Life as an Athletic Trainer

The life of an Athletic Trainer requires them to deal with health concerns

Following the medical emergency during the Buffalo Bills versus Cincinnati Bengals game, Bills safety Damar Hamlin is making a speedy recovery. While his cardiac arrest made national news, none of his recovery would even be possible if it weren’t for the work of the Athletic Trainers that were on scene.

While a lot of individuals take their trainers for granted, we are fortunate enough to have one in our building at almost all hours of the day. Katelyn Banner became our athletic trainer at the start of the 2021-2022 school year and has been an enormous asset for many athletes in our school, and even some opposing teams. But what does an Athletic Trainer actually have to do in order for athletes with health concerns to be able to perform as safely as possible?

It is important that everybody is on the same page when it comes to the health of others. In order for this to happen as smoothly as possible, it is important that you are truthful with all of your health conditions.

“If you put information about your health con- cerns in final forms, it will flag it as I look through the forms,” Banner said.

If there is something wrong, it is always good to make sure that those involved in your athletics are aware of them in case of emergency. If for some reason you have an emergency in the middle of a game or practice, it is also important to have a game plan with somebody.

“I typically talk to the student and the parent, and we come up with a plan depending on what kind of medical attention their condition may require,” Banner said.

The steps that Athletic Trainers take to keep us protected can be a lot at times, especially if you have a more complicated condition. Even if you think it is “embarrassing,” it is always important to keep everyone around you involved in case something happens. If you feel like there’s no one to turn to about your condition, here at Lakeview you always have Katelyn Banner, who will always be able to answer all of your questions.

How has Katelyn helped you?

How can you become a trainer?

While there are different types of jobs that you can pursue in the medical field, Athletic Trainers (ATs) are starting to become more and more needed around the country. If this is something that may be of interest to you, let me tell you some steps that you can take to pursue that dream. First, upon high school graduation you are going to want to pick a college that offers the program and degree that you need to obtain. Some top rated colleges include, Western Michigan University, Alma College, Davenport University and Adrian College.

A lot of places will take you with a Bachelors degree, but most places prefer if you have a Masters degree. You can have this in either Athletic Training, or more commonly in exercise science. In these programs you can expect to take classes such as biology, anatomy, nutrition, sports medicine, and kinesiology. If you want to know what you can expect to learn in these classes, any accredited college can provide you with a class description.

After completing this degree, you are going to move on to obtaining your AT certification. You have to do this through a Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Trainer Education (CAATE) program. After completing this program, this should have taken roughly five years worth of schooling. Just when you think you are done, you have only reached just the beginning. Once completing all of your proper education, you have to take and pass the Board of Certification exam. This exam is what grant you with your training license.

That’s it, now you can get to searching for jobs. A lot of places take athletic trainers; colleges, high schools, gyms, even facilites that host sporting events.