Being There For Your Students - Is it your job?

A school shooting not far from my high school this morning has prompted me to think about just how lucky I am to have and to have had such wonderful kids.  Sure I've seen my share of moody teenagers, locker room fights, bad grades, and sad faces, but none of those things matter.  I have good kids.

High school is a terrible place.  It's a transition period where kids are growing up into adults and everyone is generally confused about just about everything.  Unfortunately it's something we all have to go through in life, and we learn from our experiences and for the most part are better people for them.  There are times when our teens start to feel alone in all of it, like they have no one to talk to because no one will understand or no one will listen.  That's where we come in as educators.

I'm sad to say I've heard fellow ATC's say that kids coming in and wanting to talk isn't their job.  I believe strongly that it really does take a village to raise a child, and we that work at schools are a part of that village. Athletic Trainers are a really important part of the lives of student athletes.  A lot of us are teachers, but the kids call us by our first names and feel comfortable joking around with us and talking to us.  We're something like a bridge between the student and faculty worlds.

While I know that it gets me weird looks from my students and coworkers alike, I have a "Safe Zone" sticker on the window of my office.  If you aren't familiar with these, originally it was a sign that school workers were hanging in their offices to display that it was a safe space for LGBT students to come and talk and not have to worry about judgment or discrimination.  My sticker extends itself to all students, advertising that my office is a "Safe Zone" where they are welcome to come and feel free to express themselves how they need to, without fear of being judged or discriminated against for anything.  It might seem hokey, but it does work.  Weekly I have conversations with my students ranging from worries about college, fights with mom, school drama, relationships, and even just simple things like excited anticipation for dates or fun school functions. 

Even if you don't get the opportunity to talk to your students informally like this, make yourself available.  Don't shut yourself off from your students.  You don't have to be Facebook friends with them and share every waking detail of your personal life with them, but you should try to be there for them. 

At the end of the day, being an advocate and an ear for your students might not be in writing in your job description, but it became part of your job when you signed up to work at a school.  Don't think of it as a burden or as extra work - think of it as another opportunity you have to change a life.  The teens we have as students today are our future.  If you spend even just five minutes talking to a student, you might change his or her life for the better.  Sometimes they can drive us nuts, but each and every one of our students is a precious life that we can leave our mark on for the better, and in turn they can change us too.  Be open minded and willing to listen, and I guarantee you'll change things for someone.

Pulling Kids Out - How We Cope

As we near the end of another season, our teams are wearing down.  This is the time where a lot of injuries can occur simply because kids are worn out and tired, and unfortunately sometimes this means season ending injuries.  This is difficult for everyone, be it the athlete, the parents, the coaches, the team, or even you the athletic trainer. 

In a lot of instances, the athletic trainer tends to get the raw deal in this situation.  At the end of the day, you're the one making the call of "yes, you can play in your last game as a senior" or "no, your butt gets to sit right here next to me on this bench."  Unfortunately the call we make as athletic trainers is not always the one that everyone wants to hear.  When we have to make the butt on the bench decision, it often results in hurt feelings, upset kids, angry parents, and cranky coaches. 

It can be difficult to cope with at times, especially when you're sitting in the training room with a kid you've watched grow up for four years who won't even look at you for the words that just came out of your mouth.  If you've reached the end of your leash and are just at ends with yourself, try one of these:

Share with your athlete: Who doesn't have students trying to add them on Facebook or get your number so they can text bomb you at all hours?  I found that creating a Twitter account specifically for my students is not only a good way to quell this burning desire to invade their athletic trainer's personal life, but it is also a good way for kids to get in touch with you when they aren't in school.  A kid with a season ending injury is going to want to talk about it, and having the option to contact you whenever they need to is reassuring both to them and to you as well.

Keep perspective: In the eyes of your teenage athlete, a season ending injury is a life ending injury.  Remember what it was like to be in high school and coming to the end of your season?  Those games were the most important things in your life at the time.  For your athlete with an injury, be it a torn meniscus, a radius fracture, a concussion, or something else, it can feel like you are taking part of their life away, and they will not be shy about sharing that with you.  Keeping things in perspective is a good way for you to cope, even if it doesn't calm your kid down.  You're keeping that torn meniscus from being severe arthritis down the road, and that concussion from becoming permanent brain damage. 

Get the team doctor involved: Sometimes things don't sink in until people hear them from someone who has the initials MD following their name.  A kid with a season-ending injury typically needs to see the doctor anyhow, but the doctor can also be a reinforcer.  If they've already seen the doctor and they're still attempting to negotiate for one minute of play time, it can't hurt to bring the doctor back in for a second discussion on why it is not a good idea to play basketball with a full ACL tear.

