Athletic Shadowing Research Paper

Words: 1114
Pages: 5

My athletic shadowing experience this year was very interesting and insightful. I shadowed once during a softball game and once during softball and baseball practices. While they weren’t the most eventful days, there were a few experiences that definitely gave me some insight into the world of being an athletic trainer. These include when a baseball player got hit in the eye by a ball and had to be sent to the hospital for stitches and when someone else got hit by another ball and needed ice. These experiences showed me the importance of athletic trainers to the well being of student athletes because if Ms. Hawco wasn’t there for those few injuries, there would have been no one with the proper training to take care of them. Without athletic …show more content…
Some ways I saw Ms. Hawco respond to emergency situations by assessing everything that is going on, using her emergency response plans, and making a decision on how to handle the situation. An example of this was when the baseball player had the cut on his eyebrow that needed stitches. Usually, she would strip that kind of injury, but since the wound was big and wet, they wouldn’t stick, so she decided to not strip the cut. Ms.Hawco was always very calm no matter the situation, which taught me the importance of staying composed to not only make the best decision, but also to keep the athletes calm. This example of a challenging situation in athletic training showed me that things aren’t going to always go by the book, so you will need to take in all of the info you have and make a good decision accordingly. The fourth domain I saw during my shadowing experience was treatment and rehabilitation. Ms. Hawco has aided athletes in their treatment/recovery by administering taping techniques, ice, or telling them about their physical therapy plan. While I didn’t see Ms. Hawco administer anything like IcyHot or epsom salts, I know those options are always available for athletes in