Personal Narrative: My Trip To The Sports Medicine Field

As the end of my senior year is approaching, I find myself looking back on my last four years at Stearns, I was never a three-sport athletic or was considered a “stand out.” Thinking about it now, I regret not playing all three sports. The benefits from only playing one sport for four years is unbelievable. I have gained valuable memories, and friendships that will last a lifetime. I can’t imagine all the personal achievements I would had if I stayed as a three-sports athlete.

     As we begin to grow up and come to the end of our high school career we must start to begin to start thinking about what type of career we want to be in.     It is very important that a person picks the right type of career for them. Otherwise you will be unhappy with what you are doing and will not enjoy it at all. I am not entirely sure what I want my career to be but I have a pretty good idea as to what type of job it will be. I would like to go into the field of a physical therapist and sports medicine, I fell I will enjoy this more than any other type of career just because I already have a lot of interest in it.

It’s all over the news. At least, it’s all over the sports news. There is even a movie that is entirely about this one injury. The invisible injury. An injury that can present itself as simple headaches to nausea to dizziness to complete loss of consciousness. Something that is described as a bruise to the brain caused by a bump or a blow to the head has become an athlete’s worst nightmare: a concussion (What).

Everyone has something they’re talented at, and many people have to try multiple things before they find their talent(s) that they have. As a child, my parents like many others had me participate in multiple activities. For example, I took dance classes, played a great amount of sports, and was a participant in many plays. In my freshman year, I tried running track and field. During the course of it, I developed shin splints and I proceeded to go to the athletic trainer. The athletic trainer here, Todd Korabek, has a system that works for the whole program. New injuries will see an aide, and that aide will then write up a card for them which lists their name, sport, injury, and body part. The aide doesn’t write the injury because only the athletic trainer can diagnose. After the athletic trainer treats all old injuries, he evaluates the new injuries, which happened to be me at that moment. Watching the aides assist Mr. Korabek really inspired me and his profession intrigued me.

What was the best feeling you felt? Mine? I made a game-winning shot at basketball game. Why did you ask? Perhaps, because there can only be a handful of situations chance to be able to make one. While my emotions fluctuated at the beginning, during and at the end of the game, the game-winning shot gave me one of the best feelings I felt as an athlete.

My first year of high school, I had experience with injured football players during my physical education class. We had a certified trainer who would come in and check them out. She was excellent and all of the football players and staff loved her. I was so interested in her work and later thought about making it my career goal. As time passed, I transferred schools. At my new school, there was an opportunity with two other girls to join the football team. One of my friends that I already knew before I changed schools. He introduced me to the girls and the helped me get involved. The job was to assist the athletic trainer and also help the football coach with any laundry, equipment, etc.

The first time I realized that I wanted to be an athletic trainer was during my eighth grade summer at camp. I was working on a project where I had to find careers that I was interested in. Doing this project helped me realize how many job choices there were, but only one intrigued me as much as this one. My choice to major in kinesiology was made clear during my freshman year after I job shadowed an athletic trainer at my local college and high school. High school has helped me realize who I am and what I want to become, and college will help me become that person.

Being part of the Sports Medicine program at Citrus Hill High School has given me so many new opportunities. I´ve been part of this program for two years now and I can not see myself doing anything else beyond this point. When I first joined, I never thought I would care so much for it and actually want to take the next step and do this in college. I have learned so within these two years and I want my life to be surround with it.

I know that you have a background in ballet, but can you tell me a little more about yourself? How did you get into this field ?

I am not like other people where I’ve had difficulties with my family but I have had one major struggle that has impacted my life. It did not affect me for just one summer it will be affecting me for the rest of my life. The exceptional hardship I have had was when I broke my leg in five places and had to overcome the difficulties of getting better. It was such a difficult experience because it affected my love of playing basketball. However, that experience led me on my path in pursuing a career in Sports Medicine. Breaking my leg was awful but it helped me think about what I wanted to study when I go into college.

Ever since I was a kid, I always enjoyed watching sports, especially with my father, but I also always watched in interest when someone got hurt and the medical crew had to go help. I’ve always really liked the idea of helping others with medical needs but was never sure what field might fit me the most. During seventh and eighth grade I had an ankle problem known as an os trigonum; it is essentially a bone in the ankle that didn’t fuse with the rest of the talus and can pop out causing a lot of pain. In the summer transitioning into high school, I had the bone surgically removed relieving the problems I had with it. Ever since that incident I taught myself how to tape my ankle during track season to help me, and that’s when I gained interest in the field of kinesiology and sports medicine.

Beginning as a young child, I have dreamed of becoming the next great sports star. Baseball, basketball, football, soccer; it did not matter what sport; I just wanted to be great. Unfortunately, due to some athletic limitations, this dream soon became very unrealistic. However, my thirst for fulfilling my life’s goal has not been quenched. I just would have to find another way to accomplish such a fantasy. Coupling my love of sports with a natural inclination to help others, I soon came across the profession of sports medicine as what I wanted to do with my life. Sure, I might never score the game-winning touchdown or hit a buzzer beater, but I can still be the star, just behind the scenes, helping athletes that have been injured. Alabama,

I was always asked what I wanted to do when I would get older, but I would never have an answer. Rushed and unready to answer, I would reply with lawyer. The only reason I would say that is because I loved to argue and I was very passionate in the ideals and values that I believed in. Moreover, I decided to stick with that answer until I found some career that better interested me. It was not until I was fifteen when my mother got into a car accident, that I figured out what career would best suit me and pertain to my qualities. Because of the accident, my mother was left with pain in the leg area, leaving it almost impossible to move long distances. Consequently, this was not the best situation for her, especially since she already had joint pain there. It hurt to see my mother struggle to move up or down the stairs or even move her legs too much.

A Sports Physician is a very interesting job that will have many challenges. The field is very challenging, but one will love their job once they start. A sports trainer is someone who treats injuries when an athlete injures themselves while participating in sports. Example of injuries are fractured bones, ankle injuries, knee injuries, body injuries, head injuries, and long term affected injuries.

My supervisor holds the job title of a Doctor of Physical Therapy. He graduated from East Tennessee State Universities Doctorate of Physical Therapy Program in 2011. Currently, he works in an outpatient orthopedic physical therapy clinic. Along with holding a Doctorate in Physical Therapy, my supervisor also holds the professional designation of a Certified Orthopedic Manual Therapist (COMT). This certification follows the Maitland based approach to orthopedic manual