What Makes a Great Coach from an Athletic Trainer’s Perspective - 197 - AT Corner

Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Hey, this is Sandy. And Randy?
And we're here on AT Corner. Being an Athi trainer comes with
ups and downs, and we're here toshowcase it all.
Join us as we share our world insports medicine.
Welcome back to another episode of AT Corner.
We're back 2025. Here we are.
Happy New Year. Yes.

(00:23):
And I think we are kicking off the new year in a very positive
way. We are talking about coach
stories. Yes, but this time it's the the
positive side. We're talking about good coach
stories. Yes.
And I think a lot of us, when wethink about coach stories, you
probably think of all the times that it's been fun working with

(00:48):
some not so fun coaches. But because we spent one of our
last episodes talking about how to work with difficult coaches,
we thought what better way to kick off the new year with the
thing that I feel like people don't spend enough time talking
about and that is working with just hands down amazing coaches.

(01:11):
Yeah, I think this kind of givesthat perspective where I feel
like it's easy to hear about thehorror stories of like difficult
coaches and coaches don't like working with, whereas, you know,
I feel like we don't do like it.It doesn't get talked about
enough of all the great coaches that we've worked with and like
that, like it's not always just,oh, coaches are just terrible.

(01:32):
No, there are a lot of great coaches and I feel like we need
to celebrate that a little bit more.
Exactly. And plus, what better way to
start the year with some positivity?
Going into 2025 with some good omens.
Yep. Good vibes vibes only.
So one of the first things that I did ask on our Instagram
stories this week was have you ever worked with an amazing

(01:55):
coach? And 95% of people said yes.
That's awesome. I think that just.
That just goes to show you that it's so much easier to share the
negative stories and like highlight and focus on the times
that like, 'cause you know, you get that shock factor.
Yeah, you know. Well, plus, you know, not saying

(02:17):
Misery, not trying to use that as an example, but it's kind of
true. Misery likes company.
That's exactly. So like everyone can relate to a
venting session. Otherwise it feels like
bragging, like, Oh, my coaches are so great.
Whatever. But honestly, I wonder this all
the time. Like I wonder, you know, how AT

(02:40):
is a lot of of time, like they talk about like one of the
hardest part of the parts of thejob sometimes can be like
working with a difficult coach. Like, I wonder how often like
coaches are around and they're like, oh gosh, like one of the
most difficult parts of a job islike when the ATS are they just
exist. Just being just.

(03:00):
Being 1818, I wonder not becauseI feel like we only get the AT
side, you know, that's. True and I might be biased but I
feel like there's a lot of like other admin stuff that would be
more more of a thorn. I don't know.
We can. We can definitely be a thorn.
We can definitely be a thorn, but I feel like there's like
administratively, I feel like there's other thorns that might

(03:23):
be more bothersome. But again, I do have the biased
view of being an athlete burner so.
That's true. So I did put our first story in
as just a way to kick us off from Erica M.
Do you want to kick this one off?
Yes, Erica says. One of my favorite coach stories
is from when I was working at the college with an athlete who
was dealing with the aftermath of a concussion.

(03:46):
He had successfully rehabbed from his first one, stained
another upon returning to play, and had significantly longer
lasting post concussion symptoms.
That's sad. Poor guy from the athletic
training room. I pulled out all the stops,
connecting with his professors individually on navigating
specific triggers, getting him into a study with Doctor Tina

(04:08):
Shetty. This was in the prime of the NFL
scandal. That was that was a time.
That was a time. Keeping him involved with soccer
as much as possible during the conditioning sessions and
getting a vestibular therapist involved with his rehab.
But nothing could have prepared me to get called up to a meeting
in his coach's office one day where I found the head and

(04:30):
assistant coaches of both our soccer team and our track and
field team together. The coaches had decided that if
I came to the conclusion that he'd be medically unable to
return to soccer, they were prepared to not only continue to
honor his scholarship as planned, but to bring him on the
track team so that he did not lose access to the non monetary

(04:51):
benefits of being part of the student athlete community.
He was one of our faster soccer players to be sure, but not in
comparison to our D1 conference championship track team.
They also told me they wanted tohonor this offer even if I
medically cleared him, but he did not feel comfortable risking
1/3 concussion in light of the NFL reports.

(05:12):
The fact that they stayed so on pace with his rehab and decided
that they wanted to give him other paths forward based on
where he was at that moment was so touching to me, and I love
the fact that they wanted to bring me into the decision
before presenting it to him or the athletic director.
The happy ending is that he wenton to return to play and have a

(05:32):
successful military career aftercollege.
But it's one of my favorite memories of those two coaches
and so on brand with the way they both treated their
athletes. That's awesome, right?
That's really cool. There are so many things about
this story, but the fact that, like, Erica was valued and not
only just they didn't just like tell her that she was valued,

(05:55):
but like showed that and showed that to the athlete as well and
showed the trust that they had in that connection.
There's just so many things thatlike I actually did dive into
this a little bit more and we will in the episode later, like
does it start out this way, working with a coach, or does it
build this way? So we will talk about that.

(06:17):
I talked about building the perfect coach, how coaches show
value for athletic trainers, building that relationship, how
current coaches could communicate better, and then
lastly, what has helped you build a relationship with a
coach? So like, what can a TS do to get

(06:39):
all these positive things that we're going to be talking about?
Nice. So why don't we get started with
building the perfect coach? All right.
This is like jumping. Into the.
Lab dream coach what are you thinking of what what what do
you think of we're? Going to Frankenstein this bad
boy. Yes, bolts and all.
Yeah, bolts. Yeah, Well, the bolts are a
must. I think that's number one.

(07:05):
I think, man, when I think of, I'm trying to think of elements
of the perfect coach. Well, have you worked with a
perfect coach? Absolutely, Absolutely.
What were like your favorite parts about working with?
I think it was really just the fact that we were able to like

(07:25):
have a conversation about a, about like the status of a
student athlete, right? Like it's not arguing.
It's not, it's literally just having a conversation of I can
have a conversation to where I can say, what are your goals?
Like what do you need? Because I can, I have this sense
of trust with that person, right?

