My Overall Experiance

What I learned about myself during my internship were my interests, strengths and weaknesses . Some of my weaknesses were as I have stated plenty of times was the lack of movement and hands on work i expected to do. I understood that because i was not certified i was not able to help the athletes as the athletic trainers did. Although I did understand the reason for the problem it made me think twice about going through with this career; I am looking for a job in were i know the business will not be slow at times or go down hill. I think that if i volunteer during the actual sports seasons then i would get a even better experience and that is exactly what i will do after being offered to be on the sidelines during a football game by my mentor and invited to volleyball games by the actual players. Looking at some of the negatives i also found some positive things throughout my internship including on how much sports do attract me ad how i know if i do go into this field i will never get tired of being around all the different sports. I believe my biggest strength is that i am an athlete now and so i know a lot about what an athlete goes through with pain, school, and trying to improve so i would have that advantage of connecting a little more with the athletes.

Reflection

     Completing my internship with the San Jose State University Sports Medicine Program was a great experience. Interacting with collage athletes and being able to go behind the scenes of collage sports was both interesting and educational. Contacting the sports medicine director Scott Shaw i decided to try and figure out how i would be able to go up to san jose every other day and complete my internship with them. I got the opportunity and decided to take it , it was a great chance to explore and view the actual work athletic trainers have and do. After having a great time during my internship i decided to make up my mind and decide if this was the career for me. I decided to major in Criminology and minor in sports medicine. I strongly recommend for anyone to complete their internship with the San Jose staff, because you can really learn a lot about the career from actually doing hands on work like I did.

Something New

An initiative i took to learn something new was to go explore the area a little more. When i had sometime to kill i went out and walked around to see things close up rather then just a glance. I was able to go into the new Spartan gym , the football field , soccer field , players wall of fame, the study room, and the laundry area . This did help me get distracted and help me be a little more active but also let me see the whole department. I did not what to lose any opportunities to see or learn new things about the area. Walking around made me by the end of my internship know that i did not miss a single thing about the department. 

The Material

Materials I had to observe and was not able to complete was a process used to help ones blood flow. It consisted of a type of cream, alcohol, a cotton ball, and a tub. A process in which the athletic trainer use on athletes to help relieve pain. The cotton ball is dipped into the alcohol and rubbed in the tub and fired  up; This process has to be fast so that when placed on the skin it is sucked in into the tub. The tub is moved around to wherever the pain is. Although this process looks like pain most athletes do not feel pain rather feel a sense of being relaxed. After being completed the athlete puts ice on were the pain was or still is.   

           

Company and Buisness Opportunities

   Some of the things I learned about the company and business opportunities for employees or future students at San Jose State required me to contact a counselor from the school and her name is Holly Brown. My mentor Scott Shaw recommended me to contact Holly because she was the one who dealt with these types of questions and would give me a more accurate answer then he could had.  After emailing Holly Brown a couple of times after understanding exactly what i was asking we both came to a better understanding of the question. I asked her what the requirements were needed to apply to become an athletic trainer at San Jose State and she responded " It requires a 4 year athletic training degree from an accredited program (we have this here at sjsu), then passing the national athletic training exam (call the Board of Certification exam) and most colleges also require a Masters Degree."  If I do decide to attend SJSU I would defently talk to Holly Brown about joining the accredited program and if one day plan on applying for an athletic trainer position i would complete my masters degree. 
                                

Special Instructions

  Special instructions I received  from another employee was to help assist an athlete with their usual therapy exercises.  I helped a volleyball player named Samantha, her exercises were to help her move her back a little easier. She was suppose to move only her arms while flexing her butt. Sam did this for a whole week until she would see or feel improvement. Although it does not look difficult for her it was because she had a lot of back pain. After doing this exercise for a week the athletic trainer was able to see improvement when Samantha would do a squat, and touching her toes.

Observation

            A personal Challenge I had during my internship was on how slow and calm things went for a while. Becoming a Athletic Trainer is a "job in where we hope things go by slow because a day of action means someone is really hurt and that's what we want the least " says my mentor Scott Shaw. I am use to moving around and not just observing. A personal highlight although has been the great opportunity i had to see exactly what it takes to become an athletic trainer. This internship only makes my decision of my major a little bit harder.

