Athletic Training

Athletic Training as a Career

If you’re interested in a career in athletic training, you need to be more than a good athlete yourself with good motivational skills. Athletic training is an allied health care profession which is recognized by the AMA, the American Medical Association, so you’ve really got to know your stuff and study hard to enjoy a career as an athletic trainer. There are so many different niches to study in athletic training, you need to have a good standard of knowledge about:

• risk management and the prevention of injury
• diagnosing and intervening in case of emergency
• the pathology of illnesses and injuries
• orthopaedic clinical assessment following examination
• nutrition
• chronic or acute medical conditions which involve impairment

as well as a whole lot more.

Athletic Training Opportunities

Of course, once you’ve achieved your goal of becoming an athletics trainer, there’s plenty of scope for a full and rewarding career in:

• Athletics training facilities – private gyms and athletics grounds
• Schools
• Universities
• Physical rehabilitation clinics – inpatient and outpatient
• Military
• Community centers
• Hospitals
• Personal trainer – lots of celebrities these days seem to have their own personal trainers, and sports people certainly need someone to keep them focused and pointing in the right direction.

DIY Athletic Training

Of course, there is another side to athletic training, we shall call it the DIY – the Do It Yourself athletic training. This really involves getting yourself ready, both physically and mentally before you start to train for any sport. Very often you will find that you need to be fit to play sport, and should not play sport to get fit. You need to make sure that your body is reasonably fit, that you’re eating the right stuff with a good balance of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals and that you get plenty of liquids. It really isn’t true that if you’re doing enough exercise you can eat however much you want of the “naughty stuff”, it’s important that you give your body the correct fuel for it to run efficiently – just think of it like putting gas into your car.

You also need to be mentally prepared for whatever sport you undertake. Know where you want to be, and know how you’re going to get there. Focus is a very important part of athletic training. Of course your body has to be fit and conditioned for you to achieve your goals, but some focusing techniques are important too. Have you ever heard of people saying that an opponent was “beaten before they even started”, well, that’s down to the focus.