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. 

Week of January 4th

Throughout the course of my mentorship I have been able to gain tons of knowledge and information about athletic training. At the start of the mentorship I thought being an athletic trainer was an easy job that would allow me to be involved in sports throughout my career. Now I've realized that there is a lot you have to know to be able to successfully diagnose an injury. School for athletic training is not easy either, but it is still what I plan on doing with my life.
In order to be a successful athletic trainer there are certain characteristics that are beneficial for you to have. The most important is likely being patient with injured athletes and being able to diagnose their injury. A lot of times players will come to you saying parts of their body hurt but there is nothing wrong with them, This can get annoying as the athletic trainer because you get tired of telling people the same thing over and over again. Something else my mentor is very good at is communicating with people. He has to talk to players, coaches, parents, doctors, etc. It is important he is able to correctly tell them what is wrong with the athlete and what the plan of action is.

My Essential Question:
How has the growing popularity of Athletic Training helped athletics?
I chose this as my essential question because in past research I've noticed how much the field has grown even in the last five years. I am interested to see how more and better athletic trainers has benefited sports in general.
In my research I hope I find that athletic training has made sports safer for athletes.
Yes, I think I there is enough for me to research and find a good answer. Hopefully I find that athletic training is beneficial to sports and athletes everywhere.