(07:48):
So now I can get an idea of where they're coming from, what
they need. Well, here's where we're at.
How can we come to the middle? What's going to work out pretty
well? I think just being able to have
a conversation as opposed to an argument.
If they come to the table looking to converse.
Yes. And looking to make that

(08:08):
connection with you. Absolutely that back and forth.
Yeah, absolutely. And also questions like being
able to like, if you're confusedabout something, I would rather
you just ask me instead of like trying to figure out or just
like not have someone do anything at all because you
didn't necessarily know the limitations, right?

(08:31):
You know, this particular coach that I'm talking about, like he,
he did a really good job of, and, and the staff too, not just
him, like the assistant coach who did a really good job.
Like after I'd give them a recommendation.
They may be doing a drill. They'll stop the drill or like
they'll step off to the side. Hey, can this person do this?
And a lot of times, like I don't, again, I'm not a coach.
I don't like, I didn't play soccer, right?

(08:52):
So like, I don't, I'm not familiar with the structure of
practice as someone who's played.
So sometimes I'd have to say, can I see the drill first,
right? Can I see it, see it act out?
And then if I see it, Oh yeah, it looks great.
Sure, they can probably do this or Nah, Nah, that's probably too
much. Like that was that was really
awesome and it it did help because I was out there, right?

(09:13):
So I was at the practice. So that helped a lot.
But I think it was just that like being able to have a
conversation and then to them just like being a person, right?
Like, yeah, we you know, we talkabout sports and we talk about
like, obviously our jobs, like, you know, who's hurt and stuff
like that. What do we need?
Where we at? But also just being able to say

(09:36):
like, oh, how are you doing? How's life?
How's this? Like that also makes a big
difference. All of those things that you
touch upon are things that people talk about in different
elements of this episode as well.
But the biggest one that we got for building the perfect coach
was active communication. Yeah.
This is like basically like theyare actively seeking out the

(10:01):
athletic trainer to make sure that they know things.
Yes, that is like I think acrossthe board and across every
question I asked, this one came up as well, Jenna J says.
I had a coach for lacrosse last season like this.
I had started later in the season as the previous AT had
moved on. One of the first things my coach
did was sit me down and tell me what players were working

(10:23):
through injuries. I've never been more
appreciative of a coach, ever. This coach continued to
communicate at least once a weekabout what my thoughts were on
injured and returning players. I don't think I or my job had
ever been validated more than that season.
Yeah, yeah. I again, being able to actually
seek you out and like acknowledging that you are
there, right. I and being like kind of along

(10:46):
the lines, like acknowledging that you are also part of the
team, like I think that's that that goes a long way for a lot
of athletic trainers. Right.
That is another one that we'll talk about too.
But I think that what also goes hand in hand with active
communication is our second top answer, which was good
listening. Yeah.

(11:07):
Rebecca R says what makes a relationship top tier.
My coach listened. Low bar I know, but it made it
easier to listen to him and hearhis concerns and compromise or
possibly see where I was being too cautious.
There's such a difference between communicating and
listening, even with your athletes.
Most of the time we know better.But an athlete knows their body
and honestly, sometimes a coach does too.

(11:29):
Or a coach understands the necessities of the drill they
had planned for that day. So instead of just saying out
listening to why they're tellingyou why their plan makes a
difference. I had a woman's lacrosse girl
who swear I swear broke her thumb.
Like stress test everything likethat thing flopped around.
She didn't get an X-ray like I begged her to because tuning

(11:50):
fork was positive, ultrasound was positive, tunnel tap
positive. But after the weekend was over
she walked in and she was fine. Full range of motion, grip
strength normal. I didn't listen to her.
I mean, it's just like any otherrelationship, we just want to be
heard and the reciprocating party wants to be heard.
It's that simple. Being heard makes everyone feel
anyone feel valued, and when youfeel valued, you work harder,

(12:14):
closer and Better Together. Yeah, yeah.
No, very true. This to me, the like the more
and more that I work with coaches, the more I realize
like, yeah, it doesn't really matter that like the type of
person, it's really your relationship with that person.

(12:34):
Because like I have had coaches who I am so close to and they
are absolutely not my favorite coaches to work with
necessarily. Like if I think of like my
favorite coaches like that, likethese people might make the list

(12:59):
and I look at their traits and I'm like, oh, well, actually
they were actually really bad atcommunicating.
They were like they were actually really bad at this.
But you know what, that relationship really kind of I
knew that about those people andeveryone's going to have
strengths and everyone's going to have their weaknesses, right?
But I feel like being able to navigate those with a good solid

(13:21):
relationship and you understanding and showing value
is going to make a big difference.
Yeah, for sure. And I was just kind of thinking
like like the I kind of like that respect and like feeling
heard kind of thing. It just got me thinking about
like trust. And that was the next top

(13:41):
answer. Yeah.
And I was just going to say likethe coaches that I like trust,
like I can like compromise with them more.
I give them more, I can give them more leeway because I know
they're not just going to do something crazy, right?
So I think that that, yeah, that's huge.

(14:02):
Because I was just thinking backlike there were, there were
times like, if it's coach, like I don't trust, it's absolutely
like, no, I I don't want them doing this or this.
Whereas if it's someone you can trust, they could be like, oh,
well, hey, we were kind of thinking about trying this.
OK, cool. Sounds great, you know, because
you know they're not going to gooverboard with what they told
you or just tell you something to make you happy and then all
of a sudden just got a little out of hand, right?

(14:24):
Trust and respect was the next one.
Gen. B says respects my time and
opinion, knows I work with them and not for them.
And I know I brought this up in also the last episode or last
coach episode but I want to stress this.
So like scream this from the rooftops.
Like shout it from a mountaintop.
We work with coaches. We do not work for coaches.

(14:47):
And I think not enough coaches and not enough athletic trainers
kind of put that into perspective and kind of realize
that is the relationship. Like that's where it needs to
start. Yeah.
Because if you have a coach who thinks that you work for them,
then when you're not doing things for them, that's where
there's going to be conflict. Yeah.
And and I think too, I think that that just comes from people

(15:10):
thinking of like professional sports because it's like when
like in football, like in the NFL, right, when like a new head
coach comes into town, people just see, oh, he brings his
staff and he brings all these people over and they just
assume. I mean, in some places it might
be like that where like, oh, theAT staff might be gone after a
new head coach, but not all places, right?

