NATA Presidential Platform
VIDEO – Face Time 2014: Presidential Platforms from National Athletic Trainers’ Assn on Vimeo.
The profession of athletic training has made tremendous strides in the past several decades. With that said, we have several challenges and opportunities that face us in the years ahead. I believe our most pivotal opportunities fall into three categories: access, awareness, and allies.
Access –
We have opened many doors to our services over the past decades but many more still remain closed. I would like to see more emphasis placed on improving the access of active individuals to the services of an athletic trainer. The access I refer to is primarily in two areas. These two areas are secondary schools/youth sports organizations, and direct access for the public.
Secondary Schools –
According to recently acquired data, slightly more than half of secondary schools in the United States currently have access to athletic trainers. This is better than the ~40% we have estimated over the past decade or so but we still have a long way to go. Even with this apparent improvement, this number simply is a measure of access – not appropriate access. We know that many, if not most, schools throughout the country lack adequate staffing of athletic trainers. I envision a future where schools and youth sports organizations have a solid understanding of the risks associated with sports along withthe valuable contribution that athletic trainers can make to help mitigate that risk.
The Public –
Throughout the United States we have therapy clinics discharging patients to return to their vocations who are not prepared to return to their avocations. This is likely to become an even greater concern in the changing health care environment ahead. Time and time again patients are released from therapy, due to coverage limitations, etc., but do not feel sufficiently recovered to return to the active lives they enjoyed prior to their injuries. There is a gap between discharge and full functional recovery. The public is in need of a professional who understands the principles of functional return to activity along with a solid understanding of the limits of tissue healing. No one is better prepared to fill this gap than athletic trainers. This has been an area where we have excelled since our inception.
Today, if this gap is being filled, it is often being filled by less qualified individuals who lack the training we have as athletic trainers. I envision a day when members of the public consider consulting an athletic trainer a normal part of an active lifestyle much like they currently consider consulting personal trainers prior to undertaking a fitness program.
Awareness –
We are slowly moving through a progression with the public from confusion about what we do to an appreciation for what we contribute. Athletic trainers have worked for decades to help the media and the public understand the difference between athletic trainers and other professions. Often, it might be felt that these efforts have been fruitless as we hear a commentator refer to our brethren as “trainer.” Recently, we have learned that this may not be as true as it appears. As we saw through the recently completed work of the Nomenclature Task Force, those who have regular interactions with athletic trainers not only have awareness but also have appreciation for the contributions we make and the role we play. While we can be pleased that progress is being made, much work still remains to be done.
Today, conversations in the public sphere often center on catastrophic conditions such as concussions, heat illness, and sudden cardiac death. These are areas where athletic trainers are often leading the way. We are doing a good job of being at the table when these topics are being discussed. In many ways we are not just at the table but actually created the table in the first place through efforts such as the Youth Sports Safety Summit, the National Action Plan for Sport Safety, the Safe Sports School Award, and the Student Athlete’s Bill of Rights. I believe we need to continue to work to LEAD this dialog. We need to raise awareness of our knowledge, our abilities, our research, and our community activism. I believe we are soon to see a day where athletic trainers are fully engaged and leading healthcare policy discussions, especially when it comes to topics related to youth sports safety.
Allies –
Allies are loosely defined as people or groups who have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose. A corollary to this is that there is strength in numbers. We have seen a sea change over the past several years as to how we go about adding our voiceto the national sports medicine dialog. The NATA is finally gaining recognition the likes of which was first envisioned by our pioneering leaders during the formative years of this association.
We are engaging in serious dialog with long-standing partners such as the NCAA, the National Federation of State High School Associations, the North American Booster Club Associations, the American Football Coaches Association, and the NFL regarding issues such as appropriate models of supervision for athletic trainers, rules changes, and growing demands on student-athletes and athletic training staffs. We are partnering with likeminded associations nationally and internationally who have recognized the strength of the NATA and the human capital we represent through our membership. Today, we find ourselves collaborating with other medical associations to review or support position statements or to partner on national initiatives. These efforts must continue and increase. The NATA, as we move forward, will become a consistent and persistent voice as sports safety conversations take place nationally. As Woody Hayes once put it, we will “paralyze resistance with persistence.” I also envision a day when athletic trainers are recognized as resources within their home communities helping to establish local policies and systems to improve access to appropriate care.
