Kelsey Golz sits down with Friendswood High School Athletic Trainers Blake Lapier and Melissa Jack to discuss all things athletic training. They combat stereotypes about what it means to be an AT, discuss how they got started in the field, cover hot-topics like concussions, give advice to parents and athletes, plus more! This is a very informative episode that is a must-listen!
Kelsey Golz sits down with Friendswood High School Athletic Trainers Blake Lapier and Melissa Jack to discuss all things athletic training. They combat stereotypes about what it means to be an AT, discuss how they got started in the field, cover hot-topics like concussions, give advice to parents and athletes, plus more! This is a very informative episode that is a must-listen!
Speaker 1 And I like a barn, a medium kind of situation. And so they got some horses, they got all sorts of wildlife. They got a lake on there. So we're going to go up there and hang out a little bit out of the old daughter's. So she just loves getting up to see Pops and oh, now she's definitely. Unknown Spoiled once again. And all of a sudden she just to see Jesus. So, so. Speaker 1 Slowly. Our spring break trip. Speaker 3 That is so, so sweet. Well, hello and welcome to the podcast. We Dana Owen and Kelsey Goelz. Unfortunately, Dana has a pretty bad cough today, so she didn't think that was going to be the best sound for our listeners on these high tech mikes. So she's sitting this one out. So today I'm joined by two friends with high schools, athletic trainers, Blake LaPierre lip. Speaker 1 Here. Speaker 3 But you. Speaker 1 Got this, Kyrie, you see it pronounced your response. Speaker 3 Here. Yeah I want my last name gets mispronounce all the time so yeah which is so funny cause I feel like it's simple but whatever. Yeah I'm up here and Melissa Jack. Okay, so how are you doing today? I'm fantastic. Speaker 1 I'm awesome. Yeah, I'm excited to be here. This is day two of National Athletic Training Month, and so we're, we're just happy to be on the podcast for the month of March as well. Speaker 3 How critical. Okay, so fun fact y'all are actually the only people who've reached out to us asking to be on the podcast, which we love. We love when people come on. So what was the, the main reason that you wanted to do this? Speaker 1 We just to let people know who we are, what we do. I think often we're also new faces, the district. This is all our second year working in Friendswood. And so we just want to get on and tell people what we do, who we are, what we stand for and what we can offer the kids. Speaker 3 And then also just kind of help celebrate National Athletic Training Month and show what our profession is about and what we can do. So that's awesome. Okay. So tell me a little bit about what athletic trainers actually really do. So athletic trainers are health care professionals that render a wide array of services. So we have treatment which can be electrical stim, ultrasound can be dry needling massage that can go to first aid to evaluation. Speaker 3 So ankle sprains, ACL tears that can be anywhere from medical illnesses to injuries. And we render services to array of that. So from splinting a broken arm to rehabbing an ACL repair, which you know I actually tore my ACL and meniscus in high school playing volleyball so that's close to home. Oh, yeah. Weird landing and eight months of sitting bench and trying to recover. Speaker 3 So I had a lot of interaction with my athletic trainers in high school and in college. So awesome. So you want to kind of tell us from your perspective a little bit about what you do. Speaker 1 Yeah, so echo of the same thing. So we do all the services rehab evaluation, but I think there's another component to it that we definitely value and that form and relationships with kids. And so we want our room to be a safe place for kids. There's a lot of distractions out there. There's a lot of different life influences. Speaker 1 So we want them to feel safe and come in and talk to us about their injuries, about their day. And so although there is an and formal part in terms of our rehab first day, there's also another component to it that we really value. And so it to me it's all that and then forming a relationship with kids. Speaker 3 Absolutely. And just from my own experience, having gone through a major injury, it I say this to you all the time. It was actually way harder emotionally coming back than physically. So how do you all see that with some of your athletes? Well, I think that's I mean, you see it in every athlete, no matter if they're injured or not. Speaker 3 Right. Especially at the high school age. I mean, you have boyfriends and girlfriends are breaking up. You have, you know, parents, they got grounded. They're not allowed to hang out their friends for the weekend. I mean, you see a full spectrum of emotions related to just their age group, High school hurt or not, do they have a hard day of practice? Speaker 3 And sometimes, honestly, some kids come in and they'll be like, no, I stubbed my pinkie. And you're like, okay, it's a pinky. But when you sit down and actually talk to them, you realize it's a lot bigger than that. Yeah, maybe something happened at school that day. Maybe something's going on at home. And our, like Blake was saying, our training room is trying to be a safe place, So can we. Speaker 3 We always say win their hearts and have them feel comfortable talking to us so we can really get down to the weeds. Does that mean we need to talk more to the coach or do we need to help separate them? Like we're going to do rehab in our room today because I know you need it and kind of help you know that student in that way. Speaker 3 I think as athletic trainers, what