Welcome New Graduate Assistant and Intern Athletic Trainers!!!

Today marks the second day of orientation for our 26 new Graduate Assistant and Intern Athletic Trainers. Dr. Toni Torres-McGehee, Graduate Program Director, has been busy the last month preparing for the arrival of our new athletic trainers, "They are coming from coast to coast and I am very excited to have them as part of our program. During this time they will familiarize themselves with our medical system, their patients, and working environment.


Dr. Searson begins Preceptor training with
get-to-know-you activities.


While yesterday was mainly full of completing administrative duties, registering for classes, and going over policies, today Dr. Jim Mensch started the morning with an ATEP overview before Dr. Jeremy Searson trained all our new Preceptors that will be working with the undergraduate athletic training students.

The remaining schedule of orientation is filled with presentations from our team physicians, staff athletic trainers, sport dietitian, director of sports medicine, and athletic training faculty and doctoral students. We also welcome guests such as Chris Matlock, Director of Equipment for USC athletics, and Scott Rein, from the Institute of Western Surgery in China. Throughout the week, the new athletic trainers will also go through scrub training in order to prepare for surgery observations. This is a great learning experience that allows them to better understand the anatomy of an injury. We can't have work without a little play; we will be hosting a welcome luau to get to know everyone before Drs. Torres-McGehee and Searson conclude orientation with Graston Training.



Dr. Yeargin and Dr. Torres-McGehee learn to input
athlete information into the software system.



If we weren't busy enough this week, we have also welcomed, for a 2 day visit, Catapult. Catapult is an Australian based company that has developed athlete tracking technology. Dr. Torres-McGehee, Dr. Susan Yeargin, and doctoral student Dawn Minton spent time with Michael, a Catapult representative, to learn more about the technology in hopes to utilize it to collaborate between the athletic training and stength and conditioning staff, as well as research of course!

 

Strength and conditioning staff from baseball and
women's soccer, as well as women's soccer
staff athletic trainer Stephanie Rosehart (left),
 listen to a presentation of the data from the
morning's conditioning session.

SC ATEP is St. Louis Bound for the NATA Annual Meeting

The University of South Carolina ATEP is well represented at numerous athletic training and sports medicine conferences each year.



Jason Roberts, Kaitlyn Muldoon, Kevin Thomas, and
 Alex Hall after a core stability session.



This year our students began the spring and summer filled conference schedule by attending the Southeastern Athletic Trainers' Assocation Student Symposium in February. Sophomores Kaitlyn Muldoon, Kevin Thomas, and Jason Roberts presented a case study.





  
 

Dr. Jeremy Searson, Kevin Thomas, Jason Roberts,
Josh Pratt, Dawn Minton, Dr. Toni Torres-McGehee,
Alex Hall, Kaitlyn Muldoon, Jill Hancock,
Sarah Runner, and Amanda Hawkins

This conference is a great opportunity for students, providing not only a variety of educational sessions at all levels, but also allowing our students to network with others in a different district, including many SC alumni!







 

Dr. Toni Torres-McGehee and doctoral student Dawn Minton then attended the Southeastern American College of Sports Medicine conference in Jacksonville, Florida where they presented some of their original research.

 

Josh Pratt, Maddy Macklin, John Kasik, Dr. Torres-McGehee,
Dr. Searson, Dawn Minton, Charlie Emerson, and Caroline Marion


With the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Trainers' Association Annual Meeting in Greenville, SC this May, there were many current and former ATEP members in attendance. Recently graduated seniors Josh Pratt, Caroline Marion, and Bryant Parnell represented SC at the student quiz bowl. The 3 students dominated the entire game until unfortuantely losing to WVU during the final round. Staff football athletic trainer Rachel Sharpe presented her thesis research during the poster presentation and doctoral students Brian Sieler and Dawn Minton presented some of their research during the oral free communications presentations.



Rachel Sharpe presents some of her thesis data while Dr.
Torres-McGehee presented some of her body image
 research later in the day.

San Francisco, California saw the next group of Gamecocks with John Kasik (Director of Sports Medicine), Rachel Sharpe, Dr. Torres-McGehee, new faculty member Susan Yeargin, and Dawn Minton traveling to the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting at the end of May. "
This is our nerd conference." Leading researchers from all over the world attend this conference and it is a great opportunity to discuss research and plan out all the great studies we want to do.



Dawn Minton, with Dr. Torres-McGehee and
 Dr. Yeargin, received the Carl V. Gisolfi Memorial
Grant for doctoral research

Brian and his wife Lauren enjoying the beautiful sites after
 the conference

A week later Brian Sieler presented his research at the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.










