What does a typical day as an athletic trainer look like? Sarah is an assistant athletic trainer for Libertyville High School.
The typical hours of an athletic trainer depends on the sports season, as well as events of the day itself. Sarah gets to work right before school ends on the weekdays and in the morning on the weekends. Some days she leaves around 6:30pm and other days she leaves around 10pm. She attends each game for each sport and makes sure that her athletes are well prepared for their games.
If her high school is hosting the game, she makes sure that there is water, ice chests, and first aid kits ready to go. Right before each game, she preps her athletes by taping or bracing injuries, guiding rehab treatments, and even performing injury evaluations. Most of her days are spent on her feet making sure every athlete is ready to perform that day or night.
When an athlete is injured, Sarah’s job is to evaluate the injury, create a treatment plan, and update the coaches and parents. Sarah emphasizes how important communication is between the athletes, parents, coaches, and doctors. Injury evaluation reports and injury progression reports are typically given to each person involved to keep them updated.
Overall, athletic trainers’ day changes all the time, as Sarah says, “my day as an AT is always different, which is one reason why I love my job” (Athletico 2017).
References:
- “A Day in the Life of an Athletic Trainer”. Athletico Physical Therapy, 10 March 2017.
All Athletic Training 