a lot of people don't know is we have such a diverse background. So we take courses in nutrition, we take courses in mental health, we take courses, anatomy, physiology, biomechanics. And so I don't only know a little bit about your body. I know a lot about wellness and your health and how to apply patient centered care. Speaker 3 And so I feel like that's just the minor circle of athletic training. Speaker 1 Yeah. Speaker 3 Yeah. No, that's, that's huge. And, and I feel like sometimes that can be a it's hard because you're kind of a middleman sometimes between the athlete and the coach. So you want to kind of talk about that relationship, too, of, of how you communicate with a coach regarding an athlete's health. Speaker 1 Absolutely. You know, first and foremost, we, you know, put the kid's health first. And so a lot of times we may, you know, we can modify practice. Hey, you know, player A, you know, he he needs a day in our room to rehab. You know, he needs to do this. We may need to alter that. I think ultimately what we try to find right and help with our kids know is that we're never going to try to hold them out. Speaker 1 We don't want to hold them out. We want them to participate as much as possible. But sometimes they may feel a certain kind of pressure where I can't fully participate, but I want to be a part of the team. All right. And so a lot of times we can talk to coach and say, Hey, he can only just do individual drills, he can't do scrimmaging or, you know, for baseball, he can't have a ball thrown him. Speaker 1 He can just get off the tee. And so we definitely try to bridge that gap from a kid that may not be he may be a little bit hesitant to communicate that to the coach. And so that's where we can come in and we try to go again just through patient centered care and just getting to know them. Speaker 1 We can form that relationship where they can be honest with us and we can help communicate that to them. Speaker 3 Oh yeah, No, that's awesome, because it's like you never want to be the athlete that comes to your coach and says, I can't do this, correct? Speaker 1 I respect that because they're competitive. They want to play, but at the same time it can be detrimental to them and ultimately the team and we don't want that for them. Speaker 3 Oh, absolutely. So tell me about how you all each got started in athletic training. So I actually think we both have a very similar story. So I actually grew up as a dancer. I danced and I twirled batons and I was very determined to go to college for dance. But my mom had this rule that if you did something outside of school, you had to do something inside of school. Speaker 3 And so since I dance and twirled, I chose to do soccer inside school when I was not a great soccer player. And so but I did soccer and my junior year I ended up getting hurt and I went to the athletic trainer. They evaluated me. I did rehab every day and I started to fall in love with the environment. Speaker 3 I enjoyed being in there. It might have been a little bit. I didn't enjoy soccer, but I learned a lot. I learned a lot about my body and I became really interested. And so actually my senior year since I still had to do something inside of school because I danced outside of school, I chose to do student athletic training and so I was on the sidelines, just like we have our student athletic training program. Speaker 3 And I was there every day and I decided this is exactly why I wanted to go to school for. And so I went and got my bachelor's and grew from there with all of my degrees. And I still love it today. Speaker 1 Oh, hold on, hold on. Melissa has a few degrees. No, I. Speaker 3 Caught that in the plural. Speaker 1 Tell listeners. Speaker 3 So I have gone school for a long time. I have a bachelor's in science and athletic training with a minor in strength and conditioning. I also have a masters in Health education, and I have a doctorate in athletic training with a capstone thesis in dry needling for myofascial pain. Okay, I can't see my mouth right now, but it's it's wide open. Speaker 3 Oh, my gosh. That is very impressive. Wow. Speaker 1 Yeah. And I take great pride in telling people that we have a doctor on our athletic training staff. No one else has it. And so it definitely elevates what we can provide. Speaker 3 Oh, yeah, absolutely. Speaker 1 Friendswood And so it's definitely it's a privilege. I remember when she came on our staff, it was like, she's got a doctorate. Like, shouldn't she be taking my job? And I'm her assistant, but she's done an excellent job and has used all those skills she's gotten from those degrees and our kids are well taken care of. Speaker 3 Mm hmm. That's awesome. So what about you? How do you get into it? Speaker 1 Yeah, So? So I always grew up with sports, loved it, play football in seventh and eighth grade. And for those that don't know like that have never seen before, about probably about five, five, five, six on a good day. And so when I was going into high school, I realized that I probably wouldn't be a good idea to play football and so I played golf and found out I was not very good. Speaker 1 And then as you shoot a 132 at a tournament, that doesn't help your team at all. And so I figure that wasn't a good choice. And I still want to be around sports, but that's not not necessarily play it. And so I decided to I reached out to my high school's athletic trainer and asked if I could start helping out, and he said yes. Speaker 1 And so I worked one Thursday night J.V. football game, and I was hooked. I was like, This is what I want to do in high school. This ultimately what I would do in college. And so I went from there, got a Bachelor of Science and Athletic training