Hey, this is Sandy. And Randy?
And we're here on at Corner. Being an Athi trainer comes with
ups and downs, and we're here to showcase it all.
Join us as we share our world in sports medicine.
Welcome back to another episode of AT Corner.
For this week's episode, we will be celebrating Valentine's Day
with some stories. So we've done this episode a
couple of times before. It's been a while, but we're
taking a little different Ave. this time.
We are still talking about love. We're still talking about dating
in the woes of being an athletic trainer.
But beyond love, we're also talking about support systems,
very important people in our life, maintaining relationships
while being in an athletic trainer and got to put in some
love stories. Of course, the loved ones of a
TS. Including our love story.
Loved ones of a TS is not not an easy task.
No, I definitely. Actually, the first thing I I
did ask on our Instagram stories to put together these stories
for this week was how tough is dating in the profession of
athletic training? Yes.
And I I assume you know what the answer is going to be, so I did
a slider. The one side was easy peasy and
the other side was near impossible.
Is there a category past the near impossible?
Or so most people put the slider.
I mean the average answer. The average answer was actually
3/4 of the way towards near. Impossible.
Yeah, I just say that sounds power.
Yeah, I feel like we can all disagree on that.
Yeah, for sure it it definitely can be because of the schedule
and like just the nature of the job makes it tough.
We did we I actually did go into that, but I also asked this with
your non romantic relationships like your friends, how hard is
it to maintain a friendship while being an athletic trainer?
I. Was going to say my question
would be how many of your friends are also a TS?
That's a that's a good question, although I feel like is that
harder because is it harder to get more people together with
crazy schedules? But I feel like you, I feel like
you understand the schedule, so you're more willing to go with
the craziness. OK, see that those are all good
points. So.
So it seemed to be the general consensus that everyone who
answered thought that it was not as impossible as dating, but
still closer to the near impossible.
Yeah, I can see that. More maybe a lot lot like toward
that 5560% towards near impossible.
OK, so these VI PS these very important people.
So who are these people? Most people answered their
friends and their parents, surprisingly.
OK, like it. I'm sure being a parent of an
athletic trainer is interesting. I feel like they're at a certain
level, there's probably just acceptance that their schedule's
impossible and they're not going to be at a holiday function and.
Yeah, yeah. Or they're always gone.
I feel like there's a. Lot of yeah, because we do work
a lot of holidays. Yeah, I feel like there's a lot
of acceptance, right? So I could see that.
I think it also depends, like if you work like in sports, for
example, and if you work on like Thanksgiving, yeah, if you come
from a sports family, they can be like, oh, I understand.
If you don't come from a sports family, they're probably going
to be like, why are you working on Thanksgiving?
That's illegal. OK, who else do you think are
people said are there very important people in their life
who they show love to? I was surprised that was
actually the next. So friends, parents and then Co
workers. Again, I think it's.
Like this is outside of of your partner.
Yeah, I think it's again just like you're if anything you're
always around that person anyways or like work closely
together. So it's like you have the chance
for built in friendship now if you don't like each other.
I mean a little bit different, but I feel like your Co workers
actually know so much about your day-to-day life.
I feel like you give so much of your exactly 'cause you see them
all the time. So even someone who you're
really close to that you don't necessarily catch up with all
the time. They're they're not getting
those minute details that your Co workers are getting every
single day. You know what I mean?
Yeah. Yeah, for.
Sure. So yeah, Co workers are
important siblings. I was surprised that siblings
ranked so low. Like I thought like friends and
siblings would kind of be equal. Yeah, that is kind of.
Interesting. People also said they're kids
and then mentors. Those are all the top answers.
No pets. We did get pets, but they
weren't, it wasn't like a top answer.
I I put in a couple other ones, other ones that I liked.
These ones weren't popular, but the other ones that I liked
dogs. Yeah.
Coaches wives. That's fair.
Other A TS and former professors.
Oh OK, OK that's fair. I'm surprised dogs didn't get
more. Yeah, only like a couple people
submitted dogs. Interesting.
Our dog is our VIP. Oh yes, and she reminds us that
she is as well. She's sleeping right next to us
right now, but she'll you'll probably hear her in this
episode. So, yeah.
So how do you show love to your VIPs?
Who are your VIPs, Randy? Like outside of me?
I mean, I assume me, right? You both yeah, definitely a pup
like my my cohort like from from school we we try to keep in
touch and then. So like your friends?
Yeah, a lot of times, yeah, just Co workers.
Those are the people like you, mostly.
Four more Co workers, right, right.
Yeah. Yeah, Co workers friends.
Yeah, same mentors. Yeah, definitely mentors for
sure. How do you show love to your VIP
is something that I've really taken to recently is it's
sometimes it's really hard to like reach out to people 'cause
you just like. It's hard.
Yeah, yeah. You're like, I don't have time
reach out when you think of them.
That's a good idea. Because all you have to do is
say hi, Like, hi, I'm thinking of you.
Oh, thank you. I'm thinking of you too.
What's up, big dog? And then if it turns into
something, if you want to turn into something more than there
you go. Some people said when you're
actually with them, be present with them, be off your phone,
leave work at work. Yeah, that's nice.
Oh, you want to read this one from Stephanie B?
Yes, she says, you have to take advantage of your day off.
Absolutely. All you want to do is relax, but
just do one thing with someone and make sure to touch base
through social media or a phone call slash text once a week.
