SLU AT Student Gets Soccer Experience at Multiple Levels with STLFC and St. Louis Scott Gallagher

SLU AT Summer Field Experience Spotlight - Mercy Sports Medicine/STLFC/St. Louis Scott Gallagher

By: Alex Hubbs (SLU MAT Class of 2018)

Splitting time between the Saint Louis Football Club and Saint Louis Scott Gallagher Club Football has been a beneficial clinical experience operating under Mercy Sports Medicine. The guidance of both Brian Bounds, MPT, ATC, LAT, CSCS and Emily Costabile, ATC (SLU MAT class of 2015) has been instrumental to my clinical education, and I am thankful for their open mindedness towards new ideas, as well as their vast knowledge of all things sports medicine. Each of them urge continuous education and present new challenges to tackle as a team each day.

STLFC has allowed me to expand and improve upon my manual therapy techniques under ATC Brian Bounds. Managing professional soccer players requires a lot of focus and dedication – not only from the athletic training staff, but from the athletes as well.

Working with this club has been incredible, and each player has shown their dedication to their team and sport throughout my time interacting with them. With the help of Brian, we have implemented preventative exercises into their warm-ups, as well as the utilization of GPS Sports Tracker technology to track each player’s exertion levels day-to-day.

In contrast, SLSG has allowed me to focus on evaluation skills on a broad spectrum of soccer athletes. Collaborating with Emily Costabile on common mechanisms of injury, prevention of those injuries, and how to treat them when they do occur, has improved my skills as a clinician.

SLSG is a great clinical example of a site at which an ATC may not know every athlete that they cover, so establishing trust quickly and effectively with each new athlete we see is essential.

Emily’s flexibility towards her ever-changing population is an admirable trait I hope to carry as a future ATC. The guidance of each preceptor this summer has been extremely beneficial, and I am thankful for the opportunity to work with two incredibly diverse and challenging patient populations.

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