I interviewed Jessica Martinez, assistant professor in the Master of Science and athletic training program at ODU. She has a PhD in kinesiology and a master’s degree in athletic training.

She was inspired to become an athletic trainer when she got hurt and had to go to physical therapy. She wanted to make a change in the world, so she became a teacher to teach athletic training. Her favorite thing about her job is that moment when a student gets the idea or when they get something right. The most challenging aspect of her career was imposter syndrome. No matter how smart, awesome, talented you are, you think you don’t fit in, or you’re never good enough. She was able to fight through it and came out better then she imagined. One of her toughest situations that she has been in is having to watch a student athletes’ athletic career disappear due to an injury. To become an athletic trainer, it is recommended to major is Exercise Science because it has all of the prerequisites for the Athletic Training graduate program. You then have to pass the CATE accredited program to become a licensed Athletic Trainer.

Reflection

From interviewing Jessica Martinez, I gained a different prospective on athletic training. I know in high school when I was in the sports medicine program, I always thought “Oh wow, this is great. I am happy doing this”. When I heard Jessica’s side, I suddenly realized it’s not all fun and games. I say this because from her perspective, she has been in the situation of seeing someone not being able to play sports again from and injury. The amount of professionalism, emotional, and mental support you must have to get through the situation is a lot. Especially if it one of your students, you can’t be so personal with them because you’re on duty and I know it must hurt you to see them go through that.

I this interview I learned a few things about myself. One thing I need to work on is relaxing. During the interview I was tense. I need to learn that everything is alright and relax a little bit. Another thing is knowing how to make more conversation than the questions that are given. During the interview I said OK and yea a lot. I don’t think I made any connection during the time spent because of this. I also need to learn how to start and end the interview, because how I did it could’ve been better.

              I am going to take this information and use it throughout the next 4 years of college. She mentioned a lot of organizations that I’m going to investigate to get me closer to my career goal. I’m also going to take in the fact that she teaches athletic training and investigate a way to take classes in college to teach athletic training as well. For the past year I’ve been thinking of becoming an AT for a high school and I think it would be really cool if I taught a sports medicine class, too.

Recorded Interview

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f5523mwYWUfS4nd3K63q-hbCjLYt0ZLC/view?usp=drive_link