Week 3: Leader/Follower Relationships

In this week of my internship, I looked more in depth about the leader and follower relationships in sports medicine. There are many different branches in the Sports Performance and Well Being team that all come together to help it function efficiently and effectively. The main divisions are Sports Medicine, Strength and Conditioning, Sports Nutrition, and Sports Psychology, each one having its own responsibilities. As the head of the sports medicine department, Chris Jones is in charge of organizing the multidisciplinary athlete-centered approach to the athlete’s sports performance, health care, and well-being. There are eight athletic trainers, all reporting to Chris, who each are responsible for a separate team. A similar set up is followed in the Strength and Conditioning department with a total of four coaches. Along with this the athletes have access to a nutritionist and a sports psychologist. As interns, we also report to Joe Olivadoti and Emily Brode, the head and assistant football athletic trainer.

Overall, Chris Jones provides general directions for all of the members of the staff. However, the individual athletic trainers are mainly self-directed as they create their own treatment programs for the injured athletes that they are accountable for. In my case, the leader/follower relationship I would interact with the most is with my internship supervisor. My work with Sports Medicine mostly consists of following standardized procedures and protocols that have been planned beforehand by my supervisor. During a typical treatment session, I would work with the athletes, following their treatment plan for the day and administering any modalities, such as STEM or GameReady.

Another leader and follower relationship I have had the opportunity to observe is the one between athletes and athletic trainers. The trainers I work with have a close connection to the players on the team because of all the time they spend together. One of the most important components of this dynamic is trust because these players have to trust that their trainers are going to bring them back to full recovery. When injured athletes have strong connections with their trainers, they are able to heal and recover from their injuries a lot better. They become more motivated to work hard and are more cooperative with their rehab exercises. This determination is especially essential for those with long term injuries as it is easy to become frustrated and unmotivated. There are three guys on the team who are recovering from knee surgeries, which is about a 6-to-9-month recovery period. By working consistently with these guys every day and talking to them about more than their injury, they begin to trust us working on them more and are more willing to say when something is hurting, rather than putting on a ‘tough guy’ act.