I studied for and passed the Certification exam for the National Athletic Trainers’ Association and became a certified athletic trainer the summer before starting graduate school at Michigan State University. I left for Michigan State to join the training staff who were going to work with the football players at the start of camp for the Michigan State University football team.

When I arrived at Michigan State University I got a roommate named Tim Roe. Tim was from Montana and was starting in the athletic training program as a graduate assistant. He was tall, well built and an affable guy. I could tell we would get along great. When he was unpacking his stuff I noticed his winter gear. I knew that Michigan was going to be a cold place to live, but based on the gear Tim had packed it looked like he was ready for life in the arctic. He had a full-length parka with water resistant outer shell, a thick lamb’s wool-lined fleece and heavy hood. He also had rubber boots that looked like moon boots on steroids. They felt about ten pounds each, well worn, and with big treads. I had boots and what I considered winter coats that Tim commented looked more like spring wear. Well I guess if I needed to buy warmer clothes I was in the right place, but it made me wonder how severe the winters would be.

Tim said that Lansing, Michigan, was on the same latitude as his parents’ place back home in Montana and that they regularly got two-foot snows in one night and dozens of feet of snow each year. All their cars had winter packs in the trunk, including a “trouble shovel” to help dig you out of trouble. I had a first aid kit in my trunk. Well, I guess I needed to adapt to my environment and it looked like that would be a cold one.

Later that day I also noticed that several of the cars in the parking lot of the apartment complex had extension cords coming from the front grill. I instantly realized that these were for heaters to heat the engine block to help start the car on below-zero degree mornings. While the weather was warm those first few weeks in August in Michigan, I started to notice all the snow preparations in the community. In town, the restaurants and buildings had grilles in front of their doors to trap falling snow from the shoes of patrons. All the fire hydrants and road signs had bars sticking up from them to show snowplow drivers their location – under the impending snow. There were many little reminders around that shouted to me that this was a region used to experiencing a lot of cold and snow.

The training staff arrived several days before the players and we had to get briefed and familiar with the process before the players arrived. I was accustomed to the training system and football camp at Susquehanna University, but Michigan State University was a big ten team and their system was enormous. They had twice as many players try out for the team than they could field and a huge coaching staff including trainee coaches. I also learned when I arrived, that I was the only certified GA in the program, the only GA who was an EMT and the only GA who was not from an athletic training undergraduate program. There was a lot to learn because people were going to be depending upon me as if I knew something when I really felt more like a wide-eyed kid seeing the big city lights for the first time.

All the new guys also had to learn and perform the Michigan State University fight song at a dinner. This indoctrination was initiated by a senior member of staff announcing whose turn it was to stand on the dinner table, avoiding dishes, and sing the fight song, solo and a cappella. I memorized it, sang it, and did not sing it well, but my first test at Michigan State University was technically an oral exam and I passed.

We new athletic trainers were all issued our Michigan State University greens. The recommended attire for the sports med staff was green and white—shorts, shirts, socks, hats, jackets, sweats—everything was green and/or white. We were also all evaluated on common procedures like fitting helmets and mouth guards, taping ankles and general first aid. I could tape an ankle as well as any of the other jock stappers and some people were impressed that I could tape an ankle and without ever letting go of the tape. Many people would put the tape down to do certain steps. I, however, never let go of the tape. I got in that habit while working on the ambulance because if you put tape down in a moving ambulance it would roll away. So you pick it up, use it, and don’t put it down until you put it away. At Michigan State University we would have taping contests for fast ankle taping. I rarely engaged in those, but could match the speed of most of the other staff members, and that was largely because I kept hold of the tape all the time.

Many people wonder why taping ankles is so prevalent in the Athletic Training community. The reason is simple. The two weakest joints of the human body are the knees and ankles. Not only are these joints among our weakest, but the motions of most competitive contact sports put them under greater stress than ordinary walking or running would. The ankle is actually more complicated than the knee because it has more bones, tendons and ligaments than the knee, so it is a joint that suffers wear and tear injuries in essentially all sports. Taping the ankle provides a little support for the tendons and ligaments and security for the bones. The result is that the athlete feels more stable on his or her feet and the risk of a twisted ankle is lessened.

Athletic trainers spend a lot of time with the athletes before and after practice. We will monitor the game and some of the practices, but generally during practice we do maintenance and upkeep duties in the training room. This includes thoroughly cleaning surfaces such as training tables prone to harboring bacteria, and stocking supplies. One day there were a group of us doing this type of routine stuff and I noticed one woman was sharpening scissors. I had learned to sharpen knives at the deli and she was sharpening them just like a knife by running the sharpening steel on both sides of the scissors. A simple understanding of physics says that scissors cut with a shearing action—the two edges of the scissors force the surfaces of the material apart; where a knife cuts by slicing through the material. Scissors need two square surfaces to match up along each other. What she was doing was actually making the scissors duller. I tried to explain what she was doing wrong. She advised me that she sharpened knives and scissors like this all the time. Based on the tone of her voice, I knew I was not going to pursue the issue. I simply resolved to bring my own scissors and sharpen them myself.

We also met the team physicians. I talked to them and Clint about research opportunities and it appeared that several of the physicians had active research programs. I also received instruction in how to deal with acute injuries that required medical attention. All the teams and trainers carried first aid kits designed to manage sports injuries and the phone numbers of physicians, campus security, and the ambulance. Relatively common medical emergencies that athletic trainers come across are heat exhaustion, heat prostration or heatstroke. True heatstroke is a medical emergency that can quickly kill a young, healthy adult. In the USA one or two athletes die from heatstroke annually. Typically it is an out of shape football player in full gear training in the summer, doing two or three practices in one day.

Heatstroke occurs when the human body is no longer able to cool itself. A person who has sweated all they can and stops sweating cannot maintain the body at 98.7 °F. The body temperature starts to rise and the brain cannot work too well, so the person gets uncoordinated and confused. Unfortunately this confusion may make the person not realize how sick they have become. If a person’s body temperature reaches 107 degrees, brain damage can start and can be fatal. Trainers are taught to watch for players who are not drinking enough water, who may look dry from not sweating or who are stumbling unnecessarily. If spotted early, just rest and water can prevent any further difficulties. However, if a person goes down because of heatstroke the treatment is easy – if witnessed or found early, but it must be given quickly. The treatment is the three S’s—Strip, Sip and Spray. Strip the person to their underwear, spray them with a hose using cool water and let them sip water, but not too much. Generally this was a two or three-person job: one person to strip the athlete, one person to start dowsing with water and another to call for help. Sipping would be done as long as the athlete was conscious and coherent. Usually both the athlete and trainer were getting soaked with the hose during this episode and if the equipment was not coming off easily we were to cut off jerseys, pads or anything that could slow the cooling process.

So the sick joke that was always added to the Strip, Sip and Spray treatment was to ask the question, “What do you do if the three S’s don’t work?” Pray. So you strip, sip, spray and pray because the next step is to begin CPR. All the training staff was trained in CPR and Clint told the group that he had once had to give CPR. He recounted the story of a fan at a sports event who had a heart attack near the field and Clint did CPR as someone else did mouth-to-mouth before the ambulance came. He went on to say that the person died and he felt bad because he broke the guy’s ribs and was originally concerned that the CPR was not done correctly. I chuckled to myself because I knew that CPR almost always breaks ribs. Clint went on to say that he was assured that the broken ribs did not kill the victim, but emphasized that all the staff was required to stay current with their CPR training.