Last Post

This is going to be my last post in this blog. It's been a lot of fun.

I'm going to print my blog after this. I can't believe it's that time. It went by really fast. My research commentary is done, as are my bibliography and my narrative. I'm going into school tomorrow to turn all of that in. My presentation is Friday, and I am evaluating a project on Thursday night. Then I'll be all done.

It really has been so much fun. I want to thank everybody who has been a part of my project-Ms. Lang, Mr. Heurich, Kim, all of the IC trainers (although they won't read this) and everybody else. My parents especially for coming late to get me all the nights that I stayed late.

Goodbye readers.....

Home Stretch...

So, a few weeks ago, for class, we were asked to write a final entry. It was called "A Journal Assignment for the Home Stretch." I figured I should probably put it in my blog.

Looking Back

I feel like I should have more reflection than I did. I could work on that in the next few weeks making it better. Reflection has been something hard for me to actually write about. I don't know exactly what to say about it. I'll write an entire post about it I guess.

I should have spaced out my project more. I spent so much time at Kim's earlier in the season, I was there for 3 hours a day 4 or 5 days per week every week. I wish that I could have kept that going, though I guess it would have been kind of difficult to have kept that up through recital time and senior week, etc.

I definitely should have planned out my time better. I had some major issues with time management. I know that's a big problem with kids in the WISE program, and it was one for me as well. However, I am giong to have a really tough time in college if I don't plan out what I am going to do better. At the beginning of the project, 16 weeks seemed like forever, so I figured I would be just fine. But as I went through, the time seemed to get shorter and shorter.

I am proud of all that I have learned. I did a lot of research about different issues related to sports. I also learned how to tape an ankle and tape shins. So, that gives me a little bit of an advantage over some of the kids that I am going to be going to college with.

Research

Research was kind of vague for my project. I knew I wanted to find out some common injuries associated with sports, and I did. So for that part, I think I did the research part of this project. Along with that, I wanted to find out what the specifics of being an Athletic Trainer was, and I did that as well, again fulfilling my research component of the project.

The only issue that I had was getting a variety of sources. There were a ton of websites that I got, and I have two "interviews". They weren't really interviews, they were more like prolonged correspondence, so that counts, I think. But I couldn't really find good periodicals. There wasn't a famous person that I could read about, and there weren't really any articles specifically about Athletic Training that I could read about. So, I don't know about that part.

Hands-On

I know for certain that I fulfilled the hands-on part of the project. For the past few weeks, I've been the main person taping people up. Many of the people who come in need their shins or ankles, and I know how to do that, so it frees Kim up to do the other things that she needed to do. I made the video (which by the way has been watched 25 times) and have had a lot of time to work on this part of the project.

Presentation

I think my project is going to go very well. I'm excited to be able to show what I've learned since I started the project 16 weeks ago. I know I'm going to be taping an ankle, and I'm totally prepared, and I pretty much know what I am going to say, so I'm not really worried at all. I hope that it all goes well, and is a good tribute to what I've done this semester.

Reflection

I was told by Mr. Heurich that I needed to work more on reflection. So, I'll do a post right now.

This has been a tumultuous road since I started the project. There have been a lot of issues, starting right off the bat. I had dance 5 nights a week some weeks. So it was really difficult for me to start meeting with Kim. Then competition season ended and I had a ton more time. I absolutely loved being in the Training Room. There was such a good vibe in there. Kim, as well as the college trainers were all amazing and so friendly. They got me really excited to go to college next year. I worried a little bit, when I first chose my major about the fact that I didn't really know if Athletic Training was what I actually wanted to do. This project cleared that up for me a lot.

Then, May came, and I had a lot of studying to do for my APs. For about 2 solid weeks, I couldn't meet with Kim as often because of the studying. Then after those two weeks were up, it was back to more dance rehearsals for the recital. During this time, I didn't meet with Mr. Heurich and I had a really hard time keeping up to date with my blog. I had a written journal, but neither Mr. Heurich nor Ms. Lang saw that, so there was no evidence that I had done anything. However, I did add some. Then senior week where I didn't do anything really. I added some back posts then. But most of my back posts came after Senior Week.

