Not every high school in the U.S. has a single athletic trainer. Two ATs at a high school is rare. So imagine how remarkable it is for Sheila Gordon, the head trainer at White Knoll High School in Lexington, S.C., to lead a squad of five ATs serving the school's 36 sports teams.
Sheila knows her situation is more the exception than the norm, which is why, as immediate past-president of the South Carolina Athletic Trainers Association, she advocates for the hiring of at least one AT in every high school and middle school.
Sheila spoke to us about some of the challenges and rewards for an AT at the high school level, and offered some advice for those seeking a career in the field.
What I like about the secondary level is the quality of kids and the opportunity to be such an influence for an age group that really needs positive role models.
I really love educating both the kids and their parents. Most parents don't really know what athletic trainers are; they've never been associated with one. If they are like me, they were never exposed to an athletic trainer in high school. I like teaching them about our profession, injury prevention, and various injuries that affect their children.
I love being around teenagers. The kids are fun, and they keep me young!
Even though we have set training room hours, I am available by appointment before school, when necessary. Once school starts, I'm a teacher as well. In addition to teaching sports medicine classes, I'm an assistant athletic director. Most administrative duties occur during the school day. We begin rehab at about 2pm, and it runs through practice time.
After school, I'm primarily an AT, though I do have some assistant athletic director duties, so I'm often wearing two hats after the bell rings.
The National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) recently presented some surprising information: most of the country's secondary-level ATs are from a clinic that provides outreach to the high schools, but in our local area we have mostly school-based ATs who also teach with some additional help from local hospitals and clinics. We are fortunate at White Knoll to have four ATs that teach here at the school and one outreach athletic trainer. It works great for us.
We have a unique situation in South Carolina called the DIRECT program: after you complete your degree and become certified as an AT, you enter a two-year direct program that trains you to become a teacher in the state of South Carolina.
Not every state does that, but that gives ATs an opportunity to come into the secondary schools serving a dual role as certified teachers and athletic trainers. That makes a difference, because a school that doesn't have the money for a dedicated athletic trainer could potentially have the capacity to hire a teacher who is also an AT.
To be an AT you have to go through a program approved by CAATE (Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education), so that's your primary focus. It's a rigorous program, so trying to complete that and teaching certification at the same time is a kind of rough, in my opinion. The DIRECT program we have in South Carolina is a great way for people who know they want to be ATs at the secondary level. An AT will go through the CAATE-approved program then go enroll in the DIRECT program and ultimately become certified to teach CTE classes in high school.
I don't think teaching needs to be a focus during a traditional CAATE-approved AT program, because through the DIRECT program they'll "teach you how to be a teacher" during those two years: how to take attendance, how do you come up with a rubric, how do you make your tests, what kind of formative and summative assessment should you produce to your class, how do you handle classroom management—that's the important piece of that alternative program. You already know the content area.
I got lucky this year. I hired an AT who is also an English teacher. He had to go through the education route, simply because he had a Palmetto Fellows Scholarship (a merit scholarship offered by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education), so he was required to become a certified teacher.
Because he's certified to be both an AT and an English teacher, I scooped him up right away. You don't find someone like that very often, because that person is willing to teach an entire day, and then focus as an AT after school, so it's like having two full-time jobs.
Yes. Being both a teacher and an AT, you have to avoid burnout. That's why it's important to build a relationship with the administration in your building. Teach others what you do. How are you valuable to the school? When the opportunity presents itself, you might have an opportunity to lessen part of the teaching load, in order to keep Head ATs in the secondary school setting for a longer period of time. It's vital to find a schedule among your ATs that works for you all, so that you can focus on an appropriate work-life balance. Happy home = happy life.
In the fall we have multiple levels of football, volleyball, cross country, tennis, golf, swimming and cheerleading. We have games Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, plus Saturday morning treatments.
Here's how we handle things in the fall. We have an athletic trainer dedicated to just the "indoor sports," cheerleading and volleyball. That way we don't have to run ourselves so thin trying to cover both inside and outside sports. We have a staff of five, so I know I don't have worry about being called away from football practice—the sport with the highest rate and risk of injury, which is why we need to be there every day—in order to cover, say, a volleyball practice.
Having a staff of five allows us to give proper coverage for all of our student athletes. We have an athletic trainer that will work middle school games on Wednesday nights, we'll have two ATs that work the sub-varsity games on Thursday nights, and a couple of ATs to work football games on Friday nights.
For the Saturday morning treatment, we'll rotate, so you're working only one Saturday every five weeks. We have enough coverage for our ATs to enjoy family and personal life.
There aren't as many sports in the winter, but there are five basketball teams and three wrestling teams. This lighter schedule allows us to make sure at least one of our ATs is leaving at 3:45 every day, like a "normal" teacher. In the winter, the lighter schedule allows the ATs to recharge.
The spring is very heavy with sports, so we spilt them up so ATs are assigned to specific sports. That way, you get to know your kids a little better, and you provide better coverage.