That's a good idea. I think one of the biggest
things that when I was putting this episode together, one of
the biggest things that I was realizing about like just people
and like the people who we love is they really enrich your life
so much. Even like for introverts,
because I know obviously introverts, like they need to
have their alone time. But like, there's something
about having people around you and who support you and who know
you, who see you. Who understand that you
introvert? Exactly exactly.
I also asked how do your people support you?
Some people said they plan like once a week plans.
They come to the games. They're OK with their weird
weird schedules I think. That one's huge.
I think you need someone that understands that you just don't
work nine to five. Yeah.
And that also that like things change and it's like not your
like your control. It just happens like you weren't
supposed to practice at this time, but all of a sudden you
are right. Like it just I.
Don't know right right. One of my best friends is an
escape room designer and she literally every single time I
hang out with her I literally get off work late.
Like every single time. Actually someone someone said
overestimate the time you'll be home.
That's pretty good. I mean, that's a really like
good way to because then it's always a positive, like, oh, I'm
home early, right? Yeah.
Like when I make plans, like every single time I think about
making these plans, especially with her because I'm like, oh,
I'm late every single time we make plans like that's a, that's
a good. That's a good idea.
Mm. Hmm.
Having a safe place to vent. That's nice.
Have have someone hear you out? Yeah.
Feel heard. Oh.
You want to read this one from Alex F.
Yes, even as a student, my wife and family were so supportive.
My first ever clinical rotation was at a high school and we made
it to the state championship game in football.
My family drove 4 hours just to see me on the sidelines and
cheered for our team as if they've been lifelong fans.
It helped that we won and my family got to see me in action
on the field. Sadly for my first ever spine
board experience. Oh, lovely.
Every time something like that happens, you're like, man, I'm
so glad you got to see me in action.
But also like. That really sucks.
I really. Wish that that didn't happen,
you know what I mean? The athlete The athlete turned
out great and all he could do was ask about winning the
championship. That's great.
Whatever clinical rotation I had after that, they would also look
for games on TV or live streams just to see me.
When I was with an NFL team for the summer, they flew close to
1500 miles just to support and see me on the sidelines for a
preseason game. They cheered for me and my other
summer interns when we came out of the tunnel.
It just shows how much they want us all to succeed.
Moral of the story, I know I wouldn't be where I am today
without my support system and family.
Yeah, for sure. I remember when I was a student,
like some of our games would be streamed.
Like I remember 1 was when I was doing women's basketball as a
rotation. We were playing one of our
rivals and it was televised on ESPN.
Well, like ESPN.com, it was streamed and we got video of me
on on the sideline, on the bench.
That is really cool. It is pretty cool.
I gotta I gotta find this video. Yeah, my parents are pretty
stoked about it. I bet that is pretty cool.
Hey, I used to when you during your rotations for like
football, I used to cheer for the AT staff coming out.
Yes, you did. I mean, you still come to all my
games. Yeah, but this time I'm not in
the stands. I'm like.
You know you're on the sidelines.
I give VIP access now. No, our AD puts you to work.
Yes, he does. I think that's my payment for
being on on the sidelines. He loves it when you come.
Yes, he does. He usually just kind of waves me
over and I'm like, oh Nope. Time, time to work.
Honestly, this is like such a even even like his family who
like couldn't fly out. Yeah, like they're able to still
find him on the on the TV, like live streams or like whatever.
That's really cool. And honestly, like if you work
in sports, a lot of times you are going to be live streamed.
Yeah, there's at some point there's going to be some video
of you doing something right, right.
Lose you when you least expect it to.
Alberto H says I'm I'm supported by having a place to vent with
my spouse. It's usually around dinner time.
I used to do this with my monthly sessions with my
psychiatrist, but I've graduated from there for now.
I also vent to my colleagues and my best friend.
We usually talk during my ride home from work.
Honestly, car phone calls are the best.
Like I think that's the best time to catch someone is like
when they're driving home. Yeah.
True, especially if you have a long drive.
Right, right. And it helps the time.
I mean, I don't know about you guys.
I don't really like to drive. So it helps the time go by for
me. Oh, here's the thing.
I don't like to drive, but I like talking on the phone.
So those are two good, two good things for me.
Like those go hand in hand. But like, if you do like to
drive but you don't like being on the phone with people, I
guess that wouldn't be good for you.
Yeah, I mean, but. Do you do you do?
You I don't like being on the phone.
I don't know why you don't like being on the phone.
I like phone calls. See that?
I feel like that's the perfect way to to catch up with.
Someone it is so I do it but. It's not your.
Favorite. I'm not a phone call guy, right?
So back to what we were starting, what started this
whole episode, some challenges around dating as an AT without
just like don't look, just think about I can.
Already tell and tell you what that answer.
Is you didn't? Do you know what I'm going?
To ask what's? The biggest challenge?
Dating schedule. Yeah, unknown schedule.
Schedule changes last minute. And I was going to say the
schedule changes I'm sure is probably like one of the biggest
inconveniences because like I feel like if you don't
understand athletic training or even athletics just in general,
like I feel like it's hard to grasp the idea that like.
You're not putting your work first.
Yeah, that like work just changes.
Like, like it's not 9:00 to 5:00, right?
It's not like you go to an office, you clock in for the day
and clock out. Even at the injury prevention
job that I was doing that was supposedly clock in, clock out,
there were still like changes and things that I had to.
Like last minute, like, yeah, it's not like you can do.
