Hi I'm the tallest of the three Matt's in our class. I am from Stoughton, Mass and received my B.S. in Kinesiology from the University of Rhode Island. Since I was a kid I loved playing sports and knew I wanted to be around sports for the rest of my life. I was the quarterback for my high school football team, the captain of our basketball team, and threw javelin and triple jumped for the outdoor track team.
I decided to become an athletic trainer after I taking some intro to athletic training classes at URI. Helping injured athletes get back on the playing field sounded like a great career path. At URI I spent my last semester interning with the athletic trainers and getting experience working with the athletes there. At my first semester of grad school at Bridgewater State University, I spent my clinical rotation at Diman Vocational High School. At Diman I worked with athletes on the football, soccer, basketball, volleyball, and track teams. This being my first real experience getting to work personally with athletes, I felt nervous about making mistakes. As the semester progressed, I became more and more confident making evaluations and diagnoses.
After my semester at Diman, I was next assigned to work at Boston College High School. I took what I had learned from Diman and from our classes at BSU to a new high school where I would help cover a variety of sports including, basketball, ice hockey, wrestling, baseball, lacrosse, rugby, tennis, rowing, volleyball, and track and field. With this many sports teams I saw a wide range of injuries. During this semester I felt more comfortable dealing with new injuries and implementing rehab treatments.
After my rotation at BC High, I looked for an intern position for the summer. I applied for an internship position with the Brockton Rox, an independent league baseball team. Working here was a completely different experience compared to the past two high schools I had worked at. Now I was working with athletes from a wide age group from their early 20's to late 30's. Some of the players on the team had experience playing in the minor leagues and in the big leagues. I worked doing rehab mainly for pitchers who had some history of shoulder and/or elbow problems. I soon learned that all the treatments in the world can't bring a pitcher's arm back to 100%. One day they could feel fine, the next day their arm is killing them. Pitching is a demanding activity for the shoulder, and some pitchers are being asked to throw almost everyday. The main goal of treatments during the season is to help them manage their pain and get them ready for their next appearance.
I am currently doing my clinical rotation at Stonehill College, primarily working with the football team. In a few short weeks I feel I have seen more injuries than in my previous two semesters. There have been injuries from sprained ankles and hamstring pulls, to concussions and dislocated shoulders. I have been doing new evaluations on injuries almost every day. I am learning that not all injuries can be dealt with in a traditional fashion. Some injuries have to be dealt with more aggressively depending on the injury and the player. An injury to a freshman player is usually dealt with more conservatively than with a senior. They have the next 3 years to worry about their injury, instead of a senior who is just trying to get through the rest of the season. I look forward to continuing my rotation at Stonehill and adding to my blog.
