Organization and Administration:

About 23 years ago when I took over my current position, I started in a very small Athletic Training room which limited access to all athletes and was inconvenient for injured athletes. Through the years, I was able to move the Training room to a different location in the building which afforded better access and more room. A few years ago, our school system decided that they would build a new building. When I was told about this, I positioned myself on committees which helped to advise the architect as to our needs. I also spent a lot of time with our Business Manager in order to give input into my area I was not given a budget but was asked to submit a furniture bid. I spent at least a year working on the amount of floor space I would be given and obtaining bids for furniture which would best service our needs for this facility. As construction started, I spent at least one day a week at the Business Manager’s office or on site to evaluate the progress of the Athletic Training room. As progress was made, I was given a deadline for my furniture bids. A part of the bid involved case work. Before I submitted any of the four bids, which I had obtained, I met with the head of our maintenance department and had him check the dimensions of the cabinets. During this meeting it was determined that the cabinets which were bid in my number one bid were not the same size, in fact the company had mixed two different types of cabinets from two different divisions of their company. This turned out to work in my favor because the school system decided to accept my second bid which was more expensive since it included all custom made tables. While I was in the meeting with the Head of Maintenance, I asked him to go over the blueprints with me and explain everything from the electricity to the plumbing to the ceiling height. While he was doing this we found out that the architect had a space assigned for whirlpools and an ice machine but did not have water, electricity or a drain for either of these. We immediately brought this to the attention of our Business Manager who addressed this with the Architect. Once the bids are submitted to the contractors, any changes require additional money. Our school system felt that these changes were important and had them implemented. The result was a very effective Athletic Training room.

Lesson Learned:

When the building was finished some Coaches and Teachers were disappointed with the areas which they were assigned. These same Teachers and Coaches did not take the time to express their needs to the proper people. The architects will design what they think you need but the average architect does not know the daily operations or needs of the Athletic Training room. Therefore, it is important for the Athletic Trainer to be persistent and meet with the proper people such as the project manager, business manager, architect or superintendant. Also, stay on top of the space as it is being built. When we added the change order for water to be supplied to the whirlpools, the contractor tried to take the least expensive route and ran waterlines down the wall leaving cooper pipes hanging from the wall. The school system saw this and stopped it by having the pipes run inside the walls instead.
I learned the importance of taking time to get to know the key players such as our Business Manager, Head of Maintenance and the Project Manager and to ask these people questions as well as staying involved throughout the total process.