degree from the University of Texas, and then got my Masters in Sports Management from the University of Houston, where there I worked as a graduate assistant athletic trainer for the football team. Speaker 1 And so that's how I got to get started. So luckily I'm not May If I were super athletic, I wouldn't have got into this, but luckily I wasn't. But no, that's awesome. Speaker 3 And it's such a full circle moment for you all to now be back in a high school. Being able to influence new look, the next generation of potential athletic trainers. Oh, for sure was actually when our students tell us, like, I want to go to college for this, I get this like, you know, like, yeah, I get all excited. Speaker 1 And all, but all the memories and emotions I had from the high school was what really drew me back to this setting. I think there's just so much value in community and camaraderie and memories that you make that last in your entire life. The bus rides, the mills, you know, for the past year, for the kids, I got to see a football district championship. Speaker 1 And so that was a really cool thing for them to get to salvage. And I hope they have that memory for the rest of their life. And that's one of the more positive things they have. And so, yeah. Speaker 3 That's awesome. So, so as far as like when they can start doing the athletic training program, can they be a freshman and get into it? How does that work? Speaker 1 Yeah, So usually what we have is we do for our specifically for our student athlete training program, we have an application and interview process. And so application, we just want to see where their interest is, do they know what athletic training is? And then we kind of follow up with that on an interview. And then from there we take them on our program. Speaker 1 We put them in various sports that they may be interested in. And along the way, though, we are teaching them a lot of good. We teach them first aid skills. We'll get CPR certified, they'll get to help us with games. And often like like the other day, we had to help out a kid that was struggling and we took one of our students with them. Speaker 1 So they're also going to get a really, really good hands on experience with us if that's what they want. And so, Melissa, did I miss anything there? I mean. Speaker 3 Like you said, they get hands on experience. So we teach them like how to take pulse and blood pressure and they help with our physicals there at all of the games they learn how to splint tape. I know a lot of our students are really into learning how to tape an ankle and tape it as fast as we do. Speaker 3 They almost feel it as a challenge. And so our students get a wide array of experiences to see one if they're interested, and then go from there. If they want to move forward, we can absolutely help them with that route because we kind of know where to go from there. Oh yeah. Well, that like piqued my interest and like that may be a good challenge. Speaker 3 Accepted competition is fastest ankle team. Oh absolutely. So in college actually in order to pass your exam, you have to tape under 2 minutes. And so we've always we keep challenging our students. The other day, one of them was like it took me still 5 minutes and they're like, You went so fast. But we keep telling you, keep practicing, keep practicing, keep practicing, because that's what we had to do. Speaker 3 When you do it so repetitively, you get another 2 minutes and that's a goal for them. So. Oh yeah, now that's so fun. So, so walk me through like a day in the life of an athletic trainer. So it can be different, especially depending on the setting that you're in as an athletic trainer. So our day, you know, we're here at 630 in the morning, the treatment and we're here until the last practice is done or the game is done well. Speaker 3 So we host treatments in the morning for our student athletes. So 630 to about 830. And so they have time to get to class. And then we're here all day during athletic periods and then we're here after school for practices. And then who knows, like tonight I think there's a boys soccer game. So that will be until 930 tonight after cleanup during the day. Speaker 3 You know, it could be treatments in the morning where we have seven kids doing stem rehab in the middle of the day. We're working on injury reports, wrong updating coaches, working on protocols, updating our inventory, ordering supplies. There's a lot of little details that are tedious that I don't need to list off, but there is a lot of them. Speaker 3 And then getting ready for practices. Is there water on the field? Is there bottles out? Is there anything that needs to be paid attention to? And then seven period hits and we have our room filled with kids and we don't have enough tables. So it's like kids everywhere and it's taping, getting them out to practice heat, pack, some rehab, getting on a bike, working with Coach Taylor in the strength room to make sure, hey, this kid can't do X, Y and Z too, then, okay, now it's game time, getting games ready, getting bottles, making sure, you know, we need an adult to practice, we need a kit, we need a splint bag, a towel, and Speaker 3 then at the end of day, everything gets cleaned up, go home, go to sleep, start all over again. Speaker 1 Absolutely. Speaker 3 Oh, wow. Yeah, I know that. Like all those comments, like, it's bringing back so many memories of, like, the bike or I remember there was like a machine that, like, would shake, you know, something with balance since I'm okay. So I have to ask, what is the treatment that you find that students like despise the most or fear the most? Speaker 1 Maybe, you know, if there's one, I haven't done it. If it anything, it's any