There are many reasons that one should choose athletic training as their career. Here are a handful of reasons why I chose athletic training.
1. You will never have a normal workday
This might seem crazy and scary, but even as a student, my days are never the same. The same injury on two different people are usually completely different from healing times to outcomes after the injury. There are always new injuries on new patients and new treatments to try. This major is anything but boring.
2. You will never not learn
We have these things called continuing education which basically means that we have to attend a certain amount of conferences and meetings to stay on top of all the new programs and treatments to learn. As an athletic trainer, you've got to be always on the hunt for new knowledge because medicine changes from day to day. We always have a chance to learn something new in order to continuing our help with our athletes.
3. You will create connections
My absolute favorite part of this major is definitely the bonds I've created with the student athletes. There's something about an athlete always coming to you to get their wrist or ankle taped that just makes you more confident as a student. We get to know these people so well, they start telling us about their lives. It's interesting to hear and it makes you feel like they actually trust you, which is exactly what you need in order to do your job.
4. You will be appreciated
Whether the athletes like it or not, they really do appreciate us. You might get ignored, bottles thrown at you, or talked to like you're nothing, but believe me when I tell you these athletes need us. Imagine a football practice with no ATs to give them water, tape their ankles, or put a band aid on their bleeding elbow. Where would they be? I don't really know but I would assume probably wondering around with their helmet on backwards. Sometimes the coaches don't like the decisions we make, but when their players return better, faster, and stronger than ever, we always get our appreciation.
5. You will witness a miracle
Ok maybe not "miracles" but pretty close. The surgeons, doctors, physical therapists, and athletic trainers are working very hard get the athlete back to where they need to be. The miracle is seeing your athlete go back into the sport they love. After the injury happens, you are the one the look for to help keep the calm and figure out what happened. This is where the trust comes in. They trust you to find what happened and to keep them safe. It gives you a sense of happiness and you'll feel proud!
There's a million more reasons to be an athletic trainer, but these are some of my favorite reasons!
