NATA Now

NATA’s “Are You Being Counted?” NPI contest launched over a month ago at the convention in Indianapolis. Back then we released a flyer with the contest details as well as a post on this blog with general NPI information. If you have not participated yet or did not know about the contest, there is still time to help your district in the competition.

At the conclusion of the 2013-14 school year, the total number of ATs employed by Dallas Independent School District -- ranked 15th largest in the U.S. by enrollment, and the second largest in the state of Texas -- could be counted on two hands. But with high school football practices and two-a-days resuming on campuses all over North Texas this week, the district's decision to designate a certified athletic trainer for every DISD high school arrived just in time.
 

NATA’s first-ever AT-in-Residence Michelle Vryhof, MA, ATC, LAT, has completed her year with NATA and is moving on to become an athletic trainer at Chisholm Trail High School in Fort Worth, Texas. Michelle was an incredible asset to our organization and will be greatly missed, although she will remain very involved as a volunteer. We threw the future Mrs. Holt (she’s getting married in December!) a bridal shower/going away party, and afterward she took some time to reflect on her experience at NATA.
 

For the first-ever research issue of NATA News last month, we used Twitter (@nata1950) to ask members to share their current athletic training research projects. These are some of the responses we received. Following submissions from our members, we are looking forward to what’s on the horizon for the profession.
 
1. MICHELE RAYA, PHD, ATC, PT, SCS
University of Miami

A new award season is upon us, and this year brings a new timeline for NATA’s national award program. This year, nominations begin August 1. The final day to nominate colleagues for national honors is September 15, and all application materials are due by October 1.
 

A new survey released by the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids suggested that teen reports of performance enhancing drugs have more than doubled in the last year. Sponsored by the MetLife Foundation, the study reported that 11 percent of teens who were surveyed said they'd ever used steroids or synthetic human growth hormone without a prescription - a huge increase from the 5 percent in 2012.
 

Mark your calendars! The 2015 Athletic Training Educator’s Conference (ATEC), the premier conference for educators, program directors, preceptors and clinical coordinators, is Feb. 27-March 1 in Dallas. ATEC provides its attendees with a unique and well-rounded experience by offering different model practice sessions, breakouts, peer to peer and plenary sessions.
 

Although we are still working to educate the public about the value and contributions of athletic trainers, it’s always exciting to see the news media present stories that highlight the lives and accomplishments of ATs. Recently, we have come across several stories that have done just that. Since you might not have seen them already, we wanted to collect them here so you might have a chance to read them too. We often post articles we come across on our Twitter feed, in addition to important news and updates from NATA.

NATA collected nearly 2,000 postcards from athletic trainers demonstrating their support for S. Res 372, the Secondary School Student