kind of manual work. Well, we have to dig into a muscle. If there's a muscle spasm, when there's going to be a little bit discomfort. But mostly we try to make it as comfortable as possible. But then sometimes you're going to have a little bit of pain. Speaker 3 Usually I feel like our kids come in are like, Can we do this today? Speaker 1 That's what we're seeing right now. Speaker 3 Or it let's do it. Because if they like it, it's making them happy. We're we're we're making circles. Oh, my gosh. All because Dana and I were just talking about this, about how much we both hated ice baths, how those were the absolute worst thing in the world. Do all do a lot of them? Speaker 1 We have kind of reduced that. We we've been able to acquire some recovery units that are like those leg sleeves. You may see like runners use them and they like to inflate with air. And we kind of yeah, we've been doing that a lot more than I space. In fact, I don't think we've really implemented that at all. Speaker 1 And some schools do, but we kind of make that an option if they want to do it. But here we do more different ways of recovery than an ice bath. Speaker 3 Yeah. So I think we filled it up maybe once or twice during pre-season, which was actually more for any heat related issues that we might have, not necessarily just to take an ice bath. The kids know that it's available if they want it, but we found more success with using the normal tax or game rides and it's also more of a a pass, an active recovery versus just kind of sitting there and cringing while it's 55 degrees. Speaker 3 It wasn't so I mean, awful. I would dread if I was told you have to do this. I do remember those little like, I guess it's like a boot kind of thing. And it went all the way up. Yeah, that was that was pretty cool, too, when you talk about heat. So I do remember when I was in college, our football players, they would do like three days and it was August and super hot and they weren't even in pads most of the time. Speaker 3 And I specifically remember there was one day where we had, I think four people. They ended up in the hospitals who were athletes, who were coaches from heatstroke. So how is that like how do you manage athletes in those really hot times of making sure they're hydrated and and just monitoring? Speaker 1 Well, I'll speak for our school and what we do in our coaches do an excellent job where we honestly, we are always prepared for that to happen. But it has not happened. And I think it's because specifically during will be traditionally training camp we have football will go later in the day so that heat is that the equation is taken out. Speaker 1 But if an athlete did have an issue, we would if we if we believe that's what it is, normally we're going to do is we're going to put them in like a cold tub where we can get their body temp down into a golf ball. And then we're going to call EMS because they're going to have to follow up and take them. Speaker 1 And so it's a fairly straightforward process. But luckily, you hear Friendswood, we we do things in a good way that really helps the kids not have that issue. Speaker 3 That's awesome. We've also been really supported by our administration and we've been able to buy a wet bulb globe, which is the golden standard for checking the temperature outside and what's appropriate to go or not go. And so we have that device that we're able to go outside and see what the true temperature is, where it takes, you know, humidity and to affect the heat, especially on the turf, it's a lot hotter. Speaker 3 And so we have been blessed to have that type of equipment to be able to keep our athletes safe. That's awesome. Okay. So tell me about how the profession of athletic training has actually evolved over time. So it has massively evolved over time. So originally most athletic trainers were only going to be found in a high school or, you know, you might have been lucky to work in a professional setting, but now it has it has completely, completely grown. Speaker 3 You have, you know, high school, you have college. It's gone into nontraditional settings. So clinics and hospitals, industrial settings, performing arts, military, you know, Nassar has athletic trainers, rodeo has athletic trainers. And so it's really starting to span its way out. And additionally, I mean, it's evolved over it used to be just a bachelor's degree and now it's a master's degree. Speaker 3 So it has it has gone from something where a lot of people looked at athletic trainers just as like water, people that ran out onto the field and gave water to, you know, we are actually health care providers and we are, you know, valuable in not only just a school setting, even though we love being here, but in multiple different settings. Speaker 3 Mm hmm. Now, what's the difference like for for people who don't know a ton about the profession, what is the difference between an athletic trainer and a physical therapist? Speaker 1 Mm hmm. So athletic trainers are board certified, right? And I think we do similar things, but I would say athletic trainers are more geared toward some of the emergency care, the immediate care that takes place. We also have a solid background in rehab and treatment and pets kind of have similar, but they I think they have a little bit more certifications in some manipulations and some certain techniques that we're not able to do. Speaker 3 Yeah. Okay. So as things continue to evolve and change, one thing that continues even in our profession in communications, is technology. It's constantly changing. How have you seen that play out in in your positions? Speaker 1 Yeah. So we you know, it used to start off probably would just like using literally ice and