What Would You Do?

So there's a story that's been brought up a lot today.  It's the one about the fight and the lightning.  For those of you who have not heard this story, here is a quick recap.

Westlake High School and Langston-Hughes High School were playing each other in a football game.  There was a fight that broke out in the stands and apparently gun shots were heard.  As the fight was progressing, there was lightening that also caused a delayed game.  The game never got back underway, and at 11:30 pm was suspended.  They do not know if they will finish the game at a later date.

Now...  There has been a picture circling around the internet of the teams laying on their stomachs as they heard the gun shots.  There is no media talk about the gun shots or what happened.  Can you imagine being the athletic trainer at that school dealing with all those things going on?

Of course you are working on keeping everyone safe, but when is it unsafe for you as the AT to try to keep everyone else safe?  Instinct tells us as ATs to try to protect every athlete and every bystander.  But gun shots?  Is there a protocol out there for someone with a gun?  I know that at my current employer, we had an active shooter "training".  The local police came in at told us everything to do if there was an active shooter.  One of the things to do is if you see an injured person laying on the ground, only help them if you know that you are safe to do so.  But as an AT, I would want to help.  Can we as athletic trainers turn off the switch to help people so we can save ourselves?  I know that would be a hard thing for me to do.

To finish out what the active shooter training was...  Run, Hide, Fight.  That's what we were told to do in that order.  You run from the scene if you have a clear path, and that is when you are supposed to just leave the injured if you do not know where the shooter is.  If you don't have a clear path, you hide.  Find somewhere they cannot get into.  Somewhere you can barricade yourself in.  Put everything you can against the door.  Do anything to hide from this person.  And if neither of those are options for you, you fight.  And you fight hard.

As an AT, I was sitting in this training thinking how hard it would be to leave the injured, and how hard it would be to just run from the whole situation.  Our profession, we run toward chaos and injury, not away from it.  I guess you'll never know what you would do until you are in that situation.

For all the people at that game the other night - staff, students, and spectators - I hope everyone is doing well and there was no serious injuries that came out of that horrible night.

What do you think you would do in this situation?

Females in Football

As football season nears, it's nice to think about the female ATs in football!  Over the off-season, there have been a lot of articles come out about female ATs being hired as full time or intern staff in the NFL.  It's amazing, and Tiffany Morton is nothing short of that.  The Kansas City Chiefs hired Morton as their first ever female AT.  She started her schooling at Auburn University where she dreamed of going to medical school.  She struggled through chemistry and lost her drive to pursue that.  (Weird...  Sound almost exactly like what I did!  Anyone else in the same boat here?)  After struggling, she took a personality test to see which direction she should go in.  The test pointed her to athletic training.  She found her passion in the profession and grabbed an internship with the Chiefs. Rick Burkholder himself sought out Morton after a conference she attended where she asked him the right questions and she made herself stand out. Jeremy Maclin, the Chiefs stand-out wide receiver, was wondering when Rick Burkholder was going to hire her full time.  Morton is now one of 5 female ATs in the NFL and Maclin has dubbed Morton his go-to AT.  The players respect her and were ecstatic that she was hired full time.  She blew the competition away in her interview.  She carried herself well and they liked that.  Burkholder was aware and looking for a certain dynamic when he hired Morton, a dynamic that involved a female in the ATR.  She is treated as an athletic trainer, respected and held accountable.  Morton is focused on being a good role model for all females in the profession.  And I think she's doing a splendid job.

It's great to read stories like this.  I have been in this profession for 4 years now and have tried to accomplish my dream of being a female AT in the NFL.  It's hard when you aren't picked for an internship.  You sit back and watch everyone else get the summer or seasonal internships and you don't get the chance to show them what you have.  You get down on yourself...  But then you hear stories like this that pick you up.  Females are starting to get the jobs in the NFL.  The teams see the value of a good athletic trainer, whether it's a male or female.  The players don't treat females any differently.  We are athletic trainers.  We are professionals.  We don't need to be treated differently.  We need to show that we are just as good at the job, if not better, than our male counterparts.  And Morton and the rest of the females in the NFL and other professional sports are doing just that.  There are more females in the profession now, which mean opportunities are opening up.

Has anyone had an internship or worked for the NFL and want to share your story?  Let me know...  I would love to know how you got into the NFL, as it is still my dream job!

http://www.chiefs.com/news/article-2/Rick-Burkholder-Hoping-Tiffany-Morton-is-Start-of-New-NFL-Trend/5dc75bfe-fc3e-4bed-8a05-045024c2ee80

Sports and Drug Use

So let's start with the big question...  Does being in sports lead to drug use?  Well...  The answer seems clear.  All you hear about this days is what major leaguer is taking steroids and what NFL-er is addicted to heroin.  It's a no brainer.  Yes, sports and drug use go hand in hand.

But do they?

I have now worked almost 2 seasons with a professional baseball team.  I spend just about every waking moment with these 30 guys.  I know how they act, I know what foods they eat, I know when they're having a bad day or a good one.  In the 2 seasons I have been with this team, I can honestly say I know of not one player who uses and abuses drugs.  Now...  That's not to say I don't know about it.  However, I truly believe that if they were using steroids or addicted to anything, I would know about it.  They know where they are at in their career.  There is a risk if you take unapproved drugs.  You don't get picked up, you don't get to go back to the show.

Then, if there isn't all this drug use going on, why are there so many stories on it?  Well...  I believe that it's because these people that don't pass their drug tests are supposed to be roll models for kids.  Take Michael Phelps...  He is probably one of the most famous cases out there.  He got caught using marijuana and the nation seemed to crumble.  There were a lot of how could yous and why would you think this is oks.  He is an icon, especially to young athletes.  He is the most decorated Oltmpian of all time, and in one bad decision lost the respect of millions.  (For the record, I have always loved Phelps and he did make a public apology, went to rehab, and is not clean.)

So is that where drug use comes from?  Young athletes see their favorite athlete on the news for taking steroids, doing heroin, etc, and they just follow in their footsteps?

After reading the article below, I'm not so sure.  A study done at the University of Michigan shows that 21% of male athletes and 14% of female athletes will be injured in sports in any given year.  Athletes who are injured often receive stronger medications than their non-athlete counterpart.  West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey believes that the high dosage drugs are necessary to treat these young athletes.  He believes this is the reason for the increased drug use in sports.  These kids are given these opioids and other high dosage pain medications and they become dependent on it.  When that drug stops working, they could seek out other forms to help.  However, another study came out saying that this is the complete opposite and that participating in sports will likely cut the risk of drug use.

Reading that injuries lead to drug use is quite interesting.  My opinion on the whole thing is that you need to have the right personality and will power to not abuse drugs in sports.  I think that the reason behind drug use is a personal one.  If A-Rod wasn't a big deal in the MLB, I think he still would have taken performance enhancing drugs for another reason.  Why did A-Rod take performance enhancing drugs and Darryl Strawberry used cocaine but Derek Jeter and Michael Jordan didn't?

What do you think?  Why does drug abuse exist in sports?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/bobcook/2016/08/03/what-is-the-risk-of-youth-sports-injuries-leading-to-opioid-heroin-abuse/#64553b279215