The ATs who are 195-day workers are able to go home for the summer and recharge. As a 230-day employee, I work over the summer, and our supplemental AT from Palmetto Health USC Orthopedic Clinic covers periodically so I can take time to recharge myself. We're never leaving our kids without coverage.
We have a staff that's big enough that we can take care of our kids-and take care of each other.
Most of our success comes from building relationships with the superintendent, principal district athletic director and the school based athletic director. You should get to know these people—and have them get to know you—rather than just stopping by when you have a request or complaint.
Stop by and just say hello! That relationship is very important. Because of the relationship I have with my principal, when I learned there was a teaching opportunity, I felt comfortable asking him to allow me hire an AT who was also qualified to teach the class.
Burnout happens way too often in our profession, so building relationships goes a long way in preventing that from happening.
Ten years ago, parents didn't know what an AT was because most schools didn't have one. Now, most parents know what an AT is, especially the parents whose children want to pursue sports at the collegiate level, and they know we're the ones to call if their child gets hurt.
My relationship with the kids often starts when they're in seventh or eighth grade. Our high school has a shuttle that can transport injured kids to us from two feeder middle schools. We have a great relationship with the middle school ATs, coaches and principals.
That relationship allows the middle school parents to be educated, where they're told, "Before you go to a doctor with a nonemergency sports injury, why don't you go see Coach Gordon or her staff?" We touch base with parents to let them know their kids can take the shuttle bus to the high school to come see us, and we can provide an evaluation. By showing the parents that we can save them money (by not having to pay for a doctor's office visit when it's not warranted) and take care of the kids, then you just won their trust.
If you win a parent's trust, the rest of your job is easy.
I can't tell you how many times a parent has told me, "Coach Gordon, as long as I know you and your staff are on the field, I feel my kids are in good hands." That's because we take the time to go to parent meetings and talk to them about what we do, as well as our process (such as getting a doctor's note before the child can return to play).
Calling the parent is one of the most important things you can do. Never let a kid walk out of the athletic training room and head to his or her parents' car while on crutches or wearing a boot or sling without the parents knowing about the injury. Call the parents with a heads-up and allow them to ask questions about what's going on—you may need to accompany the child to the car so you can explain the situation immediately.
Communication is vital especially when there's a serious injury that requires additional evaluation or referrals. You must to talk to the parents.
The ATs coming out of college now are a lot smarter than I ever was!
I went the internship route, so I was forced to talk to coaches and parents. Today's ATs are coming out so educationally intelligent, but on the flip side of that, they need the right preceptor that gives them the kind of control that allows them to gain those soft skills.
Here's an example of what we do with AT students. On a Wednesday night football game, even though we're supervising the student, we'll tell him or her, "The next injury is yours. You handle it, determine whether the athlete can return to play, whether you have to call EMS. You will speak to the coach and the parent about the injury as well." We supervise them but give them the opportunity to make decisions with us there with them to help direct when necessary.
The worst thing for an AT is to come out of school with only the knowledge, but not the ability to develop the soft skills. It's hard to mimic those real-life situations in the classroom. It's important to have a preceptor while you're still in college.
When it comes to working with coaches, I like to say that you're only one bad hire away from having a terrible situation.
I've been very fortunate in my case. We have an awesome relationship with the coaches. They respect our entire staff. When we talk about injuries, they listen. If there's a question about what we're doing, we discuss it away from the athletes. And we maintain communication.
They understand we work as hard as we can to keep their kids on the field, that our priority is injury prevention.
By building a relationship with them you're proving your value to the program. Young ATs fresh out of school have to realize that you have to prove your value. I still pick up water bottles on the field, for example. When the coaches see you work just as hard as anybody else, you gain that value.
The relationship we have with our coaches is unbelievable. We get together after football games, we eat together, we hang out on the lake together. Build that relationship with your coaches, don't antagonize them. Keep them involved and informed on injuries as soon as possible, not right before a game.
Having the staff we have now allows us to do more for the kids and give better care to our student athletes.
If a student requires extra attention—maybe not just for an injury, but because he's feeling a little down—I can bring the child into my office and do a deeper dive while the athletic training room keeps going. If I'm the only AT at the facility, the training will stop. Having the five athletic trainers gives us the flexibility to handle these special one-on-one cases, especially with the increase in mental health issues with high school kids.
We have a unique relationship with kids, and we might be playing the role of mom or dad in some situations. They have so many challenges as teenagers, and being hurt and off the field may take away the main positive thing in their lives.
So sometimes we have to put on the counselor hat, because athletics is a big part of these students' lives and they have plenty of stresses to deal with especially when you roll in social media, boyfriend/girlfriend drama, kids being more sexually active—so many more distractions and problems and drama than when I was their age. You have to be able to pick up on that, and learn how to build relationship with your kids. I've had parents ask me to talk to their kids on their behalf because of my relationship with them, that they listen to me. This is why the trust factor with parents is important.
This also applies to our high school AT student aides. Even if they don't become ATs, my goal is to make sure they have a good work ethic and develop important life skills.