SLU AT Students Get a Wide Variety of Experiences at Lindenwood-Belleville

SLU AT Clinical Site Spotlight - Lindenwood University-Belleville

Stuart Plamp and Tony Mosello (MAT Class of 2015)

This school year we are fortunate enough to have our clinical rotations at Lindenwood University Belleville (LUB).  This fall we are lucky enough to be helping keep the LUB football team healthy alongside Head Athletic Trainer Bill Dill ATC, graduate assistants Billy Netzhammer ATC, Jessie Zehner ATC, Nichelle Harrison ATC, and the athletic training students of LUB.

The 11 of us have been working almost every day since early August to ensure that the football team stays as competitive and healthy as possible.  Days usually start with pre-practice treatments and rehab in LUB’s wonderful athletic training facilities along with pre-practice taping.  Practice time is spent managing any new injuries that may occur during practice and ensuring all athletes and coaches are properly hydrated.  The days are finished back in the athletic training room where we perform post-practice treatments and further evaluate injuries as needed.

Football season at Lindenwood is a crazy time and we are glad we are a part of it.  From practices, to away games, to all the on-football players who still come in for treatment, there always seems to be something to do at Lindenwood.  And when there is not, the coaches, staff, and players are always great people to talk to and be around. 

Although there is still a lot of football season left, We are already excited to see what the rest of our year at LUB brings us. After football, Tony will be working with the Men’s Hockey team in the winter and either men’s or women’s lacrosse in the spring, and Stuart will be working with men’s basketball in the winter and the lacrosse opposite of Tony’s.

Stuart Plamp (far left back) and Tony Mosello (far right back) with Lindenwood-Belleville Football AT staff.

Demeisha Crawford (MAT Class of 2016)

For my PY1 fall clinical rotation I’ve had the opportunity to work with women’s soccer at Lindenwood University in Belleville, IL with athletic trainer Emily Kaindl, ATC. So far I have gained many skills both interpersonal and medical that have helped in my growth as a future certified athletic trainer. Working with the women soccer team, I have learned that building trust is an important factor when establishing relationships with athletes. In addition to the great relationships established, I’ve had the opportunity to be involved in concussion assessment using the SCAT3 test and the IMPACT test to monitor symptoms in the return to play protocol. I have also been fortunate to assist in evaluation of many orthopedic injuries. To aid in the healing process of injuries, Lindenwood University has multiple modalities including Gameready, Ultrasound and E-Stimulation that I have become familiar and proficient in during rehab and treatments. I will continue to be fully involved to learn and improve as an athletic training student at Lindenwood University being sure to keep the athletes first. 

In all, I have gained many skills that will contribute to the successful athletic trainer that I aspire to be once I am certified. I am thankful for the time well spent at Lindenwood University so far and I plan to continue to grow as a professional and work to improve the care of the athletes for the remainder of my clinical experience. 

Josh Yanzer, Emily Kaindl, ATC and Demeisha Crawford.

Josh Yanzer (MAT Class of 2016)

For my first semester of clinicals in Saint Louis University’s Athletic Training Program I was very happy to be placed at Lindenwood University in Belleville Illinois.  I am very grateful to be placed here because it allowed me to experience and learn many different modalities such as Ultrasound, E-Stim, and Gameready right away that other clinical sites, like some high schools, don’t have the budget for.  Being able to spend a lot of time around all the different modalities right away and being at a clinical site with a lot of funding makes the clinical experience much more exciting and easy to get into.  

On top of the availability of modalities at Lindenwood University in Belleville there is also a wide range of sports there and over ten ATC’s to help me excel my skills as an athletic training student.  I was placed with women’s soccer and once that is over I will be going to men’s and women’s hockey.  

This was great for me because I am not familiar with either sport at all so having so many sports to choose from helped widen my range of learning different injuries associated with different types of sports.  It is also the first time I have been around one team so for long helping them out so I learned how to get to know my athletes and earn their trust when accessing their injuries, taping their ankles, or applying certain modalities on them.

Having Emily Kaindl, ATC as my preceptor for the women’s soccer team has been a very interesting experience.  She is similar in age to me and also going further in her education even though she is already certified which makes it more fun because we are both still learning so much about injuries on our way to becoming better athletic trainers.  We both learned a lot about concussions and how to manage them since we had so many people with them this year so now I really know how to distribute SCAT 3 exams.  Overall my experience has been amazing being under Emily as my preceptor at Lindenwood University Belleville.

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.

SLU AT Student's Alma Mater Provides a Great Internship Opportunity

Summer Internship Blog Post - St. Xavier High School

By: Stuart Plamp (MAT Class of 2015)

This summer I have been fortunate enough to have my internship at my Alma Mater, Saint Xavier High School, in Louisville Kentucky.  Working with athletic trainers Danny McDonald ATC and R.J. Romero ATC, we have had a fantastic time working with athletes at the various camps that Saint Xavier hosts over the summer.  

RJ Romero, Stuart Plamp and Danny McDonald

The campers, ranging in age from incoming 1st graders to incoming 9th graders, have enjoyed working with coaches to better their skills in football, basketball, wrestling, baseball, lacrosse, tennis, and cross country. This has given me a chance to get experience covering a wide variety of sports.  It has also been great working with many of the coaches and teachers that I had during my time as a student athlete at Saint Xavier. We are lucky enough to have well equipped training rooms and athletic facilities at the school as well.

