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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – In honor of March being National Athletic Training Month, we caught up with members of the Lehigh Sports Medicine staff to learn about their interest in the field, why they’re passionate about what they do and more.
(Please note, some of the below photos were taken prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.)
Tim Doane
Director of Sports Medicine
What got you interested in becoming an athletic trainer in this first place? How did you get your start in this field?
TD: Knowing that a career in the NFL was unlikely, I wanted to find a profession that aligned my strength in science and interest in sports. There was no Google in those days, and we did not have an athletic trainer at my high school. So, the answer alluded me for some time, until I saw a description of my dream job in a Springfield College brochure. The dream job described was that of an athletic trainer.
After passing my certification exam and graduating college, I worked as a seasonal intern with the New York Jets. During that experience, I cultivated my organizational skills, developed a strong work ethic, and learned the importance of doing the “little things” – intangible characteristics which I still value today.
Why is Lehigh a special place?
TD: See my answer to the next question.
What is it about athletic training at Lehigh that makes you passionate about what you do?
TD: The work we do is so much more than injury care… it’s about holistic student-athlete development. Each day brings a new and unique opportunity to impact the lives of our student-athletes, and that is really energizing.
What’s one thing that most people don’t know about athletic trainers and the breadth of your responsibilities?
TD: Educated in the domains of (1) prevention, (2) clinical evaluation and diagnosis, (3) immediate care, (4) treatment, rehabilitation and reconditioning, (5) organization and administration, and (6) professional responsibility, athletic trainers are frontline healthcare professionals who provide comprehensive services for physically active individuals. While many work in traditional settings such as college, secondary school and professional sports, athletic trainers also work in hospital, clinical, industrial and military settings.
How would you describe the challenges the pandemic has brought and how your staff, and the Lehigh Athletics community as a whole, have responded?
TD: The COVID-19 pandemic is not like anything we have experienced before. There was no script, no manual, no protocol to which we could refer for direction. Consequently, we had to develop a management plan from scratch based on emerging research and ever-changing guidelines. To accomplish this, we were forced to think different and learn how to achieve the same outcomes in a more creative manner. As physically and mentally exhausting as the past 12 months have been, I continue to be inspired by the collaborative efforts within our department and across campus that otherwise would not have occurred in “normal” times. While the hard work is not done, providing the opportunity for our student-athletes to compete this spring has been very rewarding.
Rachel Kennedy
Associate Director of Sports Medicine
What got you interested in becoming an athletic trainer in this first place? How did you get your start in this field?
RK: I was active in sports all my life and also knew I wanted to work in the medical field. Athletic training is a great mix of working in healthcare while being around competitive and motivated student-athletes. I competed in gymnastics through college and had many injuries along the way. I wanted to help others get better and really enjoyed learning about orthopedics and my injuries.
Why is Lehigh a special place?
RK: Lehigh is a school where you truly find the essence of a student-athlete. They are highly competitive and talented individuals on the field and in the classroom. The athletics department is also a tight-knit and supportive community, and the staff are passionate about their jobs and truly care about the student-athletes.
What is it about athletic training at Lehigh that makes you passionate about what you do?
RK: I love working with people to help them get better. You develop good relationships with the student-athletes when they are injured, and it is very rewarding to help them get back to their sport and watch them be successful.
What’s one thing that most people don’t know about athletic trainers and the breadth of your responsibilities?
RK: Athletic trainers have training in a wide variety of things: orthopedic injuries, treatment and rehabilitation, and concussion management just to name a few. There is a lot of behind the scenes work that most people don’t see every day. Most importantly, athletic trainers are looked at first during emergency management. We are trained in responding to a number of medical emergencies and life-saving situations.
How would you describe the challenges the pandemic has brought and how your staff, and the Lehigh Athletics community as a whole, have responded?
RK: The pandemic has forced us to be creative and find ways for us to help our student-athletes in different ways. We found we were still able to do a lot through virtual rehabilitation and helped student-athletes with home exercise programs when many clinics/therapy places were shut down. The pandemic has also broadened our horizons. The sports medicine staff took a course in contact tracing, so we are able to play a vital role in supporting not only athletics, but the university as well, in assisting with COVID management contact tracing. All the staff in sports medicine played a role in preparing for the 2020-2021 school year by participating in different committees to prepare for the athletics year during the pandemic. This ranged from different medical policies/procedures, to surveillance testing, facility logistics, daily operations, sport travel and many more.
