Athletic Trainers are Teaming Up on Club Sports Injuries

March 23, 2018

The Club Sports athletic training room stays busy throughout the week. From left, Jackson Wall, Ariana Moran, Madalynn Grounds, Brady Battenfield and Nareed Asghar. Athletic trainer Bradley Jackson works with Sha’Quayla Davis.

By Irv Harrell

On a recent weekday afternoon, the Wellness Institute and Research Center at Old Dominion University's Student Recreation Center was buzzing with activity.

Sophomore Madalynn Grounds was rehabbing for a rotator cuff injury suffered playing soccer. For baseball player and senior Brady Battenfield, it was a lower back problem that needed attention. International business junior Jackson Wall, who broke his acromioclavicular (AC) joint playing rugby, was also there for treatment. As was Nareed Asghar, a junior in mechanical engineering, who hurt his knee playing Ultimate Frisbee.

Graduate student Ariana Moran moved seamlessly among the injured, providing guidance, rehabilitation and smiles as she helped the athletes recover from their various injuries. She led them individually through a series of exercises that will hopefully return them to competition. When she's not running the show her partner in athletic training, grad student Bradley Jackson, fulfills the same role, each putting in between 25 and 30 hours a week.

The pair are working on master's degrees in athletic training. The students they serve are participants in Old Dominion University Club Sports for which athletic training services are now provided.

"I had minimal exposure to athletic training growing up," Moran says. "After shadowing some physical therapists that rehabilitated my dad from injury, they educated me more about athletic training. I absolutely fell in love with it."

The 19 club sports teams on campus are registered student organizations that provide opportunities for athletes to compete in their favorite sports on a less intensive level than the NCAA teams. These competitors play other colleges and universities and are supported by ODU's Recreation and Wellness Department.

"I'm prone to injuries," said Grounds, who is studying physical education and exercise science. "I don't know what sports clubs did before they were here."

The role that Moran and Jackson play has truly been a valuable one since they arrived as athletic trainers in May 2016. Before that time, the club-sports injured had to seek rehab elsewhere, which can be costly. The assistance they provide has a huge impact. In Fall 2017 alone, the two delivered more than 3,800 treatments with 521 unique users.

"For home games they also service players from the visiting teams," said Jean Holt, assistant director of the Recreation and Wellness Department.

In addition to the athletic training services they provide, several of the students said Moran and Jackson also provide a space to vent.

"I can talk to them about anything," said Tori McClurg, a senior in marketing, who plays rugby.

During the 2015-16 academic year, ODU contracted with Bon Secours to provide athletic trainers for high-risk sports competitions. Holt contacted the School of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training in search of certified athletic trainers. The result was two graduate assistant positions in the Club Sports program. The positions are funded by Recreation and Wellness, Student Engagement and Enrollment Services and the School of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training. Recreation and Wellness finances the supplies and equipment.

Jackson, who will graduate with Moran in May, says he became involved in athletic training during his first year of school at Lynchburg College. His interest was stoked by high school influences.

"I had an awesome athletic trainer that spoke with me about the profession," he said. "I also have a relative that was an athletic trainer for years in North Carolina, which only furthered the involvement in athletic training for myself."

Moran and Jackson have been credentialed athletic trainers for about two years. They treat student-athletes from a wide range of sports including baseball, basketball, ice hockey, lacrosse, rugby, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball.

"The best part of what they do for me is that they are able to explain things to me about my injury," said Wall, who has played rugby for five years. "I look forward to the therapy."

McClurg, who has been playing rugby for five years, tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) while competing in 2017.

"They guided me through new exercises," she said. "I had to seek physical therapy services before Ariana and Bradley came."

During a typical week, Moran and Jackson spend two to three days in the clinic, two days on the practice field and are on the sidelines for one game. The most common injuries they treat are ligament and muscle strains, but "we see a good amount of concussions, too," Moran said.

As director of the Club Sports program, Holt is tasked with two key duties: creating a safe environment and program for the athletic trainers and making sure club team members are eligible to compete after receiving medical clearances. She says she is optimistic that the program will continue to be funded in the future.

"Definitely for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 academic years, and I certainly hope the program will be funded beyond 2019-20," she said.

Senior Sha'Quayla Davis, a rugby and soccer player, is hopeful as well. The parks and recreation major has had a nagging ankle injury since she fractured it in 2015. She gets athletic training services on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and her treatments have been helping to strengthen her ankle.

"They are awesome," she said, of Moran and Jackson. "They guide me when I do something wrong, and they also are there to answer questions."