The Athletic Training major at USM is an underappreciated program that is lucky to have its dedicated faculty and staff says Rolinda Mitchell.
Mitchell, who is a Dover-Foxcroft native, is a senior in the program and currently serves as the President of the Athletic Training Student Association. She is also a former athlete at USM, participating in field hockey, indoor, and outdoor track for three years. Ask a student like this about a full work load and time management skills and they will tell you all you need to know.
Student-athletes at USM who are in the AT major are constantly being pushed through a grueling schedule every week. They don’t just go to classes and go back to their room to lounge around. They have to do 150 clinical hours every semester either at a local high school or with a college, and on top of that tend to their commitment with their team through practices and games. Somehow they still seem to succeed in every aspect of their busy agenda.
“When I was in-season I definitely found that I had better time management skills. You have to when you’re balancing practices, classes, and clinical hours, and when it’s crunch time I think all athletic training students do a great job of managing their time,” says Mitchell.
Scheduling convenient clinical locations for student-athletes who are also athletic trainers is a main focus for Ben Towne who is the Athletic Training Program Director and clinical coordinator. Being a student athlete definitely impacts where he will place them clinically as Towne wants his students to get the best of all worlds in their college experience.
“Some athletic training programs tell their perspective students that they either have to pick being an AT student or be an athlete, as they will never be able to do both. We would never tell our students that. I feel that if a student wants to pursue the sport they love and be an AT student too than that is great,” mentioned Towne. “Our students do a tremendous job of balancing their commitment to their sport and their major. There’s a symbiotic relationship between athletes and athletic trainers that we like to see in our program.”
Currently seven of twelve students in the junior class, three of twelve in the senior class, and several of the students in the sophomore class are student-athletes this year. This is a significant number of students to work with in scheduling clinicals around, but Towne and his staff are willing to do whatever they can to satisfy the needs of their students so they can be an athlete and be involved in the AT major.
Athletic training students who are also athletes seem to face their biggest obstacle when they are seniors in the program. This is a time when they’re putting together resumes and cover letters, submitting applications for jobs, and preparing for their certified test. A time like this can be stressful for a full time student-athlete and can sometimes force them to stop playing their sport. Surprisingly though, most students don’t stop playing in their senior year because they love playing the sport they’ve participated in their whole life and the AT faculty help them along the way.
“It’s a very tight knit community,” said junior Andrew DeBethune who is a pitcher on the baseball team. “Everyone studies together, and is constantly helping each other. I think that really serves as a relief for a lot of us who are overwhelmed. It’s a great feeling to have professors and a staff that are so experienced in what they do.”
Being an athlete in the program also has its perks. Growing up playing sports and being fans of sport provide these students with a better understanding of what an athlete is. They have experienced a lot of things that the athletes they are working on have experienced. It not a bad thing that they enjoy going to clinicals and watching sports every day either.
“I think by going through injuries that I have suffered in sports has really helped me relate to my work,” added Mitchell, who has had five knee surgeries. “There are certain things I can pick up from an athlete’s injury because I’ve been through it, which helps a lot with diagnosing the problem.”
The USM AT program, which was the first accredited program in Maine, is the only one of 300 colleges in the country to provide its students with International Service Learning. ISL is a program where Towne and several upperclassmen AT students travel to the Dominican Republic during winter break to practice and improve their training skills. Not only does this broaden the student-athlete’s knowledge of AT but it provides them with three credits that will give them more time in the spring for the commitment to their team.
Last year, eleven students graduated from the program and six of them went on to full Division I graduate assistantships at schools that included the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Delaware, Ohio University, and Northeastern University. These types of programs pay students for the work and offer full tuition remission. This type of success reflects back to the dedication of the student-athletes and the faculty of Huskies Athletic Training.
Towne feels that he and his staff are lucky to have a group of young individuals who are so motivated while being challenged daily in their classes, clinicals, and practices/games. The students-athletes bring a passion and a wealth of knowledge to their work every day and are preparing themselves for the successful careers ahead of them.