Summer Internship Blog Post - Christian Brothers College High School
By: Tony Mosello (MAT Class of 2015)
This semester I have had the opportunity to work at Christian Brothers College (CBC) High School with Athletic Trainer Kristen Jeans ATC from Excel Sports and Physical Therapy. CBC is located in Town and Country, MO, only 20 minutes from SLU’s campus. Under Kristen’s supervision, I have worked with a variety of sports during my two-month internship, seeing injuries in football, soccer, baseball, and basketball. During the season, CBC has five soccer teams, four football teams, and five basketball teams, and the athletic training room is often a very busy place. Luckily for me, this was not my first experience at CBC High School. I was placed here for my Fall PY1 clinical rotation and everyone was excited to have be back to help! The coaches asked how my spring semester went and congratulated me on attaining my degree. The athletes were happy to have me back as well; often asking if I would be back with them this fall. It was a great advantage already knowing the layout and routine of the school, but more so was having already built a great relationship with Kristen.
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| Kristen Jeans and Tony Mosello |
Going into this summer internship, I already knew it was going to be very different from my fall clinical placement. The majority of the two-month internship was filled with youth camps, something I had little-to-no experience in beforehand. The summer started out with a few little league baseball and football camps. Then the youth basketball and soccer camps began. Then finally, the CBC student athletes were attending the camps. The best part about the summer youth camps was that the coaching staff from each respectable sport put-on the camp themselves. Kids were able to learn first-hand from the coaches a variety of different techniques and skills. The age group varied for every camp, but over the summer I have treated kids as young as 8 years old. Along with most of my class, this was a first for me. However, it was an excellent opportunity to gain experience in a part of the Athletic Training field that I had no previous knowledge of. Especially important because I believe our scope of practice will continue to shift towards youth sports in the future.
My internship was filled with great experiences, but there were also a few challenges as well. Evaluating a child is a lot tougher than evaluating a high school kid; you have to be able to tell when there is an injury or just when they want attention. It is also difficult to get them to concentrate long enough in order to evaluate or treat them. Another very different aspect is how you talk to them. These kids obviously don’t understand all of the medical jargon we know, so talking to them in a way they understand is very important. Working with youth athletes is extremely different from older sports, but they require just as much care and treatment. Over the summer, I have gained a substantial amount of experience on how to not only evaluate and treat athletes in youth sports, but how no interact with them as well! My second and final placement at CBC was an immensely importing learning experience, one that is sure to follow me throughout my future professional career thanks to Kristen!
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.
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