Busy Site at Triad High School Provides SLU AT Student with a Great Learning Experience

SLU AT Clinical Site Spotlight - Triad High School

By: Josh Yanzer (MAT Class of 2016)

For my second semester of my first professional year in the Athletic Training Program at SLU I was placed at Triad High School.  I have been at Triad since January 8th and the first day I got there I was thrown right into a Varsity Wrestling Tournament.  I had been a wrestler in high school myself and never realized just how much blood we actually get on the mats during meets; thankfully I learned how to stop epistaxis quickly.  

The high school setting of Athletic Training is a lot faster pace than the college setting so there is a lot more excitement involved and always something to do.  I have worked with every winter and spring sport so far and I have enjoyed every one of them.  Working with all the different sports made me realize just how many different injuries ATs are exposed to and that my knowledge base about all these different injuries is a lot larger then I had originally thought.  

My preceptor at Triad, Jack Edgar ATC, is one of the most knowledgeable Athletic Trainers I have ever meet and I haven’t seen an injured individual that he couldn’t treat.  Jack has taught me so much outside of what I am just learning in class.  He understands and helps show me how injuries relate up or down the kinetic chain to the spine and hips.  He has also taught me many mobilizations in order to help correct the body mechanics of the hip and spine so that patients do not have recurrent injuries because the source of where their injuries are coming form is being corrected.  I feel like he has allowed me to do a lot more as an athletic training student than most.  He seems to very confident in my abilities and skill set so far as an athletic training student so he is not afraid to let me do my own evaluations or rehab plans as long as he is there to oversee them.  

I have had a lot of fun with my experience at Triad High School and I can’t wait until the Spring Sports really get into the competitive part of their seasons.  I am going to miss my time spent at Triad and am sad that I may not be around for the end of each of the Spring Sport 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.