Athlone Student Gains Clinical Skills and New Friends in the USA at Saint Louis University and Webster Groves High School

International Clinical Exchange - Saint Louis University and Athlone Institute of Technology
By: Daire O'Regan (Athletic Rehabilitation Therapy Student, Athlone Institute of Technology)

I am a student in the Athletic Rehabilitation Therapy program at Athlone Institute of Technology in Athlone, Ireland and I spent Fall Term 2018 in the USA at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri.

For my clinical placement I was at Webster Groves High School, with SLU 2nd Year student Erin Fabbri and 1st year student Carmen Roberson, along with Lindenwood University Student Kaylen Howard. Under my preceptor Sean Wright ATC we got plenty of field experience, covering a range of sports American Football, Soccer, Basketball and Volleyball. In these sports we got to see a wide range of injuries and got the opportunity to work with a lot of different athletes.

Coming into the clinical placement I was really looking to improve my Rehabilitation skills, and I think we were afforded enough time with athletes and a variety of injuries that I was able to improve these skills. I also learned new rehab skills in class at SLU with Mike Markee PT, ATC, which I think really benefited me. Also over the course of the 16 weeks I was in Webster I was shown different ways of doing certain things, for example in ankle taping I was shown a variation of the way were taught in class.

At Webster, I covered sports like American Football, and despite not winning a game, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of a sport that I hadn’t previously covered and the intensity at which it was played, meaning something was always going on to keep us busy. In the last few weeks I got to work with the basketball team, and got to see them play in the Webster Classic.

While we were here we got to tour around Busch Stadium and got to hear from the AT there and his experiences with professional sports. I also got to experience what college athletics when we got clinical Experience with SLU Women’s Basketball team, however, it would have been nice to have got more time to experience college sports and maybe even a few games.

I really enjoyed my time in St. Louis at Webster and would like to keep in touch with my preceptor and fellow students who were on placement there with me.