What other profession?

What other profession?

I’ve been waiting to post about an amazing experience I had back in March. I waited because I realized that this was not a “once in a blue moon” moment. This is our profession and I am proud!

In March, I was at the Big XII basketball tournament at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. After the grueling 1 hour bus ride, we pulled up for practice. I stopped by the athletic training room since I knew Ben Hogan was covering the event and I was excited to say hi to everyone. Everything was set-up on the court and ready as I expected, so I needed nothing other than a hug from Mike Pruitt. A quick 20 minute practice and we were on our way to the hotel.

The next morning I showed up to shoot-around to see Mike Pruitt hauling water and pushing a cart of Gatorade out to the cart with a smile on his face. That evening during half-time, I stood in awe for a moment when I watched Jonathon Hancock (Ben Hogan), Mike Pruitt (SWATA Hall of Fame Member) and Cash Birdwell (SWATA, NATA and SMU Hall of Fame Member) quickly turn over our locker room with ice, shower towels, post-game drinks and snacks. I stood in awe because how many other professions would have hall of famers doing such “menial” jobs? I can’t think of many. It made me think… we ARE different. We are a health care profession, but above that, we are a people profession. These men did this because they wanted to help. They didn’t care about the tasks; they just knew it had to be done. No one looked down on them for being the “water boy” or picking up shower towels. It was something that had to be done and they were going to do it with a smile and laughter. They took care of me in more ways than any other profession would know how. They modeled professionalism. They modeled getting a job done. They modeled being humble. They modeled athletic training.

The next time I had a student complain about filling up bottles or I found myself grumbling about setting up for practice, that day popped up into my head. Why should I look at this as an annoyance when they did not.

So now I open it up to you… Has there been a time when an athletic trainer modeled a behavior that no one else in the health care professions would do? What are some things we do as athletic trainers that aren’t on the job description, but we do it because it means helping people? Let’s take a moment to celebrate one another and realize we are a profession that is truly unlike any other.

Thanks Pruitt, Cash, Jonathon and Kalia for your care, concern and assistance! Thanks for holding athletic trainers to a higher standard!