And also you're not like at a job where you can like
necessarily just be like, no, I'm not doing that because like
they need you there in a lot of places, you're the only AT or
like one of the few a TS there. So if you're not there, it's
like nothing's going to, nothing can happen or it's a huge
liability. So it's like you can't just be
like, Oh, no, I'm not doing that.
I'm going to call in. I'm just going to call in sick.
Like, you know, I so like if you don't have someone who
understands that, they're just probably like really confused,
like, well, why do you why does work do that?
What? Yeah, you.
You got to have someone who understands.
Yeah, at least it may not be happy with, but at least can
understand it. #2 answer people submitted was a long days slash
exhausted after the after your day.
That's fair. He's like, you come home from
work sometime. Especially like after I work a
game. If I can work a game, I don't
want to do anything afterward. That's how I feel.
I mean, I mean, yours are football days.
So those are that's a day. Yeah, I'm like, we can go out
and like, sit down at a restaurant maybe, but like.
And that's just like AI feel like that's like a post game
debrief, not just a. Quality time, No, no, no.
Like if I had to like date someone and be on my like best
put my, put my best foot forward, my best face forward, I
don't know. Yeah, yeah, I know for sure.
So I could. Yeah, you could see that being a
problem. Right.
The next one was actually about meeting people.
I'm sure it's hard. Yeah.
I mean, if you have like, unknown schedules and then you
don't do things outside of work, like you're exhausted after a
long day, you come home or like, you want your weekends to
yourself. So then you don't go do things.
And like, where you gonna meet people?
I know this is gonna sound really really random, but I had
this like weird like feeling that I was gonna meet my future
husband at a grocery store. I.
Remember. You saying like, I don't know
why I just like pictured like, oh, that's like where I'm going
to meet them. I have no idea why I remember
you which funny story when you texted me the first time I was
checking out at the grocery store.
So made it happen. I mean, maybe it was in my head,
but. I told them to do that.
Do you want to tell the story of how we met?
Is it time? Are we ready?
Sure. I think you tell You tell better
than I tell. So so I was bored one day I was
just chilling at home chilling on the couch and went to
Instagram and this I guess this is how old I am because I guess
it's not called this anymore but I went on the explore page.
That's very fitting, by the way. And all of a sudden I just saw
this this picture, it was her. And she like had it split in
half with like her acceptance letter into her, her school's at
the training program, which is pretty local, so.
And it's not the school that Randy went to, cause for some
reason everyone thinks that we went to the same school.
And I was like, oh, cool, like, hey, maybe I know this person.
I opened up a picture and I was about it, about it.
So I was like, oh, I, I, I need to see if I can contact her.
But see, I kept a class. I didn't I didn't like DM her.
So I wasn't going to post this picture because it was, it was
my, it was a picture in my interview and I just took like a
quick selfie and like my eye was like half open.
About it. And then I was like, I really
want to post that I got in and I want like I but I and I have
this only one picture and I was like, whatever, I'm just going
to post it. I don't no one's going to notice
my eye. Apparently you didn't notice my
eye. I saw the most beautiful girl in
the world. I'm just saying.
So I reached out to one of the guys in, in my cohort who is
'cause I, I, I think I saw you were kind of involved with like
student committee stuff and I kind of involved.
So he was. So I was like, hey, do you know
this? Person.
Yeah, 'cause he stalked me on Instagram.
Yeah. And I was like, hey, do you, do
you know her? And I just got yeah, I mean, do
you can do you have her contact? Oh, no.
Oh, yeah. Cool.
So then I messaged another buddy of mine who went to the same
school as. As me.
As you and at the time he was actually doing grad school in
Ohio, so he's like two time zones away.
And funny story, that's actually the school that we're doing our
doctorate now. Yeah.
And I, I hit him up. I said, hey, do you you know
her? And he was like, oh, yeah.
I was like, hey, can you hook it up?
Hey, he hooked it up. Yeah, he didn't slide in my DMS.
I did. I kept it classy.
He went on a wild goose chase. I guess he went on a he went on
a hunt. Yeah, I was about it.
Yeah, he had to track me down. And I did.
So then I'm teaching ballet on a Saturday morning and I'm going
to go change my music. I, I was teaching like, I don't
know, some mid level ballet, so like 88 to 10 year old somewhere
around there. And I went to go change the
music and I noticed that I got a text and it says something about
like, Hey, congratulations from Aaron from our friend in Ohio.
And he was like, and we live in California, by the way.
So like literally like far, far away a couple of times.
So I'm like, I noticed this text and it says, Hey,
congratulations on getting in the program, you know, whatever
it said and it said, hey, so I think my friend thinks you're
cute. So then I didn't know what to do
with that information. And I was like, and I, I
immediately started smiling like that.
Like I was very flattered. So then I'm like smiling at my
phone and my, and of course all my little ballerinas are like,
why are you smiling at your phone, Miss Sandra?
That's pretty funny. Yeah.
And then I was like, yeah, OK, you can give him my number.
So then he gave him my number. I was at then I was at the
grocery store later that day. I think it was later that day
that then I got a text from you. Yeah.
And there you go. And there you go.
And then we and then we start dating.
I went on a blind date 'cause I had no clue who this guy was.
But he was vetted by Aaron. Aaron said he was a good guy,
yeah. Passed.
Good old Aaron Norr, actually. We had him on Offset Med
episode, yeah. I feel like that was a while
ago. A long like a.
Long time ago, huh? I think our first or second
season. I think you're right man.
Time flies, you're having fun. Seriously.
