CATS Symposiums

Symposium Synopsis

Written by John Streif, ATC,
University of Iowa

Prior to the NATA Convention in St. Louis the CATS Annual Symposium was held at the Marriott Pavilion on Tuesday, June 2003, with a good representation of college athletic trainers present. The program was excellent with topics of concern to today’s college/university athletic trainers.

A tremendous presentation was made by Dr. Susan Joy on Kidney Disease in Collegiate Athletes to open the conference followed by a well-publicized case study by Matt Smith, ATC. This complex issue has been well publicized of late and the effects of medications and supplements often are not well known. The presentations also revealed the symptoms, treatment and return is highly variable. The presenters on this very hot topic in our profession made a tremendous presentation.

Chad Starkey, PhD, ATC and Mark Laursen, MS, ATC, confronted another hot topic with the New Education Program and Impact on the Collegiate Athletic Trainer. Mr. Starkey’s emphasis on the education and clinical staff cooperation is of utmost importance in protecting the athlete (NATABOC) and the athletic training student (JRC-AT). The hot topic, of course, is the student athletic trainers’ travel, which is bound by supervision requirements.

Mark Laursen, MS, ATC, made an excellent presentation of Models for the Non-Curriculum Traditional Athletic Training Room Setting. Discussing recommendations and guidelines for appropriate medical coverage for intercollegiate athletics, manpower analysis, and task analysis lead to many models as alternatives. These models were varied ranging from the ATS, work study, GAs etc.

Josephine Lee, MS, ATC and President of CATS presented the results of a comprehensive study on College Athletic Trainers Society 2003 Salary and Benefits Survey, a very informative study that hopefully can benefit many in the athletic training profession on the collegiate level in dealing with their administration.

Jeff Monroe, ATC and Karyn Gentile, MS, LAT, ATC, gave a great presentation on Parents in College Athletic Training and Motherhood and the College Athletic Trainer. With the more then 50 percent of athletic training graduates being female it is important that employers and supervisors consider how to adapt their situations to meeting parenting and motherhood demands. As Karyn stated, ”Believing the goal is to try to achieve balance. It is not about balance but priorities.” These presenters did a great job in showing how they have adapted at their institutions, as we all need to.

To close, John Richardson from Thorp, Reed and Armstrong, LLP gave a presentation on Legal Issues Related to College ATCs in College Athletics. Duty to be informed, inform others, provide safe equipment and environment, and to provide fair and equal coverage affects all of us working in the athletic training profession in the collegiate setting. Download College ATC Legal Issues handout (PDF fomat, 196 KB)

Gatorade, Johnson and Johnson, Pro Orthopedics, Aegis, and PDMA made corporate presentations as sponsors. It was encouraging and refreshing to see the CATS leadership and these corporate supporters emphasize the positive role this organization has for the future comparing it to similar branches like PFATS, PBATS, etc.

Sponsors also hosted a CATS members’ social at the International Bowling Museum Hall of Fame where attendees could take part in free bowling and tour the Bowling Museum and Cardinals Baseball Museum. A buffet dinner and all beverages were provided by Gatorade. This was a wonderful post-event social opportunity and another opportunity for exchange of ideas within the membership. Thanks to all that worked so hard to host and put this excellent symposium on. The entire one-day symposium gave me great encouragement for this organization as a productive, positive impact it can have for all of us in the collegiate setting.

John Streif has been an Athletic Trainer at the University of Iowa since 1972. He is also the Travel Coordinator for Football and Men’s Basketball programs.