Marco Giuliani
Associate Director of Sports Medicine
What got you interested in becoming an athletic trainer in this first place? How did you get your start in this field?
MG: I was always involved with athletics and wanted to remain with it through my adult life. I took intro to athletic training while in high school and it came very easy to me. Halfway through my undergraduate athletic training program, I knew I wanted to work football, so I geared my experiences towards that and then landed a certified internship at Villanova University following undergrad.
Why is Lehigh a special place?
MG: Lehigh Athletics is a special place because of the people that work here and the family-first philosophy. I’ve been very fortunate to have very close relationships with many of our coworkers.
What is it about athletic training at Lehigh that makes you passionate about what you do?
MG: The ability to make impacts on such a diverse group of student-athletes.
What’s one thing that most people don’t know about athletic trainers and the breadth of your responsibilities?
MG: Athletic trainers facilitate all aspects of health and well-being for not just one student-athlete, but all. In many cases, we also do our best to provide best advice for co-workers and their health and well-being. We have numerous administrative responsibilities that deal with research, analysis of injury trends and statistics, as well as many other duties.
How would you describe the challenges the pandemic has brought and how your staff, and the Lehigh Athletics community as a whole, have responded?
MG: The pandemic has brought endless challenges for the sports medicine staff, but has afforded us an opportunity to become closer as a staff while tackling these challenges. The pandemic created an ever-changing environment that resulted in researching the best-available methods to give the student athletes the best opportunity to participate. We have surpassed that and have been able to get to a point where we have been able to compete, successfully as well.
Catharine Rudio
Assistant Director of Sports Medicine
What got you interested in becoming an athletic trainer in this first place? How did you get your start in this field?
CR: I was a student aid in high school for my athletic trainers while playing field hockey, ski racing and running track and field. I started my collegiate career at Kean University and I was originally on the pre-physical therapy track for my major. While playing field hockey my freshman year, we had a student athletic trainer as our ATC. After talking with him about the program, I immediately scheduled an appointment with the clinical coordinator and switched my major. I have loved athletic training ever since.
Why is Lehigh a special place?
CR: Lehigh is a special place because of the student-athletes, coaches and support staff that make this an enjoyable experience. The student-athletes are highly motivated and intelligent on and off the field, who share the same love for sports.
What is it about athletic training at Lehigh that makes you passionate about what you do?
CR: I am passionate about athletic training at Lehigh because it allows me to directly help students strive to be the best they can be. I enjoy seeing them play the game they love while holding their health, safety and well-being in the highest regard.
What’s one thing that most people don’t know about athletic trainers and the breadth of your responsibilities?
CR: The time and effort we put in. We are usually the first ones in and the last ones out. We are always trying to learn new things for the health, safety and well-being of all student-athletes.
How would you describe the challenges the pandemic has brought and how your staff, and the Lehigh Athletics community as a whole, have responded?
CR: The pandemic has posed a lot of challenges for us, however, we have been able to adapt on the fly and keep everyone safe. I feel we have all done a great job with the ever-changing nature of COVID. Some of the challenges were and still are: fall, winter and spring sports all in season, practice and event-schedule changes, social distancing/face masks, space capacity max, contact tracing, surveillance testing, injury management and prevention, and the changes with new research and literature. All the things we normally do, plus everything COVID. It’s been a constant balancing act, however, these challenges are only going to make us better in the future.
Ryan Lynch
Assistant Director of Sports Medicine
What got you interested in becoming an athletic trainer in this first place? How did you get your start in this field?
RL: I became interested in athletic training after tearing my ACL in high school. I wanted to be able to help others overcome injuries and return to sports the same way my athletic trainers helped me. I got started in athletic training as an undergraduate student at Temple University doing clinical rotations with Temple sport programs.
Why is Lehigh a special place?
RL: Lehigh is a special place because of its reputation of high academic standards and winning tradition.
What is it about athletic training at Lehigh that makes you passionate about what you do?
RL: What makes me most passionate is working with motivated student athletes, who are able to navigate classes, weight training, film study, practice and still find time to come into sports medicine several times a day and really work hard to get better.