So yeah, there are lots of challenges and we had, we've had
some challenges that Randy used to work at a a mid, mid level
D1. Yeah, Mid Major.
And he was gone, literally gone from like Wednesday through
Sunday every single week. Yep, and 60.
Hour weeks, too. And I was working in down in one
county and then I was working two hours away in another
county. And then like we were back and
forth. So that so like that first year
of me being certified. Oh yeah.
Which was, I mean, I met when you and I were, or when you and
I met. I was 20.
Yeah. So that was.
And that was like, right when I was.
So I was still an observation student.
Yep. You were just about to.
Start and Randy had Randy had already been certified?
Yep. When I met him.
Yep. I just got.
Certified. I never knew you as a student.
Nope. Nope.
I was. I lived in the clinic.
Yes. That was that was what everyone
told said about me. Yeah, that I know everyone.
Every time everyone met me, they were like, oh, you're the one
who got him out of the clinic. Yep.
Uh huh. Yep.
So Alberto H says it's tough to date.
I think any relationship will always take some work.
However, I am fortunate enough to have a partner who played
softball in college and understands the grind.
Because this my spouse has noticed when I'm stressed, burnt
out, or other AT related issues, the most challenging thing I've
ever had to deal with is the financial and overworking
meaning being burnt out. I've never dealt with seeking
professional help and once I did, I finally understood what I
can work on in getting the tools to help me cope with the
situations that I had and overcome those barriers.
That really helped me gain perspective on how to be a
better person and partner overall.
Oh, that's nice. Honestly if you're not happy in
your own life, it's hard to be happy in a relationship like
romantic or non romantic. 'Cause you gotta be there, you
gotta be supportive. Right, right.
And I I mean sometimes like those people around you can help
you towards that, but you also have to do some work on your own
too. Yeah, for sure.
And then if you have like work dragging on you too, like.
That's hard. And then life is heavy just.
Yeah. It all, it all piles up.
Yeah. You want to read this one from
Lena H. Yes, I met my now fiance on
Bumble. He's a pilot.
We both have odd work schedules with me being out of high school
and him at the airlines. I think the fact that neither of
us have jobs with quote UN quote normal hours makes it so much
easier. We're both more understanding
how demanding our jobs can be. Exactly, that's what.
You were talking about. Earlier.
Yeah, Also a pilot. That's cool.
I know, isn't that really cool? That's cool.
It's like super random. Yeah, actually, yeah, that is
kind of that is kind of. Random I don't know any like do
I know any pilots? No, I, I don't.
I I don't. Yeah, free flights.
I mean, that's how you meet them I guess.
Bumble. Just they're out there
somewhere. There are pilots there.
There are pilots. They might be they have to go
grocery shopping, so they might be at the.
You know what? That is true, they do have to do
normal. Things, I think that's kind of
why I thought like, you know. You're right, everyone has to
get food at some point. Right.
Like how am I going to meet people outside of my bubble?
Like even like if you go out like.
You know what that. Is you still kind of stay in
your bubble, you know, like when you're going grocery shopping,
like just imagine. Well, that's what I was going to
say. I think that that's the hard
part too about meeting people is like when you're not in school
anymore, like you're not in like a predefined area where you're
going to meet people, right? Like you're not in class, right?
You're not working on like, you're just kind of.
Like you don't have like the common areas, like oh, there's
the fountain. I'm going to go study by the.
Fountain and no one wants to talk to like random people.
Right, I was actually, what was I listening to?
I was just listening to, Oh, I was listening to a different
podcast, Diary of Aceo actually, and they were talking about how
like just meeting people, like in general, not just like
dating, but just like we're Airpods are like killing that,
like Airpods and like like any Airpods and like I wear Airpods
when I'm going out somewhere. Like it's but like it makes
sense. Like you used to have, like,
you're just kind of sitting and just waiting around.
Nothing's taking your attention away.
Yeah. And then now when someone tries
to talk to you, or you know, it's kind of weird, like, oh,
why are you trying to talk? To me, Well now I'm hoping for a
shout out from Diary of a CEO. I really like that podcast.
Yeah, we shouted them out. Shout out AT Corner.
Natalie H says I met my now husband in high school.
Oh, that's cool. I knew early on in our
relationship I wanted to be an AT.
We were both athletes in high school and he went on to compete
in college so he understood what an AT was.
We went to two different colleges but he stuck by me
through undergrad and especially during getting my MSAT.
It was hard finding time for each other but we made it work.
Now living together and married. He's my biggest supporter and I
could never do this job without him.
He works in corporate finance which does make it easier not to
bring work home since he works 8:00 to 5:00 and as a secondary
setting ATI work 2:00-ish to who knows when.
I want to be fully present. Fully present when I get home
and not have work tasks to do. Like the 2:00-ish to.
Who knows? Who knows?
A time. Right.
I think that is something that like obviously our works in the
traditional setting kind of depend on the coverage that we
have to provide. And those coverages depend on
the coaches. And if the coaches are around
for a long time or if they leave and a new coach comes in, or
even if the same coach is there and they change their practice
time because they don't want like something else is going on.
And they just, you know, there, there are often times that Randy
and I have the same schedule and then there are times for months.
So we have opposite schedules. And then we're like, oh, it's
going to, we're going to have same same schedule again.
And then it's opposite again I think.
I think a lot of it is like, I feel like your schedule's fairly
consistent during like fall. It is, but it's getting, it's
going to have a major change since next fall because we're
our football used to be. So I used to work like I'd get
in around like 11 or noon and stay until like 8 or 9.
