SLU AT Students Get Purple Pride from Cougar Nation at Affton High School

SLU AT Clinical Site Spotlight - Affton High School
By: Eldon Reid (MAT Class of 2015) and Haylie Dehm (MAT Class of 2016)

This semester has been a whirlwind of excitement! When we first came into the Athletic Training Room at Affton High School, you could tell that this was going to be an amazing experience. All the coaches were friendly and welcoming and the student athletes had a spunk of their own. We have had the chance to work with football, girls’ volleyball, boys’ soccer, co-ed cross country, boys’ swimming/diving, and the spirit teams. We have never seen a school so full of team spirit, or in this case, Purple Pride. It has been an interesting ride, this semester, as we have been relatively calm down in our cozy little Athletic Training Room. Besides the standard muscle strains and joint sprains that accompany being an athlete we have had experienced two broken fibulas and a fractured humerus.

Eldon Reid, Becky Stigen ATC and Haylie Dehm

From talking to past AT students that had a clinical rotations at Affton, we were prepared for an okay football season as in the past few years they have not been that great with records like 0-10, 1-9, and 5-6. Our preceptor, Becky Stigen ATC, even said that we’d be lucky to see a 5-5 season, based on the more recent history with the football team. Our football team made it to the MSHSAA Quarterfinals with an 11-1 record!

Haylie Dehm, observing a shoulder evaluation being performed by Eldon Reid

Cougar Nation is out with a vengeance this season and it has been amazing to be a part of it! We may freeze at some of the games with our Extreme Extremity Polar Challenge that was created at the MoATA Secondary Schools level, but the winning streak makes all the Goosebumps and shivering worth it! Affton is such a special place and we could not have asked for a better placement!

Homecoming game in the rain! We're still rocking the shorts!

We cannot wait to see what the winter sports at Affton will bring. Here’s hoping the rest of the sports can follow in the football team’s steps and have amazing and unexpected seasons!

This is one of a series of posts by the Saint Louis University Athletic Training students featuring their clinical site and their preceptors. The number, quality and diversity of clinical instruction are major assets for the SLU AT Program.