Between taping wrists and fingers, transcribing injury notes, and simply making ice bags, Redwood student Lindsay Hendrickson is kept busy working as an intern for athletic trainer, Americ Alvarado.
Hendrickson, a junior, is working with Alvarado in preparation for a career she hopes to pursue in the future.
She said that her job with Alvarado is to assist him with anything he needs on a daily basis. She spends her afternoons in the athletic trainer’s office working with athletes and doing prep work for Alvarado.
According to Alvarado, Hendrickson is his first high school intern, though he had a college intern to help him with his daily routines last year.
Hendrickson said that prior to beginning her internship with Alvarado she had already attended a Student Athletic Training Conference in Oakland, where she learned skills related to athletic training, such as how to tape an ankle.
“Her education and past experience has allowed her to step up a little bit more and quicker than most,” Alvarado said.
Hendrickson is not a certified trainer, so she does not get to work extensively with student athletes, but she gets the opportunity to watch Alvarado’s treatment of student athletes.
“The most interesting part is when someone has an injury and I get to observe him working on that and Americ will explain to me what is going on,” Hendrickson said. “I actually get to learn. Sometimes I get to feel the injury too.”
She added that the internship has allowed her to better see what it is like to be an athletic trainer.
“It does kind of get boring once in a while – because it’s not like people are going to get injured every five seconds – but it is interesting,” Hendrickson said. “I’ve gotten to see what its like to interact with the coaches and interact with the athletes, so it is exciting.”
Hendrickson said that during breaks from working with athletes, Alvarado teaches her about different parts of the body and the science behind athletic training. He also allows her to practice taping different joints, such as ankles, wrists, and fingers.
“The basic thing I want to teach her is your body in relationship to sport, because the body as a human being is different than the body in relation to sports,” Alvarado said. “You need to understand why your body needs to be a certain way to run seven miles or to jump for the rebound.”
Hendrickson said her passion for anatomy came at a young age. “I have been interested in anatomy and physiology since fourth grade. I always thought I wanted to be a doctor,” she said. “But I realized that I like sports, and bones, and joints, and injuries and so I decided that I would like to be an athletic trainer.”
Hendrickson said that her internship allows her to be very involved with the athletes and their injuries.
“I like the fact that you can see the injury,” Hendrickson said. “Unlike a disease, with an injury you can see it – it’s red or swollen, and I like that hands-on approach.”
