Have you ever wondered what it takes to become an Athletic Trainer? We sat down with Bekah Hibbert, one of the latest additions to Spooner Physical Therapy as the Director of Sports Medicine. Bekah recently moved from Louisville, Kentucky, where she previously served as the Coordinator of Sports Medicine for Norton Healthcare. We talked about her journey so far as an Athletic Trainer and what steps she has taken to get to where she is today. She hit the ground running after she arrived in the Valley, and we are thrilled to welcome her to the Spooner family!
What made you want to pursue a career as an Athletic Trainer?
The simple answer to that is that I was injured a lot as an athlete. I actually ended up having 6 knee surgeries between the ages of 13 and 20. I played soccer through my freshman year of college, but decided to stop after my third ACL surgery. So, for me, it was realizing that I probably wasn’t going to be able to pursue soccer the way I wanted to but I wanted to figure out how I could still stay in athletics and how I could help take care of people. There were always a ton of people helping to keep me motivated and keep me in sports. I just happened to latch on to the Athletic Training aspect.
What was your education experience like?
I received my Bachelors in Athletic Training from Franklin College in Indiana. After that, I sat for my Athletic Training exam (BOC exam) to become a licensed Athletic Trainer. I then went on to earn my Masters at the University of South Carolina and was a Graduate Assistant with the military. The University of South Carolina was the only school in the country that offered a Graduate Assistant position with the military. I was really excited about the opportunity to get to work in a setting outside of athletics. The Marines have had Athletics Trainers for a while, but it was a little newer for the Army at that time in 2009 at Fort Jackson. We had one Athletic Trainer to every battalion, which is around 900 to 1,200 soldiers. It was so interesting to go away from what we normally think of as athletics and work for two years for the Army. I would say the experience at Fort Jackson was my big push to earn my Masters and be a Graduate Assistant.
What is something you wish you had known before becoming an Athletic Trainer?
Something I wish I had known is that I would spend my whole career advocating for the profession. There is a lot of misunderstanding as to what exactly Athletic Trainers do and the education level that we have. One of my professors warned me, but I don’t think I was fully prepared with how often I would be explaining what Athletic Trainers do and advocating for the profession in general. Advocating for pay is definitely a huge issue. Another thing would be having to explain the difference between a Personal Trainer and an Athletic Trainer. If someone has never worked with an Athletic Trainer, they usually assume it is a Personal Trainer.
What is the hardest part about being an Athletic Trainer? What is the best part about being an Athletic Trainer?
The most difficult part typically in most settings is the hours and the pay. If you talk about a high school Athletic Trainer or a college Athletic Trainer, you are working day in and day out. The hours can get crazy and they are not normal hours. I mean, who has normal hours? A lot of afternoon to late evenings and weekends. The pay is almost never reflecting the time spent which can be very frustrating. It’s easy to burnout if you’re not careful.
The best thing is all the amazing people you get to work and collaborate with because you are in constant communication with athletes, coaches, physicians, PTs, sports performance coaches, and everyone on the sports medicine team. It really helps you learn and understand the team as a whole, respect each individual’s role, and best serve the athlete before, during, and after an injury.
What attributes make a great Athletic Trainer?
You have to be personable because you work with so many different types of people. You have to be good at time management. A lot of things change on you last minute. Find the extra time to get paperwork done or work on your rehabilitation programs. A great sense of humor is always a plus too. Working in athletics is tiring and a good sense of humor is helpful. The athletes love that as well. You have to be assertive. There will be times where you have to be able to tell a coach in the heat of the moment that an athlete can’t continue to play and you have to be able to stand firm in your medical decisions. The one other thing I would say is that you have to be able to get over conflict quickly. You’ll find that most people in who do well operate this way so you definitely need to be able to move on from conflict quickly.
What is a piece of advice you would give to aspiring Athletic Trainers and students?
If they are already an Athletic Trainer, the advice I give them is that they have to advocate for themselves. They have to understand that there are a lot of misconceptions about what we do and what the Athletic Training profession is. They need to never be afraid to advocate for themselves within their job and within their company.
For individuals that are not already Athletic Trainers, I really make sure to emphasize getting internships and clinic hours that can help you understand the profession. There are so many different settings that you can be in. You don’t have to just be in athletics. You can do industrial, military, or the education side. It’s important to have good clinic experience if they are a student.
What are you doing now to further your education and/or professional development?
I have been learning so much since starting this new position as Director of Sports Medicine. I was on the physician side in Louisville with a hospital system. Now being with Spooner, I’m learning a lot about the therapy side that maybe I didn’t previously fully understand. I’m learning a ton from the strength and conditioning coaches here at Fischer (Chip and Charleston), especially through the FIT course that they are doing.
Who has played the biggest influence in your career thus far?
The two that probably have most influenced me being in this position would be Dr. Ryan Krupp and my sister. Dr. Krupp was the first person who noticed that my skills as the head Athletic Trainer at a college could transfer to an administrative role. So, he really pushed for the hospital system that I used to work at to hire me. He understood what an Athletic Trainer does and he knew that maybe the things I didn’t know from an administrative side I could figure out, but that there were a lot of things I did know that would bring things to that job that other people wouldn’t have been able to without the experiences of an Athletic Trainer. If he hadn’t taken that chance on me about six years ago, I probably wouldn’t be here in this position as the Director of Sports Medicine for Spooner.
My sister. She’s an executive in a market research consulting firm. She has really helped me understand the business aspect of things. Many Athletic Trainers haven’t learned a lot about how businesses work, the ins and the outs, so she has given me a lot of great advice that has also helped me get to this point, especially with advocating for myself and knowing my worth. I should probably put my husband on the list of influential people as well. He is very supportive and made a huge move to be here in Arizona and start a new adventure.
Where do you see the world of sports medicine in the next 5 years?
In sports medicine in general, I think you’re going to continue to see the emphasis on the whole athlete with a mind, body, soul focus. I think COVID-19 has only exasperated a problem that was already a big issue with mental health. Treating an athlete is not just about the physical body – it’s about their mental health and spiritual health too. You’re really going to start seeing more sports psychologists on campuses, more nutritionists, and a greater push to really take care of the whole athlete.
As far as the profession of Athletic Training goes, I think people are going to continue to see all of the skills that we have. I think that will start opening up settings where people haven’t always thought of Athletic Trainers being in. They’ll start to see more and more of the skills that we have and maybe put us places we haven’t been before.
Why sports medicine?
Part of why I love sports medicine and part of why I wanted to come to Spooner is that I understand how important the team is when it comes to sports medicine. My goal here is to build on the team we already have and expand that to Athletic Trainers and the community. To have relationships with them and to other strength coaches and sport coaches. To really build a sports medicine team that shows the athlete that when they come to us, we want to take care of them and we want to take care of the whole athlete. We’re also going to be making sure that everyone on their team is communicated with and everyone that wants to know what is going on knows so that they can get the best care possible.
Spooner Physical Therapy is your sports medicine destination. Ready to learn more? Visit us here.