(15:31):
But I think some people still kind of have that mentality that
like like it's a very professional, kind of like, oh,
well, pro sports do. It's probably like it's got to
be like that everywhere. So I think that is where that
probably kind of probably breedsfrom.
If we do everything pro sports do, then how come I don't have
22 people running out to an injury?
Valid that that's that's true. Courtesy, says a coach who

(15:56):
refers to me for return to play decisions even with doctor's
notes saying no like. Questions.
Yes, or just knowing that like we are like this is our
wheelhouse. Yeah, so, you know, they get a
random doctor's note, but who has final say?
Yeah. Or also like what to do with

(16:18):
that? Like just?
Because they're. Cleared to play like, yeah,
they're probably feeling great. That that doesn't necessarily
mean, OK, we're just back to normal.
Right. Yeah.
So it's again, questions not even like, like it's not even
like coming like you don't know,just asking questions for
clarifications, like just getting clarification on what

(16:40):
the note says or what can we do with this person?
Another big one that I that on this one specifically wasn't as
big as I thought it was going tobe, but still.
Or actually our last top answer is includes you as part of the
team. This one from Anonymous says.
The first coach I worked with out of undergrad immediately
made me feel like part of the team.

(17:00):
I had no issues discussing injuries or anything else
relating to the team. They would even tell me I need
to be more assertive with them when discussing different
things. And that is how you know, they
trust you and they respect you because they're saying like,
Hey, listen, like your decisionshave a place here.

(17:21):
So like we can talk about it. So when they're talking about
being more assertive, like the fact that they are able to they
they feel like they're able to talk to this person and give
them that feedback like I would,that's great.
Yeah, for sure. That's awesome.
That's really cool. Some other answers.
Honest and straightforward. Cares about evidence based

(17:43):
information about injuries, rehab, nutrition, training,
etcetera. Who I think that's I think
that's a big one, like and not even like just open minded.
I've been open minded to that. Like times have changed like.
Right. Right.
We're not doing the same things we did in the 70s.
Oh my goodness. And nor should we, right?
Because like even, not even fromlike a medical standpoint, but a
sports performance standpoint, like if you practiced like

(18:09):
everything they did in 70s, right, you're going to get 70s
outcomes, right? Well, we're in 2025, right?
So I think, I think that kind ofopen mindedness and willingness
to kind of like hear things out I think is huge.
Willingness to collaborate. Advocates for a TS, understands
recovery is necessary, stays in their lane, doesn't try to do my

(18:29):
job. Yeah, the, that one, yeah, that
one's a big one. But also the understands
recovery thing, I think, again, I think it's, it's a newer
mindset that your recovery is just as important as your
practice. And, and I understand it from a,
a coaching standpoint that like,there's a, like, it's like

(18:50):
teaching. You have so many ideas, you have
to cover so much material, but you only have X amount of time.
And I think like the really goodcoaches understand that.
Like I understand I can't fit itall and I'm not going to try and
force it. I'm going to try and pick the
important things that we need, you know, and then kind of go
from there because there's nothing worse than from what I'm

(19:12):
seeing, like coaches try to playcatch up.
Like if, like they're behind on something and now all of a
sudden they're doing all these workouts and it's just like, it
doesn't work that way. Right.
Or how well, my favorite is likeany football team that they're
like, oh, they run a quick offense.
So we have to we have to do a bunch of conditioning this week.

(19:35):
And I'm like, you need to do conditioning at least six weeks.
Ago I was, I was going to say, yeah, that ship sailed.
I'm sorry. These, these guys are not going
to be in shape for that game, right?
If anything, they're going to bemore tired now.
Right, this one from Anonymous says understands what they see
us do is the tip of the iceberg and puts effort in to see what
we do outside of practices and games.

(19:55):
Yeah. I really love this one and I
think something. Two that goes along hand in hand
with this on the AT side is I feel like we have to do a better
job of showing everyone in the in the athletics world what

(20:17):
athletic trainers do. And I feel like there's a a
little bit of hesitancy with people getting frustrated that
we have to do so much education.And so I think people are a
little discouraged because they're like, why don't you just
know what I do? Or, or they're like, Oh, you're
in the sports world like you know what I do, right?

(20:39):
But I feel like instead we need to like change our mindset and
be like, this is an opportunity to educate.
This is an opportunity to show you what I do.
People don't know what you do think of like your head coach,
do you know how they recruit? Do you know like how they
delegate that? Do you know how they like plan

(21:00):
out the schedule or what they take into consideration?
Like you don't know all those nitty gritty details.
You just see the outcome of it. So like, if you have someone who
is coming back from injury, talkto your coach and tell them what
you're doing and what you're trying and like what techniques
or like how you're getting them.Like, oh, I spent all day

(21:22):
calling the doctor's offices to try to get them in sooner.
Or like I spent all day on the insurance, like trying to get
this covered. Or, you know, talk to your
coaches and kind of give them more things of what you're doing
rather than just so they're like, you just pull my kids.
Yeah, yeah, that was a great that reminded me of a great

(21:45):
story of for one of my track kids and his track season, a
distance runner had like kind ofhad chest pain and kind of like
shortness of breath. So we're like, OK, like you need

(22:06):
to see a doctor. Like we need to make sure the
heart's fine. And of course this is getting
closer to conference because, well, why not?
And like this kid was had a chance to score, like not score
high, but he it was going to be points.
So of course my distance coach as a head coach are like on edge

(22:27):
whether this kid is going to be good.
And obviously we can't have him run until he's seen by the
doctor because you know, can't mess, you know, can't have the
kids heart stop while he's on the trail.
So, you know, we referred him toa cart.
Our team doc referred him to a cardiologist, which if anyone's
tried to make an appointment with a cardiologist, it's

(22:50):
impossible, right? It takes forever.
Now try telling that to athletics where the appointment
for the cardiologist should havehappened before he even had a
heart issue or symptoms of it, right?
So I remember I tried every day multiple times a day to get this
kid into the cardiologist. And the problem is with like
school insurances, like a lot oftimes, like you don't just have

(23:13):
like an ID number, you don't have a policy number.
So when you're trying to tell a front desk who in a cardiology,
cardiology office are not necessarily like dealing with
student athletes all the time. So they're not familiar with
what the school's insurance. Or sometimes you like submit the
claim and then you have to wait for the number to be generated,
but that's like not the same day.

