Sports Medicine at UMD Kira Zarzuela

College Park Scholars – Science & Global Change Program Kinesiology

kzarz@umd.edu College Park Scholars Academic Showcase, May 4, 2018

Introduction For my practicum project I was a Sports Medicine intern for the Maryland Athletic Department. For my internship I was assigned to the Varsity Team House and worked with the Athletic Trainers, and occasionally other members of the Sports Medicine team, to provide the appropriate care and resources for the student athletes of the University.

Acknowledgments I would like to that Shanteisha Pruitt for allowing me to become an intern within the Sports Medicine system at the University of Maryland and for being an amazing mentor within the program up until now. I would also like to thank the other Athletic Trainers in the Varsity Team House, Anthony, Caragh, Ryan, and Tyler, for being great mentors and showing me what it’s like to genuinely love your career.

I would like to give the biggest thank you to Dr. Holtz and Dr. Merck for being fantastic professors for the past two years and never failing to show their genuine passion for what they do.

Discussion This internship allowed me to get a better understanding of what a career within the field of sports medicine is like and while my end goal is not specifically to be an Athletic Trainer, it did reaffirm that sports medicine is definitely the career path that I want to go down.

Site Information Varsity Team House – Athletic Training

4117 Stadium Drive

College Park, MD

Shanteisha Pruitt, MA, ATC

The Varsity Team House provides professional, first-class leadership and counseling necessary to prevent, manage, and rehabilitate the student athletes that represent the University. Issues Confronting Site

At the Varsity Team House, the Athletic Trainers work with the Baseball, Men’s Lacrosse, Men’s and Women’s Soccer, Women’s Tennis, and Cross Country/Track and Field teams to prevent, manage, and rehabilitate the student athletes during both in- and off-season.

Activities •  Assisted with rehabilitation of athletes suffering

from an injury or post-operation

•  Assisted with primary evaluation of athletes with acute injuries

•  Sat in on and assisted with doctor’s appointments with student athletes and the Athletic Trainers

•  Maintained the cleanliness and organization of the athletic training room

•  Use modalities such as Electrical Stimulation, GameReady, and Normatec for rehabilitation purposes

•  Participate in Learning Labs coordinated by the Sports Medicine department to further expand knowledge on the methods used in rehabilitation and the reasoning behind them

Impact During my time at the Varsity Team House, I worked primarily with the Athletic Trainers. My contribution as an intern allowed for the Athletic Trainers to give their athletes more individualized attention. While I took care of tasks such as setting up the athlete with E-Stim or assisting the athlete with rehabilitation exercises, the Athletic Trainer was able to ask in-depth questions to get an idea of the effectiveness of the rehabilitation program, progress of the healing of the injury, and give corrections to the exercises that would allow the athlete to recover more efficiently when appropriate.

Future Work The Athletic Trainers at the Varsity Team House will continue to provide the appropriate care to prevent, manage, and rehabilitate the student athletes and with the completion of Cole Fieldhouse will be able to expand their capabilities and resources to further help the athletes.

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Overview of the Athletic Training Room in the Varsity Team House

Group picture of all the interns and sports medicine staff involved in the internship program

Practice on Capital One Field!

An intern’s view of a men’s soccer game during the Big Ten Tournament