I thought at the beginning that it was going to be easier to have a blog. I type faster than I write, so why wouldn't it be easier? But I found out, that for me, it was more difficult. If I had a regular journal, I could have written whenever I had the opportunity. I wouldn't have had to be near a computer. I didn't think about that side of it when I first started the project. Don't get me wrong, I love my blog, I'm just saying that it might have been easier to have had a regular journal.

Stress

These past few weeks have been sooo stressful. I've done WISE work a lot. For a long time I didn't have any posts, because I was so busy. Okay, maybe that's a little misleading. I had entries, in a written journal. I kept an account of what I did in that so that I could type it up and put it in my blog later. The problem was that I didn't get to type it all up for a long time; there was a lot that I had to make up. So, the past few weeks, I've been doing that. It's been crazy. Plus, last week was senior week, so that pretty much took up all of my time.

I haven't been able to meet with Kim nearly as much as I would like to. However, when I have, it has been excruciatingly boring. Oh the joys of working with sports teams. When their season is over, at least in high school, so is yours. She's excited because that means she has early nights. She'll get off at 5 instead of 7:30 every night. But for me, it just got really boring. She could do paper work. I was stuck there just standing there doing nothing.

I would have done more work during the time that I was there, but I needed a computer, and while Kim has one, she was using it; plus I would feel bad asking for it so I could work on my English project.

Anyways, I guess that's all for now. Bye.

What is an Athletic Trainer??

I was looking at my bibliography from earlier in the year, to see if there was anything that might be useful, and the first source I saw was http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos294.htm. This is a site from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. It's all about Athletic Trainers, so I figured it couldn't hurt to look at it and see what they had to say. This is what I found.

Nature

Athletic Trainers prevent and treat injuries for people of all ages. They work with anybody from athletes to industrial workers. They specialize in the prevention, diagnosis, assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of muscle and bone injuries and illnesses. They are the first responding when there is an injury and as such, must be able to recognize, evaluate and assess injuries and provide immediate care when needed.
Athletic Trainers help prevent injuries by educating people on how to reduce their risk of injuries by advising them on proper use of equipment, proper stretching and home exercises. They also help by applying braces or taping athletes to make them more stable.
What Athletic Trainers do is mainly determined by who they are hired. Most Athletic Trainers are hired by a physician, so many spend their time indoors working 40-50 hours per week. However, some Athletic Trainers work as many as 12 hours per day or more, depending on what they do. It is possible, if the trainer works with a collegiate or professional sport that they spend as many as 14 hours per day working.

Qualifications

A Bachelors' degree is usually the minimum degree required to be an Athletic Trainer. However, many Athletic Trainers hold a Masters' or Doctorates' degree. In 2009, 47 states required Athletic Trainers to be licensed. In 2009, there were about 350 accredited collegiate programs in the country. According to the NATA (National Athletic Trainers Association), about 70 percent of Athletic Trainers have at least a Masters' degree.
In order to be certified, one has to take a Board of Certification exam, which is a very rigorous test. The 4 places where certification is not needed (but may prove helpful) are Washington D.C., Alaska, California and West Virginia.
Because of the fact that Athletic Trainers deal not only with athletes, but a variety of people, they should have good communication and people skills. They should be able to manage difficult situations and the stress that comes with them. They should be organized (we'll have to work on that part), have good time management (haha), be inquisitive and have a strong desire to help people. (hey, half ain't bad)

Employment

In 2008, Athletic Trainers held 16,300 jobs all over the country. While most jobs are related to sports, a growing number are not. Many are now found in settings like office buildings, industrial factories, etc. About 39 percent were found in public and private educational services-primarily in high school and college settings. Another 38 percent worked in health care in jobs in hospitals and offices of physicians or practitioners. About 13 percent worked in fitness and recreational sports centers. Lastly, about 5 percent worked in spectator sports.
(Note. This does not add up to 100 percent)