(23:33):
Yeah. So then they're like, oh, what's
the insurance? And like, oh, you explain to
them what it is and like, OK, what's the policy number?
I'm like, I don't have one. And they're like, Oh no, I can't
do that, right. So anyhow, right, this whole
thing and the coaches, they're not being like they're just like
what's going on with this kid, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And they just kept like they would kind of hound, not hound,

(23:54):
not terribly, but they just keepasking, keep asking.
Finally our head of the trainer was like fed up with it.
And what's funny is the distancecoach, like he understood it.
Like he would just ask and he's like, that was it.
But the head coach would just kind of go on about it and she
finally lost it and just was like, you know what, He's been
doing this, this. You guys should be thankful that
he's like, doing this. Do you know how hard it?

(24:15):
And like the look on the assistant coach for the distance
was like, I think he pooped himself because he was not ready
for that. And the head coach was like, oh,
yeah. So that made me think of that.
So yeah, sometimes it is important not.
No, you have to. You have to show what you do.
Like, I think people just take this for granted and they're

(24:36):
like, I do so much for your team, like why don't you
appreciate me? But it's like they just take it
for granted because you're not necessarily going above and like
you are going above and beyond, but you're not necessarily
telling them like you're going above and beyond.
So how are they going to? They just there are so many

(24:59):
other things that are prioritized.
If you if you're cool as a cucumber and you just kind of
make everything look easy, like they're going to think
everything's easy. I was going to say, you know
what, to our credit then with how many times like that kind of
becomes an issue we just make, we just make everything look
easy. We do.
That's how good we are. So yes, that is that's a good
point. Like we do make everything look
easy, but it yeah, educating them on what this process looks

(25:22):
like, right, That you know what we're doing.
And I think the one thing it that does help is like, I think
like a lot of them do realize, like when you tell them, oh,
you're trying to make this appointment like they're adults,
they've made an appointment for themselves and they kind of know
like, shoot this like seeing a doctor takes forever, right?
So like I think at least again, like the really good ones, I

(25:42):
think would understand that you're like, hey, I'm trying to
make this appointment you. Know, but that's The thing is a
communication. If we communicate on our end,
like, I think it makes it so much easier for everyone.
Yeah, for sure. The next question that I asked
on our stories was has a how hasa coach shown your value?
Top answer by far. Team gear.

(26:02):
Team Honestly. Honestly, team gear is nice.
I do have to say that. Like if you don't get team gear
it does kind of rub you the wrong way.
The first time that I got football gear in like like
female football gear rather thanyeah, that that absolutely.
Like I feel so valued. Yeah, it it is rather than just

(26:25):
like, oh, here's like by the way, like a like still a lot of
my coaches will just will say like, oh, I never order anything
in small. It's like I'm tiny, like sorry
that I am not the size of your athletes, but and I'm not asking
them to like I'm not asking themto order anything specific for
for me. But every time I say that, I'm

(26:45):
like, every time I I hear that, I'm like, oh, so basically.
I'm not getting anything right. I don't care about you enough to
put in just one that is in your size.
It just shows that they're thinking about you exactly.
That's that's and again, that you're a part of the team,
right, Which we're there pretty much as much as the team is.

(27:11):
You know, if you're in a place where you travel, OK, you're
with the team all the time. So it is, yeah, it is nice.
Like team gear is not the like end all be all.
But when you don't get team gear, it does rub you the wrong
way, right, right. It's just kind of like, OK.

(27:31):
Or how about all the there was, there was a basketball like
thank all of our important people, basically.
And they thanked like the strength coach and the admin and
the janitorial staff and like literally everyone, our athletic

(27:56):
director, like they thanked everyone except for us.
That one that see again, that one hurts, especially when it's
like other support staff, right?Then you're like, cool.
Right. Real cool, right?
And you know what? I would like to think it's not
malicious or on purpose, but it does hurt because then you were
the afterthought. Oh yeah, something that I

(28:21):
actually didn't think about, butactually makes me feel very
valued is our next top answer, introducing me to recruits
during tour as a team. Yeah.
Actually, just yesterday one of our football coaches came in, I
don't know where where these arecoming from, but he introduced
me as our football queen. Nice, that was a good title.

(28:43):
Last year one of the coaches came in and they introduced me
as the, what they say, football goddess.
Is that what it was? I.
Can't remember now. It was something like that.
I was like, oh wow, I've been promoted to Goddess, that was.
Pretty funny. I don't know where they come up
with these so they just come in,but.
You have to remember they were athletes, too.

(29:05):
Yeah, you're right at one point.So they still have the athlete
mindset. Right, so Courtesy says that
every parent meeting my footballcoach introduces me as the best
AT he's ever worked with. Wow, that's really cool.
That's an honor. That's really cool.
Yeah, I think, I think I've gotten that from from one of my

(29:26):
favorite coaches. Yeah.
When he'd bring, when you'd bring athletes, if I would get
kind of like that or. Doesn't it just feel good?
Like, here's our guy. Right.
Yeah. And you know what?
Like when it's genuine. Yeah, like for sure.
Another person said they introduced me to prospective
athletes as the boss. That's pretty cool.
That's a good title. Yeah, I think when they come

(29:48):
around and it's it's nice that even like the back and forth
that like when they bring the recruits around, like I have my
little spiel, but then I can also like show that the back and
forth trust that I have with thecoaches.
And I think that's really nice cause and it's nice for the
athletes to see that coming in. I always as part of my spiel, I

(30:11):
kind of go into like this is the, this is the place where you
come take care of business. This is, this is not the place
where you know, you want to stayaway from or stay out of.
I know some a TS kind of have that mentality or some coaches
do, but not the, it's not the culture that we run.
I'm not saying that there's positives and negatives of both,

(30:33):
but just things that have workedfor us, for me.
Yeah, no, for sure. I know I I'd always enjoy those
recruiting trips, but I feel bad'cause I can never remember,
never remember those kids. And like, I'm sure, like if
you're, I'm sure a few that I'vevisited have ended up on the

(30:55):
team and I wish I would have remembered.
I remember when you first came in.
I never remember. I really wish I would.
You know what? One of them actually, I don't
know if I fully remember the story.
So hopefully I hopefully I do soI could tell it.
But I remember 1 kid came in andI had said something like, I

(31:18):
don't remember what I said, but I was like basically like, you
don't even remember who I am. And he was like, yes, I do.
And then he like he was like, you were up there talking about
this, this your name's Sandra and like blah blah, this stuff.
And I was like, oh, you do Remember Me?
Was that from like those preseason?