And finally, arguably the most important allies are the strategic partners of the NATA. While NATA, CAATE, BOC, and the Foundation all have their own missions and responsibilities, there is not a group of associations who are better aligned to construct the future of the profession of athletic training. It will be imperative, as we move forward, that we work together to bring about positive change for this profession which will result in improved outcomes for our various stakeholders.
I first became interested in athletic training when I witnessed the passion of an athletic trainer in my high school. I have had opportunities to work in this profession in various settings and at various levels from Pop Warner football through the NFL, high school and college, and inpatient and outpatient therapy settings. My experiences have brought me to a place where I see athletic training as a mission as much as a profession. I believe ATs play a crucial role in the world of health care – especially within our secondary schools and college/university settings.
Further Thoughts
What are the most pivotal issues facing the AT profession?
The profession of athletic training has made tremendous strides in the past several decades. With that said, we have several challenges and opportunities that face us in the years ahead. I believe our most pivotal issues fall into three categories: respect, regulations, and recruitment.
Respect
It has been wonderful to hear, on several occasions, Dr. Brian Hainline, Chief Medical Officer of the NCAA, refer to the AT as “the primary health care provider for athletes.” Arguably, athletic trainers have been established as the central coordinating leader within the athletic health care environment. While we have benefitted in many ways from this familiarity, we have also made sacrifices along the way. Our traditional model of care has positioned many athletic trainers in work settings where they are not viewed and/or treated with the respect worthy of an allied health professional. This gap in respect has placed athletic trainers in positions where they are often evaluated and supervised by non-medical professionals such as coaches and athletic administrators, where they often are forced to defend their expertise against coaching philosophies and perceptions rather than principles of evidence-based practice. This gap also results in compensation packages which fall short of our allied health peers.
I believe that, as we work to establish and improve positions for athletic trainers throughout the country, we will see professionals who seek out these positions, resulting in a supply and demand situation as athletic trainers leave less desirable positions to take these new positions. Employers will be challenged to adjust their positions or lose their staffs. This will come about as we work to increase athletic trainers in secondary schools and improve positions within other settings. Athletic trainers in all settings will benefit from these efforts.
Regulation
So many have worked so hard to establish regulation of athletic trainers throughout the United States. Of course, this work is not yet done. We still need appropriate regulation in California. Along with this, we need to continue work at revisiting and revising licensure and legislative language in the 49 states where regulation already exists to ensure that athletic trainers are allowed to practice within the full scope of our training.
We must also remain vigilant as state legislative bodies enact various forms of youth sports safety legislation. In many situations, athletic trainers are recognized appropriately for the role we play. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. It is vital that we remain on top of these situations and work to remedy them. We need to continue our successful efforts to be recognized as leaders in the area of youth sports safety.
Recruitment
Our power as a profession and as an association comes from our people. While we have an excellent professional association staff, our strength comes from the same place it did in the early days of this association – from athletic trainers who are passionate about what they do. During my years of serving as a volunteer with NATA, I have witnessed the amazing contributions of the hundreds of volunteers who serve in various roles within committees or as district or state leadership. These individuals represent the heartbeat of this profession. I would like to see even more people have the opportunity to add their energy in the years ahead.
We also need to recruit more people to join us in the mission of this profession. I believe this primarily occurs as athletic trainers become or remain members of the NATA and grab hold of the vision. Our goal is not to convert them but rather infect them with the vision. We are most likely to be successful in these efforts when we can clearly articulate a vision that resonates with them as well as demonstrating increasing benefits of membership.
I caught the vision of this profession as an undergraduate student many years ago. Service to the profession was modeled to me through my mentors. Since that time I have developed a philosophy that it is not just an opportunity but a responsibility of a professional to be actively involved in their profession. This belief has been reinforced over the years as I have had the opportunity to observe the careers of so many athletic trainers, many of whom have been recognized by such distinctions as NATA Hall of Fame and NATA Past Presidents.
It has been my pleasure to serve this profession and this association. While there is much work still to be done, I am excited about where we have come and even more excited about the opportunities which lie ahead. I believe I have been prepared for such a time as this. My leadership style is one where I am able to bring individuals and groups with diverse views together so that we can work together for the common good. We are blessed to have an excellent team made up of the NATA Board of Directors. I believe I can lead this team to accomplish some outstanding things in the years ahead. I would be honored to have the opportunity to serve the membership of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association as your president. God bless you and God bless the NATA!
Scott Sailor, EdD, ATC 