New Friends

            A problem I solved during my internship was my shyness on the first week. Knowing that i was surrounded by  new people and a new environment i started feeling a little too shy. Although I was shy my mentor and staff started to introduce me to the athletes. I got the opportunity to meet a lot of the football players, which actually surprised me and were the nicest ones to me. After opening up more and more everyday I got the opportunity to meet some amazing people. From football, volleyball,golf,soccer, and swimming players it made it easier to be around the training room. This problem could of caused me not to enjoy and experience the new things i did.   

Tecnica Gavilan

         Some concepts and skills I observed being used was a tool named Tecnica Gavilan:PTB. The Gavilan is a tool used to rub against the skin to help ones blood flow. It is used either before or after a work out on a sore, hurt or tight area. This Technic is not meant to hurt the athlete rather help the athlete. The signs of pain are mostly caused by extreme tightness in the area where one is rubbing or is being rubbed. Ultrasound gel is used during the process as well to make the skin moisturized. During my internship this process was often used; I got time to see it being used on mostly volleyball players. A Volleyball player named Samantha after every therapy season would be given a rub on her shoulder to help relax her pain after a workout and her therapy. After the process was finished every athlete would say that there pain had gone from an eight to a three and that this was very helpful.

       

Eye Examination

                      The Technology of equipment I used during my internship was on my first day. While arriving the first day, the room was full of football players going over and filling in physical papers. Being that a little paper work was a little too complicated for them the staff of the San Jose Sports Medicine department jumped me into the action right away. Teaching me how to take ones blood pressure, getting ones height and weight, and giving one an eye test. After noticing that the football players were a little too tall for me they decided for me just to stick to writing down their eye test numbers and actually testing them. Although it seemed like a simple task it took a little more work then it should had. Not knowing between left and right the football players had difficulties distinguishing the difference i had to guide them throughout the test. Though it was not much to do i did enjoy messing around with the players on how slow and blind they were. Usually the first day is rather slow but mine was actually  rather interesting.

       

Scott Shaw

                An interaction i had with my mentor was taken place on the second day of my internship at San Jose State Sports Medicine department. My mentor Scott Shaw took me on a tour of the whole sports area. Scott took me behind the scenes, things i was not able to see prior to a visit taken there. I was able to see the sports area for all the other outside sports other then football. Sharing some ideas and information about the future plans for the buildings and facility really made me get more interested in one day joining the department.

Athletic Trainers

         An oral and written communication I observed being used was in a kind of physical for hurt athletes. Whenever an athlete came in with pain in their knee, the athletic trainer would give them simple tasks. For example they would go through simple things such as touching their toes, movement of their head, squats, movement of the back and their rotation. The results of the test gave a totally different solution to the pain to what the athletes expected. Some athletes would come in with back pain and it resulted to be neck or even knee problems. The reason for this was because the muscles are connected and because one muscle is not use to a movement it can cause another problem. After being written down what the athletes disabilities were they would break it down into exercise that they would repeat until able to "touch their toes" or "rotate" the proper way.Sometimes fixing one thing , other problems would get resolved by simple just doing one thing. Before continuing with the long week or weeks or these exercises the athlete trainer had to insert it into the computer so that the athletes trainer would have access to what their athlete was doing or had.

         

Water Girl

              A work activity I performed was filling up water bottles for football practices. Being aware of when bottles were empty was very importing, because the guys constantly wanted water. Having to stand in the hot sun was worth it, because i got the opportunity to see how the San Jose State football players trained. Only meeting a couple of about the fifty players had me thinking about how awkward this task was going to be. Although they were triple my size they were full gentlemen and appreciated what we were doing for them. After practice I had to pick up all the bottles and wash them for the next day or sometimes for the next group.

     

   

Inversion Position Testing in the Concussed Athlete

          A meeting I attended dealt with "Inversion Position Testing in the Concussed Athlete." It dealt with a machine called Atis 4000 ( also known as Iron Man ). This machine can flip you as far as a 45 degree angle. Reasons for this random testing was meant for athletes who would get concussions during each season. The method to this is to see if any symptoms of the concussion would come back after getting flipped over.Although the athlete would receive the same symptoms this would not change if the athlete is able to go back to play , but rather just to see the number of athletes that get symptoms after the test. The results of the symptoms only mean that the athletic trainer would have to look out for the player a little more then usual. If the athlete does not pass the usual concussion test before getting on the Atis , they would not be placed to take the experiment. As a result to this meeting every player who gets a concussion is now required to sign paper work about the experiment that would be taken on them.