After a few weeks of rest, the SC ATEP is now headed to St. Louis for the NATA Annual Meeting. We encourage our alumni, friends, family, and current Gamecocks to join us for our social Wednesday, 5:30-7:30 at Show-me. We are excited to see you and to catch up on the past year!

Upcoming Senior Athletic Training Student Maddy Macklin Tells About Her Experience in Boston

On Monday April 18^th, 2012 I volunteered as an athletic training student for one of the biggest events in Boston, Marathon Monday.  Four of the students in the class a year ahead of me volunteered for the 2011 Boston Marathon and told me stories as well as prepared me on what to expect. One student told me to make sure to bring a scarf because it gets cold and windy in Boston. Well on this Marathon Monday that was not the case. The temperature was a high of 88 degrees and running 26.2 miles in hot temperatures predisposes a runner to heat illness that if not treated appropriately can lead to fatality. In order to prevent death from occurring one of the greatest medical teams in the world was formed and I was lucky enough to be a part of it. 

The day before the marathon, there was a 5K that my peers and I volunteered for. Volunteering for the 5K was great idea because it we thought it would give us a glimpse as to what we could expect on marathon Monday. I am glad we volunteered; however, nothing about the 5K event could begin to be compared to the magnitude of the actual race day.

There were three medical tents, A, B, and auxiliary, as well as teams scattered throughout the finish line and beyond the course. The day before the marathon, my peers and I set up the huge medical tents with over 800 cots. I was a part of the finish line sweep team and was given a wheel chair and some medical supplies. My job was to be alert for any runners that needed my help and to make sure that whoever was in my wheelchair got the help that they needed. 

I could not believe my eyes when I saw the elite runners coming into the stretch to cross the finish line in under 2 ½ hours. After one of the first elite runners crossed the finish line, he was looking fine and was walking around with a water bottle, and when he saw me, poised with my wheelchair, asked “is that for me?” I was so surprised by his joking remark, that I took it seriously, and started running it over to him saying, “of course.”  He started laughing and waved me off, and I realized he was just having fun. And then the real work began.

I assisted many runners, in varying conditions, but there were a few runners whose circumstance really struck me. I had one man in his 60’s, who at the completion of the race, seemed to be weaving. I sat him down in my wheelchair and I began to ask him some basic questions, like his name, what had he eaten, and how was he feeling. He responded, however he was not making sense and his speech was slurred. I tried to get him to continue to speak with me as I rushed him to the medical tent, as I could see was deteriorating as we moved through the crowd. When we got to the tent, the doctor at the door asked him a question, however he could no longer even speak, and we rushed him to the critical care area of the tent. I could only stay with him for a minute, because there were so many people who needed help, and he was in good hands, but I felt bad leaving him, even though there was nothing more that I could do to help him.

The experience was truly something special and for me and it made me feel as though what I had learned over the past three years really came together on this one day. I learned how to make decisions on my own, I felt the feeling of confidence, and I learned the true importance of why I am in the medical profession; to help people. 

I was truly in awe of the greatness of this event and will someday work it again when I become a certified athletic trainer.

           

Athletic Training Education Program Sends 6 to Work on the Medical Team for the 116th Boston Marathon

It might have been record breaking heat for Boston, but members of the University of South Carolina Athletic Training Education Program were well prepared at the marathon this past Monday. Four junior athletic training students (ATSs), Morgan Blankenship, Maddy Macklin, Erin Mulligan, and Virginia Winn were selected to participate as medical volunteers on the wheel chair sweep teams. Supervising, and also serving as medical volunteers, were assistant professor Dr. Toni Torres-McGehee and doctoral student Dawn Minton.

This is the second year the program has selected ATSs to apply for positions on the medical team and we plan on making it an annual event. We think it is a fantastic opportunity for ATSs to be exposed to a very unique mass casualty experience that they would not have otherwise. Additionally, ATSs are able to network with athletic trainers (ATs) and ATSs from other universities, as well as other medical professionals.

After covering 5K and 1 mile events Sunday morning, the students attended a student conference hosted by Boston University’s athletic training students’ association. Speaking at this conference were faculty and staff ATs from Boston University and Ms. Minton. The conference focused on medical concerns for marathon participants and evidence based medicine on current topics related to sports medicine.

Come back soon to read about some of the first hand experiences and lessons that the ATSs received while helping thousands of runners!