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.