Professional Development and Responsibility:

While serving on a committee, the question of appropriate behavior was brought up about student aides. Some ATCs were concerned about the appearance of some of these students and about their actions as they assisted injured athletes. Some concerns which were brought to our attention were students wearing tee shirts and blue jeans at tournament games also these students responding to injures on the court without the presence of an ATC. The question which developed from these situations are who do these students represent, the sports medicine team, student managers, etc… and by having a student respond to injures, how does this represent the need to the general public for the services of the ATC? Our committee reviewed our licensure law and determined that it is important for each ATC in the state as well as school administrators understand the role of the student aide. Through discussions it was expressed by the ATCs on the committee the importance proper behavior and dress. The ATCs had very strong opinions of the professionalism of their peers just by judging them on dress alone.

Lesson Learned:

Student aides are valuable members of school Athletic Training teams and that it is important to instill a sense of pride and professionalism. Some members of the public may evaluate a team by the actions and appearance of individual team members instead of evaluating the team as a whole. I learned through this experience that each game/match is like a job interview in that it is important to make a good first impression whether meeting a parent to discuss an injury, an official who is hurt or a visiting Team Physician or ATC.