water, cold heat and that was kind of what it is. But now we've have electrical stim, we have the normal text which we we discussed, we have game ready which is a similar idea, but with cold or hot depending upon what product you have. Speaker 1 You also go down to our injury tracking, right? So used to probably just be pencil and paper and now we actually have softwares that track that for us here at Friendswood, we use a system called Sway Balance, which is how we can baseline concussion kids and that's done on the kids phone. They literally download the app, they go through the questions, they do some balancing activities with the phone and we're able to data. Speaker 1 So when they do have a concussion, we can refer to that. And so there's it's definitely evolved in a lot of areas. But I definitely there are a lot more things you can do on your tablet or phone that has something that would not have been done years ago. Speaker 3 And let alone just how we communicate with coaches. Yeah, yeah. I don't I don't have to, you know, find a coach every day just to let him know about his ten kids come in. I can put it into our injury tracking software and send them a straight email so they can look at it while they're in their class or, you know, out to lunch or whatever they're doing and they're updated right then versus us having to find them. Speaker 3 And they might not know about their kids being hurt for, you know, a couple hours or so forth. And also helps our communication because we have coaches all the time be like, Hey, I got the injury report today. I saw so-and-so came in. I didn't even know they were hurt and that communication wouldn't happen without the advance of technology. Speaker 3 Yeah, well, and just the mention of concussions, I'm like, that's definitely where my mind goes. Thinking about a big hot topic in athletics today. So kind of how do you how do you identify or start to think there might be a concussion happening and how frequently do you see them? You know, I want to talk about that a little bit. Speaker 1 Yeah. So usually, obviously a concussion is going to happen from usually direct, direct the head. It can be getting hit by a flying object. They can fall on the turf and hit the back of their head. You can do that. Same for the court. You can get kneed in the head. You know, there's all sorts of ways about it, but usually they're going to look a little out of it. Speaker 1 They're going to be in a little bit of a fog. Yeah, Usually them have a little squinty eyes because the light may bother them if they have. ANNOUNCER announcing they may not like the noise. It's super loud, but normally you can kind of tell there's something not quite right. And so I would say you always have to discern, though, you know, is it do they have a concussion or do they just hit their head? Speaker 1 You know, they we just get a good saying versus is there some cognitive issue that we need to address? And sometimes it's no, when the kid sometimes is just completely obvious. But regardless of what that looks like, if we believe that there is we suspect there is a concussion, we do hold them out. Okay. And then we'll evaluate the next day in and go from there. Speaker 1 But we're going to always air on the side of caution in that way. Speaker 3 It's kind. And do you see that? Do you see them fairly frequently or not so much? It depends on the sport. I mean, we definitely will have a few concussions each semester. When it comes to football, you're always going to have a little bit of a handful just because it's a contact sport and you'll have, you know, one or two maybe in basketball or one or two in soccer, and then you'll you'll get a random one from, you know, a baseball kid that was not even related to baseball like was in a car accident or went skiing and something happened. Speaker 3 So we see a good handful of them throughout the year. But there is definitely sports where we okay, that person did get hit really hard. And so there's contact sports are, you know, are usually our main concern that we baseline first we kind of watch out for that because they are you know, hitting each other or coming in contact and I think that's good for for people to know just because it is kind of a hot topic. Speaker 3 I know some people are like hesitant to even put their kids in sports or specifically football because of concussions. So it's good to know that y'all are so diligent in being able to be cautious and identify when it's going on. So y'all, y'all are responsible for a lot, but we'd love for you to talk about some things that you want parents and the athletes to know. Speaker 1 Absolutely. So this is something that Melissa and I talk about, talk often about. And one of the biggest ones is that we understand and we both have kids. I have a two year old and I'm also a foster parent. Melissa has a nine month old baby boy. And so we understand it is hard to entrust your kids care with someone else because sometimes you are the provider at that time. Speaker 1 And so we just ask a lot of times, just entrust us with their care. We you mean you heard you know, we started off the podcast talking about our credentials, right? So we we know what we're doing and we provide excellent care. And so we ask that parents entrust this with their care. We hit it on a little bit, but my goal is not to hold kids out. Speaker 1 I'm a competitive person just like them. When they go down, I feel just with them. I may not show it to them in that moment, but it hurts me too, because I know they have four years of high school sports. They're lucky if they go on to college. And so I know those are games that they're missing that they meant they're not going to get back. Speaker 1 