And now I am switching that and we're starting treatments.
Who knows? 5:36 AM to get sounds terrible.
So I'm I'm excited. I can't wait for morning stuff,
but I just don't know how many people are going to show up.
But like I feel like, like mine, like it literally comes like
one, one month on or like a couple months on this time and
then all of a sudden team changes practice, 'cause like I
like I have like 9 teams so there's like 9 opportunities for
it to change, right? Whereas like in the fall, I
really only have one team, but it's football.
So it's like, well, if they they went for years in the evening
and now they're trying it out in the morning and if they can keep
it in the morning, I think everyone kind of wants it in the
morning. So like that would be cool.
Then I would know what my falls are.
But I don't know are they? We don't know some.
I asked also for some tips on how to maintain a romantic
relationship as an AT overarching theme communication.
Weird working working with humans.
It comes back down to communication.
Yeah, some other ones prioritizing time with your
partner, boundaries. Make your job boundaries with
your job slash learning to say no.
Make lots of plans ahead of time, Kirsten M said.
Make plans, have shit down or it won't happen.
Plans may change, but that's not new for either partner.
Also having plans sometimes is the thing that gets you out of
picking something up, which can be helpful for boundaries.
Yes, honestly, this is super true because like I'm more
likely to pick up a like a Saturday game.
If I'm like, oh, I've got nothing going on this weekend
like sure, I can I can do that, but like if I have like, oh man,
I was going to go to whatever with this person.
Is there a way that like we can change this and like, you know,
so I'm going to have a little bit more of a boundary of like
no, for sure. And then I get to go do whatever
plans that is instead of, you know what I mean?
We we also are in a position where like there's more than one
athletic trainer. So like.
Yeah, that's nice. And you're not like the only
one, right? Someone's this is one of the top
answers to at least put your things on shared calendars.
That's fair. Like make a shared calendar.
That's fair. You want to read this?
But some people aren't great with digital calendars or
calendars. Yeah, I think I've shared this
before, but I made this like nice Google Calendar.
I put everything on there and one time like literally for
years, like I've been using this and I don't know how I knew that
didn't know this, but I was like, hey, Mandy, can you just
update the calendar real quick? I don't like he he was like
scrolling through his phone and I was like, you know, not
thinking much of it, like kind of looking over like why is this
taking so long? But you know, whatever.
Did you have the app downloaded? Yes, I did.
OK, did you know how to get into the No, his Google Calendar, he
wasn't signed in. So he didn't even have like he
didn't even, I mean, he had access, but like he didn't even
have the login, like whatever. Yeah.
I had to log back in. We logged out.
And I was like, how have you digital?
Digital candle calendars are hard.
But he's, he's actually, he used to never use any sort of agenda
at all. That's right.
I have a planner now he's got a planner.
I don't know. Yeah.
Look at me go develop. I know I'm really proud of you.
You use your planner more than I do.
Yeah, development. Look at the characters that have
been happening. So LEG says my fiance and I met
in 2021 while I was an athletic training student and he was in
the Navy. While the both of us having busy
schedules, it was important for me to find a balance between
school, clinicals, work, dating, and other things.
One thing that has helped us since beginning is having a
shared calendar to put down work schedules, especially since mine
can change occasionally from time to time.
We would also use this calendar to plan time for date nights
during our busy weeks. Dude, like planning date nights?
Yeah. Regular date nights.
Yes, yeah, I think my parents do like once a week, every
Wednesday or something like every Tuesday they like changed.
It recently, yeah, to a different day.
Something that we do, we ask for gift cards for Christmas and we
put those like in a pile. So then like when we're like,
oh, let's go out to dinner, It's not like, oh, we can't spend
extra money 'cause it's already allotted for, right?
So like if you plan in advance, you're like, oh, we're going on
date night on this Thursday, Grab the gift card it's already
allotted for it's already planned.
Like you literally just have to execute it like plug and play,
plug and play easy. That's the thing also, so I
can't imagine like trying to date while in AI mean like
here's the thing. Randy and I started dating like
six months before we started in my program.
But like by the time we, I had already started the program,
like Randy and I were already living together for a while and
like we were already like integrating our lives a lot
like, so it wasn't like it didn't really feel like we were
like in a fresh relationship. And he's an athletic trainer.
So like I felt like it was a lot like you were really
understanding. But like I cannot imagine like
me thinking now like I don't know how people have clinicals
and especially like, OK, so like for example, I have an immersive
student and she's with me 40 hours plus.
Yeah, seriously. And then she has to go home and
do her homework. And like, I'm doing the same
thing. Like, we're in a doctorate
program. So like, I have to work all the
time. And then we go home and do our
doctorate. But yeah, I just, yeah, I just
don't know, like like meeting someone new or like finding
extra time to get to get to know someone.
Yeah, that's hard. It's a lot.
After you've been mentally exhausted from the day.
It's a lot. Another way to maintain your
relationship is an AT. These are some top answers.
Invite them to your games. That's nice.
We we go to our each other's games.
We do. It's a lot easier when you're
closer. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it is because like we live like within 1015 minutes of my
work. So like, it's really easy for
Randy to come out to my games. Yeah.
And like I try to make it out to his games, but like he's a
little bit further. So sometimes it's like if you
look at traffic you're like oof, this is going to take me
forever, way too long to get out there.
Or like when I was far it was like way harder for him to get
out of my game. It's like sometimes on a
weeknight it would take like 2 hours to get there and I'm.