I have had a fantastic time honing my skills and learning new ones at Saint Xavier, and I am sad to see it ending in the near future.  Summer camps are nearly over, but I have will have the chance to work with the high school students when football practice starts in July.  I cannot wait to use the knowledge I have learned this summer at my new clinical site in the fall.

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

2nd Annual SLATS Bowl-a-thon a Huge Success!

SLATS Bowl-a-thon #2...Twice the fun, Twice the Success!

By: Haylie Dehm (MAT Class of 2016)

This year the Saint Louis University Athletic Training Society (SLATS), our student association, hosted its 2nd annual bowling fundraiser at Moolah Lanes for the AT student scholarship fund.  The 2014 SLATS Bowl-A-thon took on a higher meaning for our program because, as a part of Saint Louis University’s new "Go Further" campaign, every dollar raised is being matched, which means our goal of $6,000 would become $12,000 in the blink of an eye! How awesome is that?!

With this University-wide program, that means that the scholarship fund is growing larger, sooner so more students may get the opportunity to receive a Bauman Endowed Athletic Training Scholarship! In the end we raised over $6,500! We reached our goal and I could not be any more proud of my peers for raising such a great amount of money in such a short period of time! (Just imagine what we could have raised in a longer period of time!)

Last year I had a blast at the event and this year I was extremely excited to be a Co-Chair with Rachel Spika! Prior to the actual event, students from the program submitted a list of potential donors. Every student that submitted a list got free admission into the event. Anyone who donated on behalf of a student had the opportunity to attend and partake in the fun of free bowling and food! Anyone else who came had to pay $12 which is a great bargain considering they were getting catered food from The Pasta House and unlimited bowling for 2 hours!

SLATS Executive Board Members -- Mary Rhatigan (back left) - PY2 Class Rep, Andria Lampe (back right) - Philanthropy/PR Chair, Kayla Kelly (front right) - PY 1 Class Rep, Haylie Dehm (front left) - Vice President - enjoying the catering from The Pasta House while working the door at check-in.

I think my favorite thing from this event was the Bowling Shirts! Anyone who got 10 people to donate in their name got one of these highly sought after items! Also the top 5 people that had the most money donated in their name got a free bowling shirt! And finally the person who had the most walk-in attendees received a shirt! In this case, there was a tie for most walk-ins and two people were given the awesome shirts! Michael Aaron and Christian Ahlstrom were the only ones to have 10 or more people donate in their name. Those two along with Rachel Spika, Raquel Roberts-Hamilton, and Emily Costabile were the Top 5 money-makers! Stuart Plamp and Kathleen McGovern brought the most walk-ins. Unfortunately the picture of Bowling Shirt winners was taken before it was revealed that Stuart and Kathleen got theirs so this picture is missing them in their Retro Bowling Shirt Glory!

From Left to Right: Michael Aaron - 17 donors and 3^rd overall highest donation total, Christian Ahlstrom - 13 donors and 1^st overall highest donation total, Emily Costabile - 2^nd highest donation total, Rachel Spika - 5^th highest donation total, Raquel Roberts-Hamilton - 4^th highest donation total

‘Twas a great night and I can’t wait to attend the Third Annual Saint Louis University Society Athletic Training Bowl-A-Thon!

SLU AT Clinical Site Spotlight - Oakville High School

Oakville High School - Home of the Tigers!

By: Stuart Plamp and Chris Miller (MAT Class of 2015)

This fall semester we have had the privilege to have our clinical rotation at Oakville High School under the supervision of their athletic trainer, Kevin Buckhaulter ATC, from PRORehab.  Oakville is a moderately sized high school about 25 minutes from SLU’s campus.  Under the observation of Kevin, we have spent the past four months working with athletes and coaches from all fall and winter sports including football, men’s soccer, softball, wrestling, and men’s and women’s basketball.  There has never been a dull moment because of the constant flow of athletes into the athletic training room from so many sports teams. 

Chris Miller

Everyone at Oakville, from students to staff, has treated us wonderfully.  The athletes have always been respectful and willing to be patient as we learn how to become faster and more proficient at helping them.  The coaches and faculty enjoy seeing us and have always made Oakville feel like our own high school.  Coaches and athletes are always willing to talk and have fun, but also see us as a member of the medical staff and will help us in any way they can so we can assure the athletes stay as healthy as possible.

The Fall sports season at Oakville was exciting as always.  Unfortunately, strong regular season performances by the soccer, football, and softball teams did not fruition into post season success.  Thankfully, many of the athletes at Oakville play multiple sports, so we have had the pleasure of working with many of them in basketball and wrestling this winter as well.

Stuart Plamp

Kevin has done a fantastic job working with faculty, coaches, and athletes to set a foundation for success when it comes to managing athlete care.  In doing so, he has been a great example to us on how to be prepared for any medical issue regardless of the severity.  We have gotten an opportunity to learn so much through Oakville athletics that we could not have received in the classroom.  As our time at Oakville this semester ends, we are truly thankful for the 4 months we have been able to spend with Kevin and all of Oakville athletics.

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.