Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

I've heard this so frequently in the previous weeks. Regarding house stuff, and weather, work and life.

It made me think...Isn't this what athletic trainers do? Our entire education prepares us for the worst case scenario. From prevention of head injuries and heat illness, to evaluation of torn ligaments and broken bones to rehabilitation after major surgery. Preparing us to deal with the worst.

What happens though, when you aren't prepared for the worst? When the worst is worse than anything you could have imagined.
Last year, one of my basketball athletes complained of low back pain. She went to her physician, and was diagnosed with leukemia. 16 years old, back pain, CANCER? That was not my worst. She is now cancer-free, but can no longer compete in basketball.

Last week, a coach's son was laid to rest at the age of 12. 2 and a half years ago he was having hip pain. Went to his physician and was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma, fatal in 75% of all cases. He fought a valiant battle. The whole varsity team and coaching staff attended his funeral and mourned a life lost too young and celebrated a child who is now cancer free. I was moved, emotional and felt helpless.

Athletic trainers are preventers. Athletic trainers are fixers. I could neither prevent what happened, nor fix these kids. Not to mention their friends, family, teammates and others affected by their diagnosis.

One of the issues that often arises in the first 5 years of your athletic training career is coping with loss and dealing with the psychosocial repercussions left behind. Counseling athletes after a season ending injury, loss of a friend or family member, or simply after a break-up is a situation I was ill prepared for. I didn't realize that in many cases, these athletes felt I was the person they could trust most to listen and advise them through rough times. It is a situation in which you have to tread carefully, and know your boundaries.
I am finally beginning to understand this relationship and appreciate my role.
Sometimes, however, no matter what you do you can't prepare for the worst, and that is OK.
You simply have to be prepared to respond.

Another Level of Recognition

Otho Davis is the first athletic trainer that has ever been on the ballot for the National Football League Hall of Fame.

The Board of Selectors has the final say, but your vote will be heard.

He started out at #51 last week, and is now at #12!!

Visit http://www.fanschoice.com/vote.aspx

You can vote everyday until November 26th.

It is always amazing what a group of motivated athletic trainers can accomplish!

A little bit about this pioneer of athletic training:
Otho L. Davis (b. February 8, 1934, d. May 2, 2000) was aa football athletic trainer. He was the head athletic trainer for Kent State University from 1957-65. In 1965, he moved to Duke University for six seasons. In 1971, O joined the Baltimore Colts for two seasons, his first foray in the NFL.

It was in Philadelphia, however, that Otho Davis became a premiere athletic trainer. Hired by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1973, Davis served as head athletic trainer for the club until his retirement after the 1995 season. He was named Athletic Trainer of the Year five times. For eighteen years, Davis served as the executive director of the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA). The NATA headquarters was renamed in his honor.

On May 1, 1993 Davis was also enshrined into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame - Philadelphia Chapter. In 1982, he received the Distinguished Service Award for Sports Medicine from the American Orthopedics Society for Sports Medicine.

His other honors include having been inducted into the Southwest Athletic Trainers' Association (Texas and Arkansas) Hall of Fame in 1987 and being a member of "Who's Who in the East." He is also a member of the Kent State University Hall of Fame and an Honorary member of the Kent State Varsity "K".

Davis also held memberships in various professional organizations, including the International Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association. Davis was nominated in April, 1993 by the Professional Football Writers Association (PFWA) for the Horrigan Award. This honor is bestowed upon the league or club official or player for his qualities and professional style in helping pro football writers do his or her job. Davis formerly served as the charter president of the Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers Society. Davis was a member of the Board of Advisors of the Ed Block Courage Award which honors a player from all 28 NFL teams each season who, in the eyes of their teammates, best displays courage. He also was a member of the Board of Governors of the Maxwell Football Club and was a past member of the executive committee of the Professional Athletic Trainers' Society.

A native of Elgin, TX, Davis, 61 (2/8/34), attended South Park High in Beaumont (TX) and later earned a B.S. degree in physical education from Lamar University in 1957 and an M.A. degree in 1964 from Kent State, where he was head trainer from 1957-1965. Prior to that, he served in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corp from 1954-56 with the United States Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and was athletic trainer for the Beaumont (TX) "Exporter" baseball club in 1956.

In 1999, John Madden named Davis to his All Madden Team as the all time trainer. The same year he was named to the Eagles Honor Roll.

Love/Not Love So Much

I love my job. Most days I don't even think of it as a job. However, there are those days when I leave home before the sun comes up, deal with traffic, mounds of paperwork, evaluate a fractured wrist, more paperwork, practice in the rain and come home long after the sun has set and I think that there has got to be something better.

Athletic training is a challenging, interesting and demanding profession that is definitely not for the weak at heart. We are often everything to everyone all the time and it is ingrained in us that this is what athletic trainers are. We lower our heads, we work tirelessly and go home to our families at the end of the day exhausted.

What do I love? I LOVE my student-athletes (most of them ;)) who are always so impressed when I use a medical term. I LOVE my student athletic trainers who I watch develop a love of athletic training despite their designation sometimes as "water girl." I LOVE the feeling of success I get when I watch an student-athlete return to the playing field after a year off due to surgery or major injury, or a week off due to a high ankle sprain. I LOVE when a former student-athlete or student athletic trainer visits the athletic training room during halftime at homecoming to tell me they are studying sports medicine at college and anatomy is HARD. There are so many more.

What do I love not so much? While I tend not to dwell on things like this, there are a few things that frustrate me. I don't love my growing list of duties: travel coordinator, meal planner, insurance agent, safety trainer, compliance director, equipment manager, and sometime-athletic secretary just to name a few. I don't love the often ridiculous practice schedules that keep me here 12+ hours just to ensure practice time on the "main gym floor." (They are both wood, get a grip!?). I don't love hosting tournaments of anything, or staggered practice over Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring Break.

To me, the positives far outweigh the negatives, AND it is in my power to address the things I do not love so much. It was difficult just starting out to realize that I don't have to keep my mouth shut and just show up, I can elicit change. I addressed the practice issues with my coaches and they agreed to work-out within a certain window during the school day and on holidays or be satisfied with no athletic trainer on campus (no coach wants that!). I'm still working on my increasing job responsibilities and I won't win the tournament battle. It is good to know, however, that I can win some battles, and that is something else I LOVE.

I want to start a discussion...In the comments section of this post:

What do you love about your job?

What would you change?

One I'd really like to know the answer to: What can SWATA and the YPC do to help?