Like it was mostly weekends that I was able to.
Right. Or that we'd carpool.
But then then it's like you have the whole day with me at the
game instead of you doing your own which make time for yourself
is another way to maintain your relationship.
Yeah. But how do you juggle all these
things? It's like when they say, oh, you
should get more sleep. Yeah, in life.
There's not enough hours. Yeah, there's not enough hours.
The 24 hours is not enough in a day.
No so Mike and M says maintaining.
For maintaining a relationship, communication is key.
Make sure they know your schedule is usually not in your
control so you aren't choosing to miss things.
Finding the balance at home. My husband school friends know
when I'm in season to reach my husband and not me.
Schedule play dates for kids with him.
When I'm in season I try to pick up a bit of a heavier chunk of
the offload or to offset my in season.
Nice. Jeremy Jackson from sports
medicine broadcast. He said don't joke about work,
wife or cousin. Like just protect.
Your relationship, Yeah, yeah. I think that's a really good
like it. It's all, it's almost like
microaggressions that you don't like realize.
Yeah, but I feel like that's something that like even we try
not to like say like, oh, we're going on a date, like or like a
friend date or like something like, yeah, it's all in your
work wording. You know you'd be.
It just catches up to you. Yeah, for sure do.
You want to read this one from Albert T.
Yes, Albert says, like any relationship, there needs to be
mutual respect, understanding and nurturing of the love you
share with your significant other.
It's easy to get caught up at work and shift your attention
away from your relationships. Creativity and good coordination
have always worked for our relationship.
Since I travel a lot, I'll sometimes take my wife if it's
feasible. She roots for me as as a fan and
we get to enjoy the downtime together.
Also, the biggest thing is being firm with boundaries at work.
Protect your time and well-being.
Yeah. You know, like, you go to
weddings and like, oh, give advice to the newlyweds.
Oh, yeah. And I feel like some of those
are so cheesy. You're like, oh, don't go to bed
angry. And then people, like, do go to
bed angry. And you're like, which one do I
take? I feel like one that I have
recently kind of been like pondering is you have to grow
together. Yeah.
Like I feel like it's so easy and I see a lot of and I every
relationship's different. So there's no just like athletic
training, there's no blanket statements, right?
But I feel like the people who I see who struggle a little bit
more in their relationships are the people who like don't go and
do things with their people. Like I feel like their partners,
like they'll go. And like, I'm not saying like
don't go do things with your friends.
Like I still go do things with my friends, like without Randy,
but then also like I'm also doing things with Randy and like
making him my priority. And I feel like that sometimes,
especially like with our schedule changing and like with
everything on our load and us being exhausted.
Like, you come home and you're just roommates or you're just
like, moving past each other, but you gotta make time to
actually do things together and grow together.
And do you want to read this one from Kate G?
So she is actually married to an athletic trainer?
Kate says. I'm married to one.
Our first hospital contract we worked a lot more together and
most people didn't even know we were together until they put two
and two together because of our dogs.
That's funny. We try to keep to a monthly date
night where we drive a little further than we normally would
just for food. Phones get muted for a few short
hours so that we spend uninterrupted time together.
I've actually picked up golf as well in the last two years
because Hubs is a big golfer. See, this is what I'm talking
about. Yeah.
Like, I know someone who, I mean, she's, she continues.
So we'll continue her story in a second.
But I know someone who on Instagram, like they're always
going rock climbing with their partner.
And I saw her in person one time and I was like, oh, like you're
you're always going rock climbing.
You should come rock climbing with us and your wife.
And she was like, oh, I hate rock climbing.
And I was like, oh, and she's like, I just honestly do it
because of my wife. And I was like, oh, that's
really cool that you're like wanting to spend time with her.
Like I thought I really admired that, even though, like, I'm not
saying like, you have to do it all the time, but like be
interested in the things that your partner's interested in.
So anyway, Kate continues. We try to do couples tournaments
and scrambles to hold us accountable for US time too.
We both are hospital outreach to secondary school, but we also
both work together in professional arena football.
That's cool. So we do use our travel slash
travel weekends with the with that team as a chance to go on a
date night by spending an extra day wherever we travel.
That's that's a good. Idea.
Yeah, we also moonlight together at AD 2.
University man busy. Yes, but busy together.
Yes, no rest for the wicked. Obviously we don't allow our
personal life to affect our professional life, but it
doesn't mean that sometimes we don't agree and there's never
some sort of tension. I will say that our D2 part time
gig and our arena football team requested us specifically
together every time. The D2 university actually wants
to hire us as a pair based on coach request, so we must be
doing something right. Great reference in there, by the
way. So I also asked if, if everyone,
if anyone has ever dated another AT 'cause I mean, obviously like
we're a married AT couple. We have friends who are AT
couples who are married. I think all of our AT couple
friends are married. I don't think we have any AT
dating friends. Yes.
Yeah, I think they're all married.
So I did ask this on our stories.
Only 18% of people said yes. And the last time we did this
poll, it was in 2021. So about four years ago, the
stats were similar. Only around 24% of people said
yes. And that's with around like 200.
I don't remember. I I I think maybe last time it
was 200. I don't remember how many.
This time we got a couple 100 votes.
That's interesting for this one, Yeah.
I felt like that would be higher.
I probably said that the last time we did this episode too.
Yeah, I, I feel like, I don't know, maybe because people are
like, oh, if it goes bad, like the profession's so little, like
you don't, maybe you're just going to be around them.