What’s one thing that most people don’t know about athletic trainers and the breadth of your responsibilities?
RL: I think the scope of practice athletic trainers have is not well understood by most people, and the amount of different settings athletic trainers can function in. We provide a large number of services ranging from injury prevention to general medical evaluation, to management of catastrophic injuries and everything in between. A mentor of mine used to say, “no task too small.” That has always stuck with me and I think is fitting for what we do.
How would you describe the challenges the pandemic has brought and how your staff, and the Lehigh Athletics community as a whole, have responded?
RL: The pandemic has brought on countless challenges, but I believe we have responded well to get to the position we are currently in. It has been and will continue to be a challenge, but we will all continue to work to make sure the student-athletes have the opportunity to continue competing and winning this spring.
Danielle Scanlon
Assistant Director of Sports Medicine
What got you interested in becoming an athletic trainer in this first place? How did you get your start in this field?
DS: I always knew I wanted to have a career in sports. My dad and brothers were all coaches. I ended up tearing my ACL and the physical therapist I worked with was also a certified athletic trainer. I started picking his brain about athletic training, what it was like working at the college level, and what type of schooling/degree I would need. I went on to receive my athletic training degree from the University of Connecticut and through alumni connections learned about James Madison University, where I completed my graduate assistantship with the football and golf programs.
Why is Lehigh a special place?
DS: The athletics department takes the time and puts great emphasis on developing student-athletes to be leaders on the field, on campus, and into their future endeavors. To be able to be a part of something like that is special.
What is it about athletic training at Lehigh that makes you passionate about what you do?
DS: The student-athletes at Lehigh chose to be here, to be challenged athletically and academically. To be able to work with such hardworking and driven individuals on a daily basis makes my job that much more rewarding.
What’s one thing that most people don’t know about athletic trainers and the breadth of your responsibilities?
DS: We (athletic trainers) are one of the only medical professions to see a student-athlete’s injury through its entirety. We are there to see it happen on the field, handle acute/emergency management, design and implement the rehabilitation process (pre/post surgery) and eventually see them back on the field again fully recovered.
How would you describe the challenges the pandemic has brought and how your staff, and the Lehigh Athletics community as a whole, have responded?
DS: As an athletic trainer, you’re always taught to anticipate, adapt and respond to a multitude of situations that could arise. A pandemic was never thought to be one of those situations. The pandemic has challenged our staff, and the athletics community, to think differently of how we can achieve our goals. We responded in creative ways that allow our student-athletes the ability to compete, while also keeping their health and safety as our top priority.
Robbie Williamson
Assistant Director of Sports Medicine
What got you interested in becoming an athletic trainer in this first place? How did you get your start in this field?
RW: I have been involved in athletics my entire life starting when I was a kid. I learned of the profession when I was in high school and thought “what better way to stay involved in athletics when I was done playing.” I have always loved the sport performance side of things and everything that goes into being able to perform on the field at the highest level. Being part of a team and helping athletes achieve their goals is why I do what I do.
Why is Lehigh a special place?
RW: Lehigh stuck out to me because of how much it stresses the individual development of its student-athletes. There is a specific department just for that. It has been fun to watch the student-athletes I specifically work with grow in this aspect throughout their years at Lehigh.
What is it about athletic training at Lehigh that makes you passionate about what you do?
RW: I love the family atmosphere at Lehigh. I recognized this even on my interview and knew this was the place I wanted to continue my career. The athletics family is fun to work in and I have built so many great relationships since I have been here.
What’s one thing that most people don’t know about athletic trainers and the breadth of your responsibilities?
RW: I don’t think people know how much we do behind the scenes of just pre-practice preparation and post-practice/game treatment. We are working on rehab plans daily as well as practice plans and modifications for student-athletes. There is a lot that goes into getting one student-athlete ready for a game that week.
How would you describe the challenges the pandemic has brought and how your staff, and the Lehigh Athletics community as a whole, have responded?
RW: The biggest challenge has been creating a safe environment in the athletic training room, on the practice field and during gameday. Our sports medicine staff, as well as the entire athletics department, has done a great job coming up with and instituting guidelines and protocols to ensure all environments we exist in within athletics are safe. This is most evident in the fact that we have been able to get back to competing in games this past winter and now spring semesters.
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