This semester, I've had the opportunity to learn from my preceptor and SLU AT Alum Christopher (CJ) Spink MAT, ATC. I am really enjoying my experience at Cardinal Ritter college prep so far. Working with football, soccer and volleyball has been a great tool to develop new skills to help with my career development. So far I have had opportunities to learn about first aid care, rehabilitation treatments, injury evaluation and many other skills that athletic trainers use on a daily basis. My preceptor has a good relationship with the athletes and it is great to see how he manages every one of them according to their injury and personality.
Since we do not have any modalities to use at Cardinal Ritter College Prep, most of what we do focuses on injury prevention and rehabilitation with the resources that we have which means that I get to learn what to do if a modality is not available. So far I have been able to see different student- athletes with different injuries. I have helped with their rehab exercises as they approach the return to play stage. It is good to see how a player works with you in order to get stronger throughout the week and then goes on to perform well on their Friday Night football game.
It has truly been a great experience so far and I look forward to learn more and improve my skills throughout this semester.