If all else fails, talk to someone:  Like in all medical professions, athletic trainers can easily suffer burnout.  The chances of this are way more likely if you've had a year with a lot of big injuries and a lot of really disappointed kids.  It sucks to have to tell a kid who trusts you that they can't play, be it for a few days or for the rest of the season.  Talking to your fellow athletic trainers (within HIPPA regulations of course) can make things a little easier.  If you're still uneasy about something, you can always see a therapist.  While this might seem extreme, I know many ATCs who do this.  There is a lot of stress and drama involved with athletics, especially if you're in a high school.  No one would blame you for having to talk it out with someone!

All Sportsed Out?

Having just spent the last hour and a half in my office eagerly waiting in front of my computer screen for Indians tickets to go on sale, my work schedule in front of me, games carefully picked out on days that I actually have free, I started to think on the number of times I've heard my fellow ATCs tell me they don't watch professional sports.  College athletic trainer friends of mine often say they'd rather watch college sports, where the athletes are (technically) still there to have a good time.  High school athletic trainer friends say that more sports on top of their current work duties would just be too much.

Personally I've never understood this.  I'm in this profession because I love sports.  I can't get enough!  I think the problem comes from us as athletic trainers training ourselves to be tense and on alert during sporting events.  Have you ever tried going to one of your school's games as a spectator?  It's nervewracking, and generally you end up on the field treating some injury or another anyhow.

Even watching games on tv with other ATCs, I've noticed a tendency towards settling into our most comfortable "ready to run" position completely unconsciously.  If an athlete goes down on the screen?  All bets are off.  We're all ready to jump up, and then of course all suddenly feel silly. 

Here's the thing guys - we do what we do because we love sports, otherwise we'd be physical therapists or EMTs.  I find that if I'm not wanting to feel like a silly person while watching them, the best thing to do is find other athletic trainers to watch with.  That when when your favorite team's quarterback is down on the field and they're showing the athletic trainers out there along with a mass amount of instant replay footage, you can assess the mechanism of injury and judge the performance of your occupational fellows alongside other people who get it. 

Sure, we can't relax when we watch sports, but we can still have a good time.

The Importance of Keeping Sports Fun

"Back in the day" we used to hear stories about those parents who would attempt to relive their glory days through their kids.  Looking back at these, we can laugh and shake our heads at how silly that was compared to the difficulties faced by young athletes today. 

Every parent wants their kid to go to college, but with steadily hiking tuition rates who can afford it?  The answer drifting in the minds of most parents is "scholarship," but how realistic is this?  The US Department of Education reports that there are an estimated 6.9 million high school athletes, but those coveted Division I NCAA athletic scholarships can't go to everyone.  The pressure is on. 

Earlier and earlier we are forcing kids to specialize in one sport, so that they can be the next Tiger Woods, the next LeBraun James.  Children as young as elementary school are playing on multiple travel teams that emphasize high level competition.  Playing for your high school team isn't enough for the recruiters any more, you have to play AAU or Futures or JO to get noticed.  And to what end?  Athletic injuries are on the rise, and the population needing surgery or rehab for ACL tears, labral injuries, meniscal tears, ankle sprains, spondy's, and even concussions and post concussive syndrome continues to get younger all the time.  Why does your ten year old need to throw a breaking pitch?  He doesn't, is the simple answer.

Specialization is not the only pressure taking the fun out of athletics these days either.  Often we hear people talk about how crazy soccer moms are, but this is becoming much more than just a soccer-centric problem.  Adults put an enormous amount of pressure on children to succeed in athletics, to the point where it can be emotionally traumatizing.  An overzealous parent will only get worse over time.  We watch TV shows like "Toddlers in Tiaras" and "Dance Moms" and laugh and think to ourselves "That is horrifying, I would never do that to my kid," but when Friday night rolls around and your son steps onto the football field, it isn't the other students screaming bloody murder at the coach when he isn't in the game for what you think is a sufficient amount of time. 

Looking at sports chats, newspaper articles, and local sports blogs, I am beginning to realize that individual parents are not fully the cause of the problem.  As a society, we are beginning to raise the young athlete to untouchable standards.  Talented youngsters can easily become gods in small towns.  This raise in status can really increase the pressure on a young athlete to impossible heights.  An athlete who is stressed can stop doing well in school, stop performing well in sports, and even get injured more easily.

We as adults need to step back and stop ourselves.  It is not fair to think that we can hold a 16 year old to the same standards as we do a quarterback in the NFL or a star MLB pitcher.  While they might be good athletes, they are not mature adults.  Newspaper and magazine articles glorifying or putting down high school athletes, blogs demoralizing whole teams, and even things as simple as parents trash talking kids on message boards are just too much.  We need to get back into the role of adults and function as we are supposed to - in a way that shows our kids we love and support them but in the end don't care if they win or lose, as long as they have a good time.  Sure, she might seem mature, but your varsity basketball player is still a kid and deserves to have all the time she can to be a kid and just have fun.