(31:40):
Meeting or it was from one of the preseason meetings, Yeah.
It's funny 'cause I've gotten that too, like from our like
where I was at before we did this, like huge orientation or
like I think it was a couple days and like kids would go like
room to room 'cause you know, wehad a.
Small. Oh, that's like a big
orientation. Oh, it was, yeah, it was a bit
because like you, you had to do your compliance stuff.
You had to do all this stuff, right?

(32:00):
So we just got it all done in one day, right?
And part of it was, you know, myspiel and like, like, after a
while, just it's rooms of peopleof sports that like weren't my
sports, right? So I'm just giving it to
everybody and like there's people that Remember Me from
that. I'm like, I wish I now I feel
bad. I don't remember you.

(32:21):
Right, right. OK.
Next is involves a TS in team activities like team dinners,
banquets. That's nice.
That is nice. Yeah, just the invite is nice.
Honestly, because. Again, it shows you're a part of
the team. I thought about you.
My last banquet was softball banquet and the coaches, like

(32:45):
literally a couple minutes before they handed me the
microphone, they're like, hey, we're going to hand you the
microphone. And I was like, oh, OK, was not
ready for that. The next one is says thank you.
That's it. That's it.
It does. It really does.
But it has to be a genuine thankyou.

(33:08):
Like I, I feel like when people actually take the time to say
thank you, I feel like most of the time.
Because there's there's some coaches that like after a game,
they'll say thank you, but it's just like it, it feels like a
forced thank you. Oh, I know.
No, I know what you're talking. About you know what I mean?
I think, I think more like when they actually so like I had a
baseball coach who would like after someone came back from

(33:32):
injury, like if they had a like a great play, like he would turn
to, he would literally turn to me, look at me and say that was
because of you. Oh.
That's nice, that's dope. I think, I think the big ones
are like again, like I feel likeyou get it a lot during game
days, which is again, can be genuine.
But the ones that I feel are really genuine are the ones that

(33:54):
also say thank you on a day-to-day, like when they're
like when they when they're leaving for the day and like,
oh, hey, thank you. You don't have to.
You could just say, hey, have a good one.
But you said, hey, thank you, thank you for your help, right.
That feels more genuine than just on a game day.
You're just like, oh, thank you.I kind of like that right there.
Like a thing. A simple thank you does go a

(34:15):
long way, especially if it's. Walk down the hallway, go to
your office, go out of their wayand.
Again, it doesn't have to be everyday, but like it just it
just something that feels genuine that thank you is just
huge, Like it's just like, oh, you're.
Welcome. So this cool one from Kevin, he
says. They gave me a piece of his
National Coach of the Year award.

(34:37):
Oh, that's really cool. That's really dope.
It just shows like the support, like you are a, you are a part
of that. Again.
Yeah. Like couldn't have done it
without you. Exactly and it it's true for
like all the support staff like everybody, right like like just

(34:57):
out take it outside from like the actual sport performance of
like us and strength coaches. But like, even like the
counselors, like your, your compliance officers, like the
people who keep these kids eligible too, like that plays a
huge role because if that if they weren't there, the person
that would have to do that is basically the coach.

(35:18):
Yeah. And like that, like coaches
already have a lot to manage between, you know, making making
sure the kids have certain units, you know, making sure
like organizing a schedule, travel plans, all this stuff.
And that that hasn't even talkedabout.
Go coach your sport. Yeah.
And develop a practice. Plan and this is exactly what

(35:38):
we're talking about with the whole relationship thing.
Like go see what your coaches dooutside of their their, what
they tell you and what you see. For sure, and I think that's the
big thing is like, again, like you said, like that
relationship, like having a conversation with coaches
outside of just like your work stuff like I genuinely like to
know like how they're doing, what's going on, what's their

(36:00):
biggest stress. Like then that's really where
you learn a lot and especially where you really start to
realize that coaching is much more than just coaching.
There is so much admin that the coaches have to do, especially
the head coach has to do that I think kind of gets forgotten.
Oh yeah, the next one seeks out my opinion about injuries,

(36:25):
injury prevention programs, etcetera.
Like even outside of work, this I've seen like my coach, my
coaches have come in and like asked about their own injuries
or like they trust me. They're like, oh, I, I'm not
ready to go to doctor yet. Like I wanna, I wanna hear what
you, you say or like, should I go to a doctor?
Like they trust my opinion for their own body or like they'll
bring me their kids. And like that I'm like, you

(36:46):
trust me with your kid. That is, that is like.
Thank you for showing me that you value my expertise.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Yeah, definitely when they start
asking about their injuries. Yes.
Also always says please CAT after practices and games Yeah,

(37:07):
that's like they're they're liketop down showing like the
athletes hey like. This is important.
I trust them. This is valuable.
You need to go do this. Remember, LeBron spends
$1,000,000 on his body. Yeah, I'm going to start.
I need to start saying that to kids.
Hey, you know LeBron spends $1,000,000 just on his body,

(37:29):
right? Guess what?
You have access to that for free.
Yeah. You don't have to pay it.
You don't have to. Well, you don't have to pay me
anything. You had to pay tuition but.
So Kyung Oh actually shared a couple things.
He says I want to share what I appreciate about the coaches I
work with and how I got better at working with coaches.
One, they treat a TS as part of the team for its success.