Job Outlook

Employment for Athletic Trainers is projected to increase 37 percent from 2008 to 2018. This is higher than the average for all occupations. This is because of their role in injury prevention and decreasing the cost of health care. Jobs in school settings will be available, but there will be competition in areas like college or spectator sports.
Job growth will be centered in the health care industry, like in hospitals or physicians offices. However, growth in college teams or sports teams will be slower because most already have a complete Athletic Training staff.
As the population ages, it is expected that more elderly people will be turning to Athletic Trainers because they can help to decrease the cost of health care. In some states, there is an effort to have a licensed Athletic Trainer on hand to work with student athletes, so that will open some jobs as well.
Some trainers will be called upon to work in more work-related places to cut down on the costs of health care to the owner. For instance, they may be hired to increase the fitness and performance of policemen and firefighters.

Earnings

Most Athletic Trainers work full time and receive benefits. The salary of an Athletic Trainer depends on experience and job responsibilities. In May of 2008, the median wage for an Athletic Trainer was $39,640. The middle 50 percent earned between $32,070 and $49,250. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $23,450 while the highest 10 percent earned above $60,960.

Presentations

Today I saw two presentations. One that I was evaluating and one that I just wanted to go to. I saw Luke's presentation. His project was to learn how to play harmonica. It was really well done. I got some good ideas from his presentation about how to break things up and how to order things. The flow of his presentation was good, he kept things moving. I really enjoyed going.

The second presentation that I saw was Kayla's. She learned how to cook Italian food. I was evaluating this project, so it shed a different light onto what I was seeing. Her project was pretty good. I read her blog and she had a very short blog, so I saw what was needed in order to have enough. I did like however, how she dedicated her project to her great-grandma Mimi. It made it a little more personal. Her power point was done very well.

Both projects lent themselves to be emulated in certain ways. Luke broke up the monotony of just talking by playing some music, which was really nice. Kayla had her food, so that was a little added bonus. Both power points were good. The only thing about that is the fact that I am not going to have a power point. But I liked both presentations a lot.

Mentor Meeting

Today in our mentor meeting, Mr. Heurich and I talked about my presentation. We outlined what was going to be said, and what I should do more of before I have my presentation. For instance, I should write more about reflections before I have my presentation, so that people can see how my project affected me.

One thing that I wanted to look at at the beginning of my project was the difference between AT and PT. I never really looked at it. We thought though, that I should before the presentation, that way I can tell people what the difference is, and what I would be doing.

Our meeting was cut short because Mr. Heurich had to go give a presentation to the 8th graders that came in from DeWitt, but we got some really good ideas for what I should do. I'm going to try to meet with him one or two more times before my project on the 18th.

Concussions.....

The bane of the high school athlete...concussions. High schoolers are the most prone to getting a concussion. This is because their brain and skull aren't fully developed, yet they are going at everything 100%, or more in some cases. Younger athletes don't push themselves as hard, and thus aren't as likely to get a concussion as an older athlete. At the same point in time, adult athletes have a fully developed skeletal system, so are less likely to sustain injury to the brain.

A concussion is a traumatic head injury that occurs both from mild and severe blows to the head. It is typically caused by a severe blow during which the brain moves around violently in the skull. Brain cells will fire all at once, much like a seizure. This may result from a fall or when an object hits the head. A sudden turning of the head, like from a punch will more often result in unconsciousness.

Symptoms
Some early symptoms of concussions include

• Confusion
• Disorientation
• Memory Loss
• Unconsciousness
• Unequally sized pupils
• Headache
• Dizziness
• Tinnitus
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Vision Changes

Later symptoms would include

• Memory disturbances
• Poor Concentration
• Irritability
• Sleep disturbances
• Personality changes
• Fatigue

At the beginning of each season, an ImPACT test is done so there is a base line to measure against to see if a concussion is present. ImPACT stands for Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing. If there is a concussion, the best that can be done is rest. That is really the only way it is going to get better. No physical activity can be done immediately following the concussion, for at least a week, usually 2 or 3 weeks, then the athlete will start to work their way back up to full activity.