SLU AT Student Gets Valuable Baseball Experience with the River City Rascals

River City Rascals (Frontier League) Summer Internship

By: Jay Maturan - MAT Class of 2014

My internship this summer is with the River City Rascals. The Rascals are an independent, professional baseball team and a member of the West Division of the Frontier League who competes other teams primarily from the Midwest. The team is based at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O'Fallon, Missouri and it is 35 miles west of downtown St. Louis. From the 1999 season to the present, the River City Rascals have player their home games at T.R. Hughes Ballpark. The team has won two League tittles (1993, 2010) and five Division tittles (1993, 2000, 2009, 2010, 2011).

Mike McNulty, ATC and SLU AT Student Jay Maturan

My preceptor was the Rascals athletic trainer, Mike McNulty. I spent my summer learning rehabilitation techniques, evaluation process, treatment, assessment, and prevention process. This is Mike's first year with the Rascals as he serves as the graduate assistant athletic trainer in University of Kentucky for two years with exposure to men's soccer, track and field and football. Mike has three-intern student this year and each intern has to pick numbers of home games for the season. Every home game of the regular season we provide medical treatment for the 25 man roster that includes pre-game treatment, supervising team stretching and warm up, and post-game treatment. Unfortunately, due to limited budget we do not travel with the team.

Athletic Training Room

The most challenging part working with the Rascals are the following: independent nature of the athlete, limited budget, limited resources and athletic training room space. However, Mike has been incredibly encouraging, supportive and a great leader.

River City Rascals Ballpark

Working with the River City Rascals has given me an insight as to how athletic training operate in a professional sports team. This summer provided me with a great educational and professional experience, was introduced to many new clinical experience and wealth of knowledge. To the River City Rascals Team and Excel Sports and Physical Therapy thank you for helping me achieve my goals and for being part of my journey as a future athletic trainer.

Students in the Saint Louis University Athletic Training Program have a required internship in the summer between their two professional years in the program.  This blog post details a student's reflection on their internship experience.