(37:51):
I especially feel this when coaches introduced me to new
recruits and parents share practice plans and ask for
advice and ideas for training sessions.
They don't forget to show appreciation once in awhile.
Coaches don't need to say thank you all the time or even at all,
but it's rewarding when they recognize how hard you work for
the student athletes and expressthat verbally.
Building rapport with student athletes is important, but for

(38:12):
me, it takes more effort to build rapport with coaches and
I'm still finding my way to be better.
Things that really helped me were understanding what coaches
do outside of coaching, showing them more respect, and getting
involved with the team regardless of my role.
Working with D3 and D2 college collegiate coaches, I learned
that there are so many things coaches have to do to take care

(38:33):
of outside of coaching or on thecourt or field.
That helped me better understandwhy they do certain things in a
particular way and their concerns, especially with
injuries, recovery time, even just seeing a physician.
It also made me better at communicating with coaches.
However, I still believe that not many coaches do the same
thing for us. I know sometimes we just seem

(38:54):
like we're water boys or water girls.
I hope coaches will open up their minds to understand what
we do outside of those practicesand games to make our athletes
healthier and the team more successful.
Yeah, See, that's exactly what we were talking about.
It is a back and forth. All those things that, like, we
can stand here all day and talk about like, oh, man.
Like it's so frustrating that the coaches don't tell us about

(39:15):
like practice changes or like whatever, but like do a little
bit of self reflection and, and realize like what things could I
be better at communicating that Maybe like you need to kind of
open up that communication channel or like, I don't know

(39:39):
all the things that my coach is doing.
They don't know all the things that I'm doing.
Maybe we need to. Maybe we need to like delve more
into that. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
So moving on and going back to this idea of like these great
work relationships, like how do they start?
I did ask this on our on our Instagram stories and I asked

(40:01):
just the difference, really simple, just.
If it's start from the beginning, like if it's great
from the beginning or if it builds to get better over time
and it was actually almost a 5050 split, 55% said it's
usually great from the beginningand then 45 said it usually
builds to get better over time. So the thing that I really like

(40:22):
about this is like basically like over half, a little bit
over half of people said like it's great.
Like pretty much like if you're,if you have like a great coach,
like they're a great coach, they're a great coach, they're a
great coach, right? The fact that there it was just
a little bit under half that it builds to get better over time
tells me that it's not you just you don't just have to find

(40:45):
these like perfect coaches, right?
Like it's your relationship, It's the back and forth, It's
what you build out of it. So Christina S actually has some
really good insight on this if you want to read this one.
My current boys basketball is really great, understands
injuries, always sends kids to me, gets me Jordan gear, slash
shoes we are sponsored, includesme on group texts, wants me out

(41:10):
of everything. It's just nice.
With my basketball coach, it hasalways been like that.
I also have my boys soccer coachwho is constantly thanking me
and telling me I'm appreciated, which is really nice too.
This coach wasn't the head coachwhen I first started.
We had one heated altercation during COVID times when I tried
to implement COVID rules, but once he became head coach it was

(41:32):
water under the bridge. We had a talk and things have
been great since. I was really nervous once he got
the head coach position because of the argument but my first day
out of practice he wanted to start anew and now we are good
buds. I think it also helped that his
kids go to my school and they love me.
Oh that's funny. Also I feel I wonder how much

(41:54):
like switching to like the head coach role and like now you see
more of the admin and why certain things were implemented
and now you're like I got it. You put on different shoes.
Yeah, 'cause again, like I feel like the assistant coaches have
more of a hand in like the actual like just coaching part.
And depending where you're at, like some assistant coaches

(42:16):
obviously are delegated admin stuff, especially if they're
full time. But if they're like just part
time coaches, they're like they're really just there to
coach kind of. So I feel like, yeah, again,
that just viewpoint is probably different.
See, this is also, I totally forgot to say this earlier.
I was thinking about it, but something that I feel like a lot

(42:37):
of a TS, the like a lot of a TS will do like a day in the life
of an athletic trainer. And then they start with like
filling up waters. It's like, if you don't want to
highlight that we're like, if you want to show that we're more
than like water boys, water girls, like don't show us
filling up waters. Yeah.

(42:58):
Or like, oh, I fill up waters and then I tape the team and
then like I go stand at the gameand then like, done.
It's like, no, we do so much more than that.
And that's the things people see.
You need to like, show all the things that like, you are like,
oh, I need to make a doctor's appointment for this person.
Or like, oh, I'm contacting insurance.

(43:18):
Or, oh, I have to go, you know, upload these documents and, you
know, all the things that peopledon't realize that we do.
Yeah. They're never in those Day in
the Life videos. Yeah, yeah.
For sure. This next one is anonymous they
said. I have a had a lot of coaches

(43:40):
before, but my current head coach and I have a really
amazing bond. I think when coaches don't treat
us as outsiders and welcome our input it helps a lot more on the
coaches end of things. He wasn't the most open of
coaches in the past before me and credits my over
communication, organization and rapport with the team.
The reason for him opening up more.
Oh nice that's cool. So I was talking about just the

(44:01):
back and forth and. Again the change.
Mm Hmm. OK, so we have a couple more
topics. Next one being how could your
current coaches communicate better?
We kind of talked about this in the last episode, so I'm kind of
going to go through this pretty quickly.
Just share the like the some of the top answers we got.

(44:22):
Obviously communication was our top answer.
Communicate any and all schedulechanges.
This one again, like across the board, like across everything
was just a big, I know one of mycoaches actually just like a a
week or two ago forgot to tell me about a schedule change.

(44:43):
Literally like is so good normally about telling me.
And he actually felt so bad thathe brought me iced tea.
So like the next day. So I promise you there, there
are coaches out there and, and like people make mistakes.
So like, I totally didn't fault him 'cause that's not normally
his. Again, it was.

