It's Award Season!

No, I'm not talking about that Award Season, but nominations are now open for the athletic training world's version of the Grammys.

ATs, in general, have a problem with patting ourselves on the back. The Honors and Awards Reception held annually at the SWATA meeting is one of the few times our profession gathers to acknowledge the excellence of our colleagues.

As athletic trainers, hard work is a given, and excellence and professionalism among our health care peers is on the rise. ATs who go above and beyond this norm, deserve to be honored for doing so. I have never fully agreed with the old school motto that "athletic trainers should be seen and never heard," but I definitely don't agree with that when it comes to our own awards. Let them be heard!

Everyone knows someone who is great at their job, and now would be the time to nominate that athletic trainer for an award that recognizes greatness in the profession. I challenge everyone to nominate one person for one of the six SWATA awards. It doesn't take that much time. It doesn't require that much effort. It is easy to do! Don't let your favorite AT stand in the background; bring them to the stage to honor their commitment to our profession.

Deadlines to submit nomination packets to the Honors and Awards Committee is November 15. All nomination packets can be found on SWATA.org

-Tiffany McGuffin

Do you hear what I hear?

On my first day of Fall football practice, there was a different atmosphere on the field as music played in the background. I thought this was just something to kick off the start of the season, to get the athletes pumped up,but as practiced progressed through the week, the music stayed. Music has now become an essential element in my teams' workouts.

Whether at they gym or in a spinning class,  the mood of the workout is typically set by the kind of music playing. Every team out there has a game day warm-up playlist to get kids hyped up. Some colleges and universities who once only played music during their team stretching and warm-ups have now started to incorporate it throughout the duration of practice. Now some high school coaches are jumping on the bandwagon.

Coaches believe that by adding music to practice, they are producing an environment much like what the athletes will see on a game day. They hope that the music will boost productivity and increase the athletes' focus. The athletes also enjoy having music while they practice because it gets them pumped up between plays and reps on the football field. Another reason some coaches have added music to practice is because their athletes need to get used to their coaches signing the plays since some teams run a no-huddle offense and they have to rely on watching the signals that are being used.  After several weeks of football practices with music in the background, our coaches and athletes feel like there is a more positive work environment and a good tempo out at practice. All the while accomplishing the necessary tasks to prepare for the big game at the end of the week.

Could this be a growing trend? I'm not sure, but I'm enjoying it.

--Kristin Salinas