For National Athletic Training Month in 2022 we are exploring the theme “Providing Health Care Everywhere” and we can’t think of a better way to do that than to showcase some of our own outstanding athletic trainers. We’ll spend the month sharing with you the inside scoop from athletic trainers who are working in emerging settings and unique positions. So read on and enjoy!
Josh Hoffman, MEd, LAT, ATC
Where did you go to school? Buena Vista University, Storm Lake IA (Bachelor's) and Valdosta State University, Valdosta GA (Master's)
Current AT Setting: High School/Performance Center
Employer: Atlanta Rehabilitation and Performance Center
Years at current job: New hire (2 Months)
My athletes:
I have two separate assignments for my position. The first half of my position includes providing Athletic Training to multiple high schools in the Metro Atlanta area including; Grayson, Parkview, Loganville and Loganville Chrisitan Academy to name a few. I take my skills and assets to these schools when the Athletic Trainers at those schools need more assistance to make sure their athletes are receiving the highest level of care possible.
The second half of my position is working at one of our Performance Centers. My title at the Performance Center is “Performance Athletic Trainer”. As of right now, I am the only Athletic Trainer in this position with the company and we are actively working to further develop the position. At the Performance Center, I work with our Director of Performance and Physical Therapist Travis Core and our Strength and Conditioning/Performance Coach Rob Hall. We collaborate and provide the most up to date and evidence based physical therapy techniques for a variety of patients ranging from middle school students to professional athletes. The athletes that we work with may have minor acute injuries or come to us directly post operation. A majority of our rehabs are post op ACLs but we see everything our physicians send our way. Some of our patients come to us when they have “graduated” from the normal PT clinic and begin more plyometric and sport specific exercises. We also provide an ACL prevention program that athletes can sign up for. This program focuses on proper landing mechanics, improving strength, power and flexibility to improve overall performance and decrease the risk of injury.
My schedule: At the high school, a practice day normally is 1:30pm to 6:30pm. On game days (most days) it will start at the same time but may end at 11:30pm. While at the Performance Center, I am there Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:00am to 6:30pm. Hopefully in the near future, I will be there more often as we open more Performance Centers.
Facility/ATR: Since I have multiple Athletic Training Rooms, I get the luxury of seeing multiple! In general, there are 1 to 4 treatment tables, a sink, ice machine and storage closet with coolers and tape. The Performance Center on the other hand looks like a warehouse that is half full of squat racks with a large portion of turf and two batting cages. The other half of the building is our rehab area where we have 5 treatment tables and a large open space for exercises to be done.
What I like most: I really enjoy traveling to different schools and helping our other Athletic Trainers. I also really like working with the patients at the Performance Center that are able to partake in more complicated movements and rehabs than normally seen in the average PT clinic.
Advice to ATs wanting to work in this setting: Be flexible. I am only a few months in but I already knew that I would have to be flexible. Different schools' schedules change up on the fly and you have to adapt. Second, be a sponge. I have some very intelligent people that I work with and I really enjoy learning from them and their philosophies behind the way that we do rehab. Every day is an opportunity to get better.
