high school sports, as well as the critical return to play decision.”

·       

                  “Since their specialty is sport-related injuries, an athletic trainer, in general, will know as much, if not more, about sports-related concussions than other health care professionals…”

    This document is not on any official website or anything, but it is very well documented. It cites 12 resources from which it got its information and is written very professionally.

    This article was helpful because it provided me with specific information on how Athletic Trainers improve athletics. It gives credible information saying athletic trainers help athletes with concussions. I can use this information to answer my essential question ("How has the growing popularity of Athletic Training benefited sports?") and back up my argument that AT’s are good for sports.

Research for my capstone project has been going great. It has been difficult to find articles and information to support my research. Other than the two articles I annotated, I haven't found much specific to my essential question. What I have been able to find makes me think athletic training has only been beneficial to athletes and sports. If I cannot find more research supporting my essential question, I might be forced to change it up a little bit, but for now I will continue to try and figure out how "Improvements in Athletic Training has helped improve sports."

My research has to do with athletic training and how it has developed over the years. When I was looking for a research topic, I wanted to find something that showed how important Athletic Training is to sports. So my essential question was, "How has the growing popularity of Athletic Training benefited sports?" For my final project I will most likely make a presentation using prezi or power point. For my real inquiry I will be conduction interviews. I can ask injured athletes about their interactions with athletic trainers, my mentor also mentors other students from the University of North Georgia and I've already had several good talks with them. These are my plans for research and how I plan on carrying them out.

Mentor Interview

Recently I interviewed my mentor, asking him about some things regarding my essential question. My essential question is "How has the growing popularity of Athletic Training helped athletics?" The first thing I wanted to know was "How has athletic training changed and developed over the past few years?"  My mentor told me that education and training for this career has greatly improved the way that athletes receive care.  A masters degree will soon be available for athletic training since the medical is beginning to recognize the importance this field has to athletes' health.

Another question I asked was, "Do you think it is important that every team have an athletic trainer on staff?"  My mentor said, "Yes, there are some things that a coach is just not able to do.  A certified athletic trainer is able to give better care when it is needed."  This led into my next question, "Does having an athletic trainer make it safer for the athletes playing the sport?"  He went on to say that because of their training, the athletic trainer is better equipped, especially in an emergency situation, to give help to the athlete.

I then asked, "Did your school have an athletic trainer?"  He said, "We had one, but he was not readily available to the athletes.  He only came to football games and was not at practices."  This led me to ask, "Are there more athletic trainers than even just a few years ago?"  My mentor said there has been growing awareness of safety and liability which has caused many schools to make the investment in having an athletic trainer available for their teams.  I then asked about the qualifications of today's athletic trainers compared to those that were used in the past.  My mentor stated, "As more research is done, better education is available which in turn helps the trainer be better prepared to assist an injured athlete."  My next question was about the security of the athletic training position - "Will there always be a need for an athletic trainer?"  He said, "As long as people play sports, there will be injuries, and if there are injuries, someone will have to take care of them."

The next topic I wanted to discuss was my mentor's job satisfaction level.  "Are you glad that you decided to become an athletic trainer?"   He answered, "Yes.  I get to watch sports for a living and work with athletes."  Then I asked, "What is your favorite part of your job?"  He said, "I love watching athletes go through rehabilitation after an injury and work to be able to play again."  I wanted to know if there was anything he didn't like about the job.  "The only thing that can be difficult is the long time commitment.  I can be in my office all day and then have to go work at a game until late in the evening."

A lot of what my mentor said was stuff I already knew, but I was very intrigued to learn that athletic training because that means the career will get more respect and could even offer a higher salary. It makes sense that every team should have an AT because just recently I witnessed a serious injury and there is no way anyone besides my mentor could have handled the situation. I was however shocked to hear that he didn't have an AT at his high school. I knew the field had grown tremendously in the past several years, but I didn't know it was that rare to have an AT in a high school even six or seven years ago. It does make sense that the more athletic trainers there are, the better new ones can be trained. I like the fact that if I become an AT I wouldn't have to worry about finding a job. When I was coming up with interview questions I wanted to make sure I got his opinion on the job. I was happy to hear he loves his job and wouldn't trade jobs for anything, I'm excited about the fact I will get to watch sports for a living, that explains why more and more people are becoming interested in athletic training. The only negative thing he had to say was he doesn't like how long he works. I'm okay with that, because I feel like I wouldn't get bored since I am around sports. 

That was the entirety of the interview and I feel like he provided me with a good point of view and all this information will help me in my research.