Yeah, but I see it as I'm going to do my best to get them back. But if it's going to be a detrimental to them or the team, then sometimes I might have to pull them back, say, a week. We're not ready to go yet or we're going to pull you out of this game. But my goal is to keep them in the game. Speaker 1 I'm not looking. Okay, You got a limp, You're out. Speaker 3 Yeah. Speaker 1 You have a limp. Can you play? Are you able to function and do your job? Well, if all those are. Yes, let's go for it, you know, And so. Speaker 3 I think lastly, we really just want them to know that we're here. We're available for them. We're a resource. Yeah, I we find that kids sometimes are scared to come in and talk to us. And some of that comes down to they we always hear coaches say they just don't want you to hold them out like, yes, but we want them to talk to us. Speaker 3 They can tell us we want to play. Okay, let's put a game plan together. But we're here as a resource, so we're available by emails. You know, coaches all have our cell phone numbers. They can reach out with concerns. If a parent sees something and they want to email us, we're all for it. We want to communicate. We want to know what's going on. Speaker 3 You know, it's the child saying, I heard it, you know, school. But then our acting up at home and the mom's like, I don't know what's going on or vice versa. Is something really going on in that parent wants to reach out to us like we talked about. We have morning treatments, you know, we're there for the kids, We're here after school for the kids. Speaker 3 And additionally, we have some really good partnerships that we're able to get the athletes in to see a doctor quicker. So, for instance, I actually am hired through Houston Methodist and as part is Houston Methodist and Friendswood Partnership. I'm contracted to work at Friendswood. And so we have a relationship with Houston Methodist, we have a relationship with Houston Physician Hospital and other type of doctors, you know, chiropractors and so forth. Speaker 3 And so we have those relationships that we can help, you know, our student athletes if they need to get into a doctor quicker, if they need to see somebody. You know, also as just as health care providers, you know, we know people in the community. Can we help? You know, I always hate when a kid comes in and says, I can't see a doctor for another month. Speaker 3 And I'm like, oh, I'm like, just let me know I can make something happen. We can reach out to people. We're we're here as that resource. Even if they want to go see a doctor, great. Let's let us help you. Yeah. Which is huge for for parents and athletes to know like because yeah, if you're waiting a month to even get into a doctor, then that's delaying your, your progress, your recovery by a month. Speaker 3 So that's awesome. That's a great thing to know. Okay, so what are schools missing and what are they getting right as far as an athlete's health is concerned? Speaker 1 I can't speak for other school districts, but I'll say our school district gets it right. They truly value kids health. And it's evident by not only having athletic trainers on campus, have three at the high school, and then we have one contracted through the junior high through Houston physician's Hospital. So our district gets it right. We have a great administration that supports us. Speaker 1 You go from let's start at the top, Mr. Rau, excellent job. He definitely supports us, provides us means to be able to provide exceptional care. We go down to Mr. Raffone at the high school level, always in a room supportive of a supportive of our student trainers and supportive of what they do to help. And then you go to Coop, Coach Paul, Darren, all those guys, they never once question us for what we do. Speaker 1 We make a decision. They know it's the right decision and I can't say that's always evident other places. But for Friendswood HD, they absolutely get it right. And I'll say it's a cool thing too, because we we are in a community that has a lot of health care. Health care providers live in this community. And so it's really kind of a unique thing where it's a community effort to provide kids care. Speaker 1 You know, you go from Methodist Houston Physicians Hospital, independent Nassib on enjoying all these different places right from our chiropractors in town. It is a community effort and it's really, really cool and our district gets it right. Speaker 3 It's awesome. Do you have anything you want to add to that? I mean, I we are very blessed for what we have. You know, I have multiple athletic training friends and, you know, I always hear from some of them like, you know, I'm just so overworked. I'm the only athletic trainer at my school. I'm working, you know, 80 plus hours and they're exhausted. Speaker 3 And I'm like, you know, I have great coworkers. We're really supported. You know, every time I see a coach, they always ask me how my son is doing, which I adore, because I'm like, Oh, he's growing up so fast. I get all excited. There is that family atmosphere that makes you feel welcomed, makes you feel supported. I can tell you last year when I was, you know, 37 weeks pregnant, walking around, you know, coach to be like, get on the golf cart. Speaker 3 You know, you don't have to, you know, walk over there, will drive you over there. And that that truly, even if it's related to student health or not, that environment and atmosphere makes you feel welcomed and it makes you want to provide better care and feel like you truly do. I do care about these kids and we want to get them better. Speaker 3 We want to make a difference. We want our program to show excellence. And so and it's unlike others. So we've talked