Or maybe they just don't want to be around AT things all the
time. I guess do you want to do some
more love stories? Yes, let's do it.
Jessica J says I met my husband in our hometown when he came
back from college and I just finished high school.
Sounds bad, but we were friends beforehand.
Small town, everyone knows everyone.
Sounds like athletic training, Yes.
He went off to work on his master's degree slash coach
football while I went to college to become an AT.
Thankfully he was coaching in a high school close to my college
and doing his master's degree online so we're able to live
together. He then got a job as a head
football coach and teacher, and once I graduated I moved out
there with him where I became the first ATR hospital has ever
had. Oh nice.
We've been here since and I love it.
I think it helps that we're at the same school and we're both
pretty independent. I work at the hospital during
the day, pick up our kids, and then head to the high school, so
we end up still spending a lot of time together even though
we're working. It's a huge bonus that our whole
family gets to be there and everyone treats our kids like.
Family. That's nice, that's fun.
Honestly, that's the thing about like like athletics departments
and I feel like this is pretty generic.
Like I don't like, I think that it is kind of unique to my
situation and your situation. But also like I think it's
pretty generic. Like my department, like a lot
of the coaches have kids and they, like, I know I've met a
lot of their, their kids because they bring them because I feel
like, like the athletics departments are a lot easier
than like a corporate office or something, right?
Well, yeah, 'cause the athletic department's chaos all the time,
so you just add. A well, I mean, they're like
sports practices or like it's outside in the athletic training
room or like, you know, going to a basketball game at night or
like something that the community comes to anyway, you
know what I mean? So I feel like spending that
time and even though like it's at work, I think you have to
figure out your balance of like how much you want to integrate
that, right? Yeah.
But I feel like for the most part, like there's only like a
couple coaches I can think of off the top of my head ever that
that I know they have a significant other that I haven't
met. Yeah, yeah, You know what I
mean? Yeah.
Whereas I feel like for the most part people just come around
like it's just part of sports and athletics.
Yeah, for sure. For people who work in
athletics, how many people do you think have dated a coach
Good. Question.
Do you think it's high? Do you think it's higher or
lower than dating another athletic trainer?
Maybe I should ask that. Man, I don't almost want to say
lower. I felt like that too, but
apparently 27% of people said yes they've dated a coach.
That's crazy. 73% said no. I'm surprised it's higher.
Right. These numbers continue to be
surprising. Right.
And I'm like, like, where, where are these people meeting their
partners, Right? 57 of the percent of the people
who we polled met in person, which was actually a higher
number than I thought. I feel like fewer and fewer
people are meeting in person. 39% said met online and then 4%
said it's complicated. So I feel like.
I put the it's complicated, honestly, because like people
ask us how we met and like, I feel like what started it was
kind of online, yeah, like Instagram, but then like.
But we met because of. Because of people.
People right? And we have been at the same
places. Because like, if you wouldn't
have known people like, would you have slid in my day?
Exactly. Probably not.
See, that's the thing I. Don't.
I don't know if it would. Have.
See, that's what I'm saying. So like, can you really?
Yeah, it's complicated. We're part of the 4%.
But yeah, we were also at the same events and didn't even
probably know it. That's the thing, like timing is
crazy because exactly like we both went there, there are
several events that we've both been to.
Yes. And like, I've met his friends
and he's met my friends, but we never met each other.
And like, they're like we competed against each other in
quiz bowl. Wild.
Yeah. And like we took a group picture
that we're in the same picture. That the person that took all
the pictures for our cohort I don't think has this picture
which. Yeah, We can't track down any of
these pictures. And we're like, no, we know
we've seen these pictures before.
Or like, at least quiz bowl. Like we should definitely have a
quiz bowl picture together. Or like Fuada San Diego, we
should have a picture there. Yeah, they're out in the depths
of somewhere. Somewhere someone's got them,
yeah. If someone is listening and has
these pictures pre 2017. Yes.
So where else are these people meeting?
This one's anonymous, You know. Actually, surprisingly, we
didn't get that many anonymous ones this time.
Hey, everyone's just. Just celebrating a lot, this
anonymous one says. I met my husband in gross
anatomy lecturer. Yeah, hello, anatomy, bringing
people together. And that is why we start every
Education episode basically with anatomy.
So. You can meet.
Your partner. It's the basis of everything.
He was a human fizz major so our classes overlapped.
He was also the roommate of a friend of mine in the AT program
so we continued that way. Having someone who works in
healthcare has been super helpful.
He works at normal 9:00 to 5:00 from home and I work as a solo
AT at a local high school. He is so great about
understanding my hours and honestly helping me to be a
stronger advocate for myself. We have had a lot of weekend and
holiday games this. Week.
Yeah, it's BS. He makes dinner almost every
night so when I come home, I come home to a wonderful meal
and then we spend the mornings on the couch in between his
meetings while still doing his work of course watching The
Price is Right lol. Nice.
Communication is huge for us. He knows my schedule each week
but knows it can change at any moment so I keep him updated
throughout the day. He also will come and work game
staff for us. He loves basketball shot clock
so. Oh, that's a big job.
I know. Seriously, that's first.
Of all doing anything on the board for basketball, it's a
big. Job it is, it is like that's a
lot of pressure that is so on Friday nights we aren't always
separated. That's something that like, I
feel like also even blanket statement for, for like
yourself, there's not been one way that we have communicated
schedules that has worked for us.
Like I feel like it's been a work in progress.
Like when like we used to put them on a shared calendar and
then we still use a shared calendar.
