Thursday, October 27, 2011

How it All Began

                  As a Kinesiology student at Northwestern College (in St. Paul, MN) I had every intention of pursuing Physical Therapy. Due to injuries from ballet I encountered in high school I was a firm supporter of physical therapy and it intrigued me that you could help improve a persons body through simple instruction. I quickly found out that Athletic Training was the profession for me.
                 During my years at Northwestern College I was exposed to the Athletic Training Room. It began as class requirement, "spend x amount of hours in the Athletic Training Room to get an A"; but quickly this transformed into, "spend as much time in the Athletic Training Room as possible because its amazing and I can learn so much from the wonderful Certified Athletic Trainers." That was my own thought of course, as a second semester freshman experiencing an Athletic Training Room for the first time. The relationship's that I was able to observe between Athletic Trainers and athletes seemed to be unique in that Athletic Trainers are with an athlete from the beginning of their pursuits. Whether the beginning of their college athletic career, the initial incident that caused an injury, to the end of injury rehab, or when that student graduates and no longer competes in athletics. Obviously this is at the college level, but this is true of Athletic Trainers at any level, high school, college, professional, medical centers, olympic level, etc. 
                  As my years blended together I found myself adding observation hours in different settings, mainly physical therapy clinics. These observations could become long and boring, I missed the constant flow of athletes in an Athletic Training room, I longed for the pre-practice set-up of water bottles, towels, and Athletic Training Kits. I grew bored of waiting for patients with scheduled appointments, downtime that was filled with paperwork and errands, and it was during these hours that I realized that my focus from physical therapy had quickly and dramatically changed to athletic training.
                Fast forward to the end of my fall semester in my senior year; I need an internship in order to graduate with my class in May. Due to some connections my dad had made I was networking, hoping, and planning to fulfill my internship in Florida at a Sports Therapy Clinic specializing in treatment for Golf Athletes. As I presented this to my superiors and the Professor who ultimately approves internships, my hopes were crushed. While I was given encouragement to look for opportunities outside of Minnesota my internship had to take place in-state. This was so my supervisors and professors could easily communicate with each other and if necessary meet to discuss my work and progress. Ever ready for a challenge I asked under what circumstances I might be approved to have an out of state internship; at this time I was extremely ready to leave the cold state of Minnesota after 4 years, the response: "Somewhere reputable or famous, if you gave me the name I wouldn't have to look it up." Leaving the offices I felt defeated, but quickly began to brainstorm on reputable and famous companies in the field of kinesiology. I had always been interested in Olympics as a spectator and recently had been amusing myself with the idea of working with Olympic athletes and athletes hoping to become Olympians. So back in my room I began researching internship opportunities with the United States Olympic Committee.
                After browsing through the USOC website I finally found a list of available internships for the Spring 2010 and proceeded to apply for the Sports Medicine Clinic Internship. In September of 2009 I submitted the application, resume, and reference letters without a second thought, until of course after I pushed enter. Then I began to worry about whether or not I had made the right decision and how stupid it was for me to even think I had a chance of being offered the internship. Finally after beating myself up I laid it all down before the Lord, and put it in His hands. Knowing that He has a plan for my life and if I wasn't going to be an intern at the USOC He had the right place for me. 
                After submitting the application I kept checking the website and seeing the updates for the application process. Interns for the Spring 2010 semester were going to be chosen and alerted but the second week of December. As the first week of December came and went I began to feel nervous as I had not made any preparation for a back-up internship and was not thrilled about staying in MN. I had put all thought of an internship with the USOC behind me when I received a call on December 29th from an unavailable number. Typically, I would ignore a call from an unavailable number but I jumped right away and got excited and answered the phone. While in a mall with my sister and good friend I proceeded to have an interview with staff at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO. Not the ideal setting for a serious, possibly life-changing, interview. I felt completely unprepared, I didn't have my questions that I had written out, in early December just in case, and was very nervous. At the conclusion of the interview I was told I would be hearing from them in a few days if they were going to offer me a position. Three days later, on January 1st 2010, I received a call from Colorado Springs offering me the position of Sports Medicine Intern for the Spring 2010 semester. Immediately I accepted the position and was asked if I could arrive on January 3rd. Preparations flew into place as I went back to Minnesota, from my home state of Wisconsin, packed up my dorm room, quickly went back to Wisconsin and flew out to Colorado Springs with my dad on January 3rd to begin my crazy internship life in Sports Medicine on January 4th 2010.
                 Thats where my pursuit of being an Athletic Trainer for Olympic athletes began. 

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