about some past things, how you got to where you are. We've talked about current, where things are now. I would like to look ahead into the future a little bit. So how do you see athletic training changing, evolving over the next ten years? Speaker 3 I mean, it's growing. Speaker 1 It's growing. I think there's a lot more skills that are going to be athletic trainers and be able to do. I mean, I would argue that if their skills, their maybe skills that that new athletic trainers are coming out with that I may not be aware of. But I imagine the ability to probably do IV's, probably different rehab techniques that are up and coming. Speaker 1 I don't know if you have anything to add to that. Speaker 3 Yeah, I think it's going to it's growing. So, you know, a recent one is that athletic trainers could just now get certified in dry needling, they could get certified in BFR. And so there are new therapies that are coming out and evolving with technology. And we are growing as a profession that we're now able to provide that care or get that certification to provide better care. Speaker 3 And I mean, we're just going to continue to grow. I think I actually saw with it being National Athletic Training Month, you know, they send a magazine out every month to us. And I think it said the profession has doubled over the past five years. And so I would hope that that just continues to grow, that athletic trainers are used in different settings. Speaker 3 I mean, I, I love to hear that, you know, down the street at NASA, there's athletic trainers. I love to hear that at Rodeo Houston, there's athletic trainers and just how valuable that the profession can be and continue to grow, because the more we grow, the better care we give. Absolutely. So is there anything that we we haven't discussed that you would like to touch on before we go into our random questions? Speaker 1 I think we've covered a lot. Speaker 3 He's covered a lot of done great. I feel like this has been very informative but also fun and and you kind of touched on maybe the the negative stereotype that it's just giving water to athletes, you know, And I think that you've really combated that that stereotype and shown like, no, there's so much going on like y'all are doing it. Speaker 3 It's so beyond giving out water. Like absolutely ridiculous. My, my favorite thing is actually, you know, you go somewhere and the famous question, it's like, Oh, what do you do where like, I'm an athletic trainer? Usually the first questions like, Oh, so what sports do you train? Like, Hold on, hold on. Let me let me rephrase this for you. Speaker 3 And so it is I mean, it's a thing that every athletic trainer strives to change is actually letting people know what the profession is actually about, that we're evolving. I mean, I still have some people be like, you went to school for this. Like, yeah, yeah, eight years. Yeah. And they always feel shocked. Like, I remember I told our students I have a doctorate degree and they're like, Wow. Speaker 3 Uh huh. And so it's definitely. Speaker 1 Now. Speaker 3 Growing. That's awesome. Okay, so are you all ready for these random questions? I've not seen heard my computer a little bit. Do I see you over here? You're trying to cheat? Oh, yeah. Speaker 1 Don't play poker with me. No, no. Speaker 3 Okay. So something that I do every year is I do a yearlong bucket list, so within the year I have to complete. Usually it's about ten things and it's like pretty much no excuses, whatever. So and then I have to post a picture whenever I've completed the on the list, it's just like a thing I do. So I wanted to ask y'all, what is one thing on your bucket list? Speaker 3 Well, so for this year, which I had a thing on my bucket list and I actually already did, was that I wanted to run a5k. I obviously had a baby last June and I was like, You know what? I'm going to run a5k with my child this year. It was kind of like my motivation to get back in shape. Speaker 3 And I actually ran the five K in February, so that was on my bucket list and I, I checked it off. Did you, did you like push Stroller? The jogging stroller. I think it is so fun whenever I see moms doing that. That's then my husband was like, you know, I'll do it with you. You feel motivated. So we did it all as a family. Speaker 3 We ran the five K, so it was really awesome. He actually fell asleep during it, but it felt good to check that off. So yeah. Speaker 1 Yeah. So I'm actually a fairly big history buff and so I would like to go to Boston and get to see, you know, a lot of the Revolutionary War type stuff and get to walk the Freedom Trail and do all that fun stuff. And I've been I've been to a few places, but I haven't been there. And so that's a big bucket list item for me. Speaker 1 Well. Speaker 3 I'm actually going there in a couple of weeks. Oh, my goodness. Going to Boston. My best friend is at Boston College working on a doctorate and we were just texting about that this morning, how we're going to do Freedom Trail. And apparently she sent me one. There's like it's called Bad Old Trail. And it takes you to different I guess it leads you like freedom to all the different battle stops in any way. Speaker 3 So that should be fun. Not to send in pictures. No, I will. Well, and I'm actually going to complete we wanted to do one of the things from this year's bucket list for me, which is to ride in a hot air balloon. And when we went to schedule that, they told us, no, ma'am, it is too cold. We will not be doing that until amazingly wonderful. Speaker 3 So we had to pivot. But one of the other things is to take a glass blowing glass. So we're going to do that up there. Speaker 1 So that will be fun. That's pretty cool. Speaker 3 Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I just kept seeing videos with glass blowing. I was like, That looks fun. Speaker 1 I think most people don't do that. I think it's pretty cool. Speaker 3 Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So what is a habit that you picked up from your parents? Oh, I know mine right away. And so my mom like, shreds paper and I'm like, and it's not like just repetitively. It's like if it's mail and it's like junk mail, she's like, okay, so just, like, rip it in pieces and throw it away. Speaker 3 And now I rip everything. Like, yeah, most people just take the paper and just like, fold it in half and throw it away. And I'm like, No, it has to be ripped. I think as my parents do that and it's and my husband has pointed it out multiple times, like, you know, you just throw that in the trash, right? Speaker 3 I know. Like it, you know, packs it. I don't want anyone using the expired coupon even at home. And so I rip everything. That's funny. Speaker 1 Yeah, mine is kind of funny. Embarrassing. But for people that know me, it comes across and I'm fairly composed, you know, kind of nonchalant or whatever. But if I'm driving, am I in? I miss my exit. It is like World War three in my car. I just lose my stuff. And and I was like, Why do I do this? Speaker 1 Like my natural, natural instinct, but my not told my dad on the bus, but that he was kind of short fuze in that way. So I've you know, I have I've turned into that. And so I'm having to use better choice words when I miss my ex. So I have a two year old daughter. It's not a it's not a phone call from day one. Speaker 3 So no, probably it would not be the best thing. So what I've said is I just think I'm literally morphing into my mom like in all aspects of life. Like I just will think things whenever I'm cleaning or I'll get really agitated. And the thing that used to bother me so much with her and I like, catch myself doing it is like, Why? Speaker 3 Why can't they do it? Why did he fold this the right way or whatever? And then I'm like, So I'm morphing into my mom and I swear I'm married. My dad, like my husband, is so similar to my dad. And I've seen those come out even more. I'm like, This is yeah, this is just what happens. Speaker 1 Yeah. Speaker 3 Okay. So what is the last show you binge last show? I don't know if I consider it binge because I haven't finished it, but the last one that I watched is Ozark. I haven't finished the new season, and before that would have been Game of Thrones, which I still didn't finish the last season. Oh, my God. I guess we to have a well, I mean, I'm really busy. Speaker 3 I just a little bit of starting your day at 630 and ending at 930 and I have a nine months and that, you know, keeps me on my toes. So yeah my my time to watch TV is very small, so I end up not finishing it. Speaker 1 So I'm really weird because I have a hard time taking on new shows. I just rewatch the ones that I like. And so right now I, I'm bingeing through Seinfeld, which I grew up watching. My dad watched it, and so it's kind of nostalgic for me. But the one I'll always go to is Modern Family. I don't know why I started watching when I was in college, and it just I don't know, for whatever reason, I just find it extremely hilarious and so I'll go through it nonstop. Speaker 1 And the wife is like, Oh, this again? Like, can we watch something else? But I love it. So, Oh my gosh. Speaker 3 So that was, you know, I said, I'm married. My father, I swear. So one of the first times I saw my now husband's apartment when we were dating in his living room, he had a a picture. A portrait of Kramer from Seinfeld. Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah, my brother did, too, in college. And it was kind of weird, but. Yes, but as soon as I saw. Speaker 3 That, I was like, First of all, I am marrying him. Second of all, my dad will love it. Yeah. Yeah. So funny. Well, I. I just finish what I'm waiting for, I guess the last episode to come out. But have you all heard of Netflix's Love is Blind? Yes. Oh, I'm obsessed. I'm obsessive. So it's like almost cringing, but, like, I'm. Speaker 3 I'm hooked, so. Oh, I mean, that's too. Speaker 1 Big for me. It's. It's too fancy for me. I just. I'll have to leave the room. Speaker 3 I can't finish seasons. Yeah, Yeah. So obviously, I'm like, I have to start and then finish something before I watch another show. Like, I'm very that like mindset and I'm like, working thrive off of to do lists. So it's like, check the box, then move on to the next desk. Okay, So we always in the podcast for this last question, and it is a question that Oprah apparently used to always ask. Speaker 3 That's where Dana got this from. But what is one thing you know for sure? Oh, one thing that I know for sure. Speaker 1 The one thing I know for sure is that when I wake up, I'm going to have a cup of coffee. That's the one thing that is constant every single day. Speaker 3 Oh, I'm struggling over here. One thing I know for sure. Mm hmm. What is one thing that I do every day can be anything. Something you believe, Something you're. You're rooted in. I one thing I would say I know for sure is that I am always going to be an advocate type of person. Speaker 1 Absolutely. At 200%. Correct, by the way. 100% correct. Speaker 3 I am. I mean, to some people I have a strong personality, but I feel like when I am focused on something and I believe in something, I'm a big, big advocate for it and I am always going to try to make something happen for whatever that thing is. I think that's a good way to be. Yeah. Well, thank you both so much for joining us on the podcast. Speaker 3 It was so fun. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah.