This fall I made the journey from the west of Ireland to Saint Louis University for my clinical experience. After being kindly welcomed by Dr. Breitbach and Dr. Howell, who helped tremendously in coordinating my exchange from Ireland, I was introduced to my clinical supervisor/preceptor Angie Bradley ATC. Angie is currently the athletic trainer for the SLU women’s soccer team. She kindly took me on as her student for the semester after I had expressed my interest in getting involved with the soccer program.
From day one it has been everything I hoped for and more. Even within these first month I have seen what it is like to work with and be part of such an elite level program. Coming from a soccer background and with aspirations to one day pursue a career in a soccer organization, the experience I am gaining from my clinical site is phenomenal. In my short time here, I have already dealt with such a variety of injuries, from a simple turf burn, all the way to post-op hip arthroscopy, and many in between. Each week I have multiple opportunities to practice my rehab skills and improve my knowledge on all the different treatment modalities. I have also seen how training loads and other daily activities can be monitored each week and utilized in an injury prevention scheme which thought was particularly interesting.
The experience so far has given me an insight into life as an athletic trainer in an extremely professional environment. It is providing me the opportunity to deal with situations that could only be seen in the field on practice. I am excited to see what the remainder of the semester has to offer and to continue to grow my abilities as an athletic trainer.
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