(45:04):
Yeah, it was one time, right? It wasn't the regular.
Right. So even when you get those
perfect coaches, like they are, there's going to be mistakes.
But I think in general, in general, like we do appreciate
that communication. How else can like, I think, oh,
you know what, This is why I asked this, because I I say this

(45:26):
in a lot of episodes, but I feellike we talked about like
communication, like you need to communicate, you need to
communicate. We never talked about like how
to communicate right. One of the easiest things that a
coach can do is just add an AT to a group chat.
I was. Going to say that would actually
solve the top one. Yes, solve that.
Schedule change if is always in a group chat because you're

(45:48):
getting the same thing that the athletes.
Got exactly like here's here's what I what I tell my coaches,
like you tell like the athletes at some point, like every single
person in this room, they all heard about the schedule.
Change. They all know.
So at one point it was communicated.

(46:09):
Well, it's just one more number.Right, this anonymous person
said. The teams that have me in their
group chat get the best care andthe difference is I know their
schedules every single day in and out of season.
Kids and coach Coaches can contact me through the app when
they have questions or need to see me and being omnipresent

(46:29):
makes them used to me and it becomes natural to inform me of
everything. Yeah, I I think that's huge.
It's not like an outside entity.Yeah, like feeling that you're
accessible and like them just seeing you.
It helps a lot. See.
That's exactly what I was talking about.
Like when I used to go out. I mean, I still do now, but like
my, my last school, I used to goa lot like got to baseball
practice, like a lot more. And it, it really was a game

(46:54):
changer in getting the student athletes to come see me because
like they, they would like, theydidn't have to seek me out.
Like I was just available. And so then when I then like
beyond that, I was able to get that buy in and they were able
to come in, but it was just likebridging that gap.

(47:15):
It was like like actually creating that space for them.
More communication tips, responding to emails, texts,
calls in person, however way youcommunicate actually like using
that. I think that's also a big thing
too, is like a TS will be like Isent it in an injury report, but

(47:37):
it's like how many, how many coaches check their emails.
That's true. Right.
So like maybe you need to tailorit and be like, oh, just like
text the important parts or liketext them, Hey, I just sent you
an injury report, right? Or you know, whatever.
Read, actually read the injury reports.

(47:57):
That was another. I think the biggest thing too,
along with the read part is like, please ask questions about
the injury report, right? Like I'm sure there's a
limitation on there. Well, it's so hard to write
things like I would so much, so much rather communicate like in
person or via phone call or liketalking face to face.

(48:21):
Like, sometimes it's so hard to write something in writing
because I feel like it's going to be taken so literally.
I, I, and I think too, like I feel like if you come with
questions about what the limitations are, you'll probably
actually get to do more with that athlete than what you're
probably initially thinking. Because again, I'm not, I'm not

(48:42):
the basketball coach, I'm not the soccer coach.
I don't know all the drills. I don't know what you're doing
that day. So like, I just have to make a
blanket statement about like, hey, here are the things they
cannot do, right? Whereas if you have a question
about like, hey, here's what we're doing, here's what this
drill kind of looks like. Oh yeah, they could probably do
that, right? So now they're not just sitting
there doing almost nothing at practice.
Now they could probably do a little bit more because now I

(49:03):
know what's going on. And again, you brought up a good
question, right? Or even just like if, if there's
something on the injury report, like, hey, this is my initial
thought of what's going on. If we have a conversation about
like, hey, what are your goals? What do you need this person
for? Does that align with what the
athletes kind of feeling? And is it safe to do so that we

(49:26):
could probably work with that? Because I'm trying to go off of
what exactly the team's goal is and what I think, hey, this
would probably do give us the best.
But if that's not aligning with your goals and maybe the
athletes trying to align with the coach's goals too, right?
Again, we could all get on the same page if just a question was
asked. Lastly, for communication

(49:50):
purposes, printed schedules, andthis doesn't just mean like out
of the printer like physical copies, but like here I'll just
read Anonymous says. I have two coaches that schedule
everything out of everything outpractically for the entire year.
One has a Google Calendar that I'm added to and the other does
a calendar of every month. Either I get a hard copy or a

(50:12):
picture of it and I plan according to their schedules.
Luckily my best communicators are football, wrestling, and
boys lacrosse which are my high risk sports so they get practice
coverage and everyone else mightnot since they never tell me
when they're on campus. Yeah, sure.
But here's the thing too, I think you also not, not
anonymous, just in general, likeI think people athletic trainers

(50:32):
have to also realize that some coaches don't think that it's
necessary for an athletic trainer to be on campus or
available during their practice.So they don't feel the need to
communicate. So like you can see where that
communication barrier is. So like finding a way to show

(50:59):
your value so that you so that they know it's important for you
to be on campus rather than you just telling them like you need
to tell me when your practice isso I can be on campus, right?
I think I think it will make things a lot smoother.

(51:21):
Easier said than done, obviously.
Also the schedule, everything out like, like that's an NCAA
thing. Like that's a rule like they
have to the coaches, at least atthe D1 level.
I can't, I can't speak to like if it's also the same role for
D2 or D3, but they actually haveto schedule out the hours of
their practice for the entire semester.

(51:43):
And theoretically they cannot change it unless it's approved
by the compliance. They have to put it in writing
that they are changing the hoursof their practice.
So I feel like it's going to start becoming more common, that
it's going to be asked for coaches more and more to at
least have a general game plan. Here's what our practice is,

(52:07):
right? Obviously, things happen, things
change. Coach might want to add another
recovery day, right? Or like coach is sick or like
something happens that there's going to be a change.
And obviously that's going to happen.
But if you can have like a general idea of here's what our
semester's going to look like, that's going to be huge.
And that's a good start for us to understand what our hours are

(52:27):
going to look like, what each day is going to look like.
So just food for thought. Right.
So shifting perspective, what positive traits have you heard
from coaches that they like about the A TS that they work
with? I think it's if it goes back to

(52:49):
communication. This entire episode, like
literally across the board communication and the thing
about this one that a lot of athletic trainers talked about
was straightforward communication about injuries and
keeping it simple, not overcomplicating it, kind of

(53:09):
just giving them the direct likeno sugar coating.
Tell them. Tell them how it is.
Tell them what they need to know.
I keep it short. Yeah.
Communication, it just in general was also another top
one, but mostly about injuries, injured athletes participating

