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  Bulick and Sampat serve as student athletic trainers at the Acosta Intercollegiate Athletic Center.  

By Nicole Bulick and Kapil Sampat

UCLA is one of the top – if not the top – “jock” schools in the nation. As a part of the medical staff for UCLA, the student athletic trainers make sure those “jocks” stay on the field. Often taken for granted, the athletic trainers at this university are usually dubbed “water boys” and “water girls” who tape ankles and give massages. This, however, is only the tip of our iceberg.

Open the doors of the Acosta Intercollegiate Athletic Center and you enter one of the top Division I training rooms in the nation. This facility coordinates all the branches under the tree that is sports medicine at UCLA: orthopedic surgeons, family practice physicians, nutritionists, psychologists, strength and conditioning coaches, and our athletic trainers.

An overlooked structure to this well-oiled machine is the student athletic training program. This three-year internship is open to all UCLA students. The application process opens during the spring quarter that precedes the academic school year in which the internship begins. Students must submit a simple one-page essay, two letters of recommendation and a transcript, and must be CPR-certified to be considered for the program.

During that summer, applicants go through a two-day orientation workshop to familiarize themselves with the day-to-day procedures of the training room. A probationary period begins fall quarter, when new students are required to work ten hours a week. During fall quarter, students must check off on certain required skills and are constantly evaluated by the staff. This culminates with a final interview in which the staff will then choose about 15 new student athletic trainers to complete the three-year internship.

All this said, student athletic trainers gain hands-on experience working with world-class athletes and an amazing sports medicine staff.

Now, with all of the administrative technicalities taken care of, we would like to give you an insight into a typical day (warning: no day is ever typical) in the life of a student athletic trainer.

We arrive at least one hour prior to any scheduled practices for pre-practice treatments. Such a treatment may consist of heating for 15 minutes, ultrasound, soft tissue massage, facilitated stretching and any additional taping that is required. On second thought, we usually arrive an hour or so prior to our scheduled team treatments, in order to set up aquatic hydration and electrolyte replenishment stations (water and Gatorade) at the respective practice facilities.

We are required to be on site during all scheduled team practices. Once practice is over, our work is still not finished. Most athletes will come into the training room for post-practice treatments. These treatments consist primarily of icing injured areas. The ice may be accompanied by electrical stimulation modalities. All of this may seem very cut and dry, but at a facility that caters to 21 sports, nearly 700 athletes, this is a daunting task for 10 staff athletic trainers and 35 student athletic trainers. With those numbers ... you do the math.

Being a student athletic trainer does, however, have its perks. Second- and third-year students are assigned individual sports, and since our teams travel, so do we. We get to tag along on trips to cities in the Pac- 10, Hawaii and Canada, just to name a few. Traveling to these cities is an amazing experience, but we keep in mind that we are there to “get it done” (our motto, meaning to always be professional and on the ball).

The student athletic training program is geared to students who strive to be successful in the classroom and toward a permanent professional career. Every staff member we have at UCLA was once a student athletic trainer and they are our immediate role models. Jeff Smith, the student program director, and Debbie Iwasaki, a certified athletic trainer and our physical therapist, are graduates from this program.

We have seen students pursue careers as athletic trainers in the NFL, physical therapists, physicians, teachers, etc. On the surface, student athletic trainers gain basic knowledge in anatomy, physiology, pathology and biomechanics, but on a broader scale we develop a process of thinking that is applicable in any arena.

As we learn, we gain confidence, cultivate different modes of communication, learn how to take initiative in any situation, and garner a huge taste of responsibility. In this medical facility we also must understand the sensitivity of our position. Just as physicians have their Hippocratic Oath to always be an advocate for their patients, we athletic trainers must always protect the privacy of our athletes. This is, again, an intangible responsibility we gain as student athletic trainers.

Coming back to our staff athletic trainers, we want to take a paragraph (even though that does not do them adequate justice) to acknowledge their contribution to the student athletic trainers and the UCLA athletic community.

We have an amazing athletic training staff led by Head Athletic Trainer Geoff Schaadt and assistant athletic trainers: Jeff Smith, Debbie Iwasaki, Tony Spino, Lorita Granger, Kim Antonio, Mark Schoen, Anne Lindley, Chris Ferry and Armando Rivas. This staff has the additional responsibilities of communicating with coaches, parents, and strength and conditioning coaches on top of their given job descriptions.

As a dual role, they must also serve as teachers to show us the ropes. All the student athletic trainers are indebted to them. Being in this program demands many tireless hours, lots of work, and a consistent devotion to learning. The support of this staff gives the UCLA student athletic training program an edge that is both rewarding and fun.

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