A Day in the Life of an Athletic Training Student

Alex Jensen

Alex Jensen, Sports Editor
April 22, 2019

Linfield College faced an unprecedented amount of home sporting events on Saturday requiring the athletic training program to be all-hands-on-deck

More than 170 athletes stepped foot onto Linfield College’s athletics compounds on Saturday. With a home softball, baseball, lacrosse games, women’s tennis match, and track and field Linfield athletics department were all-hands-on-deck. The school tagged line the day as a “spring block party.”

All the sports were active during the day except the lacrosse game that was at 6 p.m. because it shares a field with track and field.

The athletic training department had eleven of its students stationed across the campus at the different venues. Junior Mary Cait Moriarty was one of the five students assigned to work the track and field meet. Fourteen colleges and number of non-collegiate clubs and unaffiliated competitors crowded Maxwell field and the back-throwing fields.

8:00 a.m. athletic trainers and students arrive in the Training Center (TC) to gather gear and fill up water jugs.
8:16 a.m. Mary Cait Moriarty and Lauren Frost talking about how a ton of people puke on the 10k. “We have to clean up people’s vomit,” Frost said. “It’s just a normal Saturday night,” Moriarty said. “How many people do you think will puke.” “I think maybe three,” Megan Sparks said. “Maybe two,” Moriarty said. “I don’t maybe none since it’s later in the season,” Frost said.

Moriarty’s day began at 8 a.m. in the training center and would not end until 4 p.m. until the track and field meet concludes.

8:21 a.m. Athletic training students mixing Powerade powder into water for the athletes.
9:15 a.m. Moriarty checking to see that she has all her gear right before heading out to cover throwing events
9:42 a.m. Athletic training students keeping a watchful eye out on the 10k running on the track.
9:55 a.m. Moriarty starting the rotations watching the throwing events and analyzing for abnormalities in biomechanics. “So, you can begin to tell if one athlete is favoring one leg over another,” Moriarty said about how the athletic training staff gets to know individual athletes.
  • 10:47 a.m. Santana Cruz Reyes meeting Moriarty at the throws marking the start of the first rotation. The student trainers are rotating every 30 minutes through five stations: throws, hammer, finish line, taping room, and jumps.
  • 10:52 a.m. Moriarty walking across the back fields to head to hammer on her first rotation.
11:42 a.m. Moriarty heading to the finish line station and trying to figure out why their rotation is 30 minutes off schedule.
  • 11:50 a.m. athletic trainers carry around fanny packs with basic tools that include: prewrap roll, powerflex bandage, lightplast (elastic adhesive bandage), tape roll, gauze pad, Tensoplast, nonadherent pads (if an athlete is bleeding it can be applied with prewrap or tape to hold it in place), band-aids, gloves, nose plugs, and scissors.
  • 12:04 p.m. Moriarty situated on the finish line, also known as the “puke line.”
12:28 p.m. A group of athletic training students standing at the tape station post right outside the stadiums training stations doors
12:50 p.m. Athletes that conform to the “pain is game” mentality typically ignore what their body is telling them, meaning that athletic trainers have to make them aware of the consequences.
1:07 p.m. Moriarty said she enjoys athletic training because athletes are there for physical and mental health. And that they are really driven.
1:35 p.m. Moriarty back at the throwing station, which she started at, completing one whole round of rotations. The track and field meet still have two to three hours left and the athletic training staff continues to rotate.