(53:33):
as much as possible, knowledge of a safe return, slash keeping
athletes from re injury. That's what I, I think the
injured like, keeping people participating.
I, I think, I think that has to be a balance between like,
obviously like a limited like, right, like not just holding
people out, but making sure thatlike if they're having a

(53:53):
restricted, like understanding that a restricted practice means
they can do certain things, but it's not necessarily just like
letting the kids go and just playing through pain.
Like I, I think that's, I think that's really tough for like
some coaches who have like an older school mindset and want
athletes to play through pain. Because on the flip side, you

(54:17):
can see it where when they needed them the most, that's
where the athletes starts breaking down and things start
accumulating. So I think of this a little bit
different, like I see what I seewhere you're going, like
modification definitely. But also like when an athlete is
not participating, like making sure they're not just like
standing on the sideline or justlike not interested, like make

(54:41):
sure they're still being part ofthe, you know.
So like sometimes I'll have my athletes like, Hey, make sure
you go do your rehab like at practice.
So like coach sees that you're like doing something or like
obviously when they're running plays, like go do your mental
reps like go watch. But like for the times that
they're just doing like individual drills or like

(55:02):
something that's like more like technique base that they they
can't do at that moment, like make sure that they are active
or even on the bike or somethingthat keeps them.
Agreed. So like, I think I think that's
the thing that like the athlete can still be doing something and
it doesn't have to necessarily be doing nothing.

(55:24):
But it also like for the coachesthat kind of have that old
school mentality of like, you know, they would, you know,
athletes would have the old mindset of pushing through
things like that's also not that's going to be
counterproductive to what the coach I feel like really wants
of we're trying to get the athlete to perform at their
best. Being there an emergency,

(55:49):
building the relationship as equals, mutual trust and
collaboration. Oh, and then just sorry to go
back to the, I was just thinkingabout going back to like, again,
asking questions, you know, likeat like higher levels, like D1,
right, where you have one team, you're probably out of practice,
right? It's easy for the AT to handle

(56:09):
that situation and like give them things to do that they can
do while the team's practicing and they're maybe an athlete's
not fully able to participate. But like at other levels, like
high school, Community College where you have multiple teams,
multiple athletes where you're not at practice and you can't
like it's really hard to give everyone something to do when
you're not even out there. I think that's where like

(56:31):
coaches asking questions, Well, what can this person do, right?
That's great because it it does.We do kind of like need the
coach to kind of handle the person that's out.
And like, if the coach isn't happy that someone's not doing
anything, well, it's also like they can do stuff.
I don't know what you're going to do.

(56:51):
And again, it goes back to that communication of if you ask,
like if you ask questions about,I can at least give better
guidance on someone who's out, right?
Because theoretically they can probably do something.
Right. So what has helped a TS build
relationships with coaches? That very, very, very top answer

(57:13):
was building rapport outside of work talk, like getting them,
getting to know them as a person.
One of my favorite answers was anonymous, getting to know each
other. A TS shouldn't be grim Reapers.
Yeah, that's. True, I do feel bad just
delivering bad news all the time.
Right, right. I joke about it like it's so
easy to joke about. I'll be like, what?

(57:35):
I was just coming over to say hi.
Learn about what coaches do outside of practices and games
like office hours, recruiting, scheduling, etcetera.
When appropriate, involve coaches and return to play
decisions. For example, like I'll ask my
coach when would be like the most ideal to have someone back.

(57:57):
And then I can like adjust my return to play based on that.
And then I can also give them insight like, hey, I think I
think that's a good goal. Or like I'm gonna, I'm gonna try
for that like, but honestly, like don't expect that, you
know, or I could be like, hey, like if we're not trying for
this, like I'm going to take my time and we're actually going to

(58:20):
be able to to make a lot more headway with this injury if we
have this like later goal or youknow, so it does have an effect
on on what choices you're makingand how much you're pushing them
and how aggressive you're being for sure.
And obviously, like even with the same person with the same
injury or a re injury, it's going to be different based upon

(58:43):
those different factors. So.
For sure. And then lastly, taking
opportunities to educate coacheson injuries there's.
That's why they again questions.Honestly, the biggest thing
about working with amazing coaches is having an amazing
relationship. Yeah, honestly, yeah, just it

(59:05):
it, it makes it a lot easier andlike just having like just some
mutual ground that you can actually just have a
conversation with someone as opposed to like arguing or just
talking to. Because even even like one of my
coaches who I was talking about before, who like was not
necessarily the best, would not necessarily the perfect coach
like to work with on the ATN. Like because of my relationship

(59:29):
with this person, like it made it a lot easier to like call
them out, right? If they were, if they were like,
Hey, like, dude, I'm not at campus yet.
Why are you practicing or like stuff like that?
Because I because that relationship is really what and
obviously you're going to get those people who are, who just
understand it larger than life, like they are, just see coaching

(59:54):
and see the value of athletic trainers and see all these
things that you don't have to like, put in as much, right?
But it's it's not necessarily like that's the only way that
you're going to find a great. Coach for sure, for sure.

(01:00:18):
So if you guys are new, we do lots of different types of
episodes. We do more episodes like this
one where we take stories from athletic trainers about certain
topics and kind of highlight andshare experiences.
We also do CU episodes or Education episodes that Randy
heads. He reads a bunch of articles.
We kind of discuss it back and forth, and we also bring people

(01:00:38):
on for some highlight interviews.
So make sure you check out the rest of our episodes either
through our website, any podcastdirectory that you guys listen
to, you can watch on YouTube. If you guys are interested in
more cus beyond what we offer, we do work with Medbridge.
So you can use code 80 corner for $101.00 off a subscription.

(01:01:00):
It is a reporting year. We can finally say that 2025 is
a reporting year. So make sure you Scroll down the
show notes to check out that. And I think other than that,
we're adding more Cus on to clinically pressed.
So check those out. Thank you so much for our

(01:01:21):
partner clinically pressed and athletic training chat.
And I think that's it. You got anything else?
Nope, that's perfect. Thank you for helping us
showcase athletic training behind the tape.
Bye.

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What Makes a Great Coach from an Athletic Trainer’s Perspective - 197

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}What Makes a Great Coach from an Athletic Trainer’s Perspective - 197