But then we started using like like we would just text each
other our schedules and then like we would get an update like
per day. And then it'd be like, oh,
you're home. OK, cool.
Like not not even planning. And then it started, there was
a, a whiteboard. We have a whiteboard that's like
Monday through or Sunday through Saturday.
And we put it up like in our room and it's, it's like really
little. It's like the size of my hand,
like probably 2 of my hands. And then it's like a, we split
it in half and we put Randy's schedule in my schedule.
And we haven't used that in, like a year and a half maybe.
But like, we used to use that and we used to update it every
week. But like, I think you just have
to figure out what works for you at the time.
Yeah. You don't have to stick with it
for the rest of time. Yeah.
Right. And probably eventually when we
have kids, like, probably different.
Yeah. Who knows what we're going to be
doing then? Google Calendar.
We do that now. Do you have the login?
I think I'm still logged in. Yeah, I get crushed by logins
that log me out 'cause I'm like, oh man.
Yeah, you want to read this anonymous one?
Yes, Anonymous says. We met.
Wait, these these next one, Sorry to interrupt you.
These next ones are all about coaches.
We met at work, kept it a secret for a while until we got called
into the superintendent's office to quote, UN quote, check in on
a rumor he had heard about us. Crazy, right?
Yes and after asking why we were in his office if he didn't have
anything to say about our job titles and work we were doing,
he got really quiet and awkward and told us he stepped out of
line to ask us during work hours.
And then we made it public and are now married lol.
Everyone was happy for us when we made it public.
It was definitely well received by the community.
OK. So how how well did they handle
that? Like that's, I don't think I
could have done that. That's amazing.
Yeah, that's, yeah, that's pretty.
Good, Like you get pulled in the superintendent's office and then
you're you know, when like you're in in an interview and
they ask you a question that you're like, you're not supposed
to ask me that question and you're like, question, what do I
do? What do I do?
I no you. Call them out on it.
Illegal question. But I feel like that's like,
like, good on them. Yeah, for sure.
And then it turned out great in the end.
Yeah, look at that, Look at that, Olivia R said.
We met through work, but it was actually another coach's kid.
I love the story who is also one of our athletes that suggested
that we go on a date. He came into the HR once saying
I think you should date Coach Cody.
I then told him that if the coach wanted to he could contact
me himself. I then got a text about two
hours later asking if I wanted to go on a date.
Nice. He sent the kid.
He sent the kid in. Yeah, a little wing man.
Yeah, at first only the coach who was a parent of that athlete
and my Co AT knew. After a few months we told the
AD and other coaches. A year later athletes found out
from the original kid who set us up.
We are still happily together and hopefully engaged soon.
Seems like someone's putting the pressure on you.
You want to read the the the last story I have.
Yes, this one's by Allison B. Me and my now husband met during
one of my clinical rotations in grad school.
He was on the football coaching staff at the high school I'd be
at. The coaching staff and
eventually the whole athletic staff will try to get us
together. Wow.
It's just it's a team effort. They just knew.
Everyone just knew. I finally caved and gave him a
yes to a date in December 2019. Survived COVID together and got
married October 2023. Yay.
That's a good one to end on. And I got to say, so I was
actually surprised. Maybe it's just the people who
post, but like, so I wanted to do this episode again because we
haven't done it for the last few years.
But again, I want like when I was starting this, this the
story prompts, the first one I did was how tough is dating in
the profession of athletic training?
And I and the answer was still pretty significantly tough,
right? Whereas every single time, like
I feel like we hear these, we hear these narratives that like
dating is impossible, having kids is impossible, having a
family, wanting a family is impossible.
Like all these things, like you can't be an athletic trainer and
do these things. Or have get a good pay.
And we only follow back athletic trainers or athletic training
students on Instagram. So if you didn't get a follow
back, it's literally 'cause you probably didn't have athletic
trainer in your bio somewhere or we probably just missed that you
followed us. So follow us again.
I will follow you back. Keep trying.
So anyway, every single time, and I'm not joking, every single
time I open Instagram, it's literally someone just had a
baby, someone just got married, someone just got engaged or like
some big thing that people say can't happen in athletic
training. And I find it so ironic because
I feel like we have thousands of athletic trainers who we follow
and I see it all the time. And obviously there are athletic
trainers who are doing other things.
And I'm not saying you have to do those things, but I'm just
saying like all these people are proving that narrative wrong
every single time I open, right, Right.
There's a whole mom in athletic training Facebook group.
Yeah, and there's plenty of stuff for 80 dads.
Yeah, I mean, Jeremy Jackson's really big on that.
Yeah, so it's possible. It is so on this Valentine's
Day, we just want to say celebrate love.
We love you guys. We feel the love from you guys
all the time, all the time. And if you would like to share
the love, you can always share with a friend.
You can leave a rating or review.
Feel like I never do this little plug anymore.
If you guys are new, actually we do every episode as stories like
this one or we do Education where we bring in Randy Reed's a
bunch of research articles. We will digest them, talk them
in in a more conversational format.
They're eligible for CUS. Thank you to athletic training
chat and clinically pressed our partners.
Thank you so much to them. Big love to them.
Yes, Medbridge, if you're to it
is a reporting year. So if you're interested in ACU
subscription, you can get $101.00 off Medbridge with code
80 corner. And again, all this stuff is in
the show notes, so I'm going to leave it at that.
Do you have anything else? Nope.
Thank you for helping us showcase athletic training
behind the tape. Bye.