Joseph F. Clark, Ph.D.

“OK, I’ll lock up the training room. I suggest you get someone here for when practice ends.” I said. Clint hung up on me before I could say any more. Right then one of the wrestlers came in asking to have his wrist taped. I of course obliged him and told him I had just [...]

We were learning how to relieve back and neck tension by back and neck cracking along with muscle stretching. Because I had a solid anatomy background from dissecting Clare, all the lessons made tons of sense to me. The muscle stretching would focus on loosening the longest and strongest muscles to increase range of motion [...]

 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 [...]

As it grew later and later, I found myself wondering what I was really doing, and what I expected in hooking up with Holly again. I wanted to stay up but was very tired. Jim and I were going to leave tomorrow morning, yet I knew that there was a more in-depth conversation Holly and [...]

The next thing I knew, Holly was standing in front of us with a smile on her face. She and I hugged briefly and she invited us in. With only Jim there, the two of us were able to catch up on each other’s comings and goings over the past few years. Holly worked part [...]

 Chapter 4. Reverse Road Trip The anatomy class was a lot of work and ground on uneventfully after the trip to Holly’s. My mugging adventure was quickly forgotten in all the class work. I concentrated on keeping up with the material and passing the class. I got into a routine of class, lab, study and [...]

Very shortly after leaving Des Moines, one hits the Mississippi River and crosses the river into Nebraska. Omaha is a small but very modern and complete city on the banks of the Missouri River. My destination was Creighton University. Thanks to the maps that came with the registration material, I quickly found both the school [...]

I wanted to take a road trip while in college. It is the college thing to do. So the questions became; where do I go, and with whom? I quickly decided I was going alone, because I wanted to go see Holly. Holly was a former girlfriend who had moved from New York to Omaha, [...]

The RA means resident assistant and they are students who have certain responsibilities in the dorms outside of regular business hours. Some cynical students say that the RAs are responsible for staying sober during the weekend. Nonetheless they are the ones who need to know if there has been an injury in the dorm. I [...]

Because it was a home game, we had a fairly standard procedure for such things; I called the head trainer and briefed him. It was decided that I was taking her to the hospital for x-rays and the emergency physician would call the team physician for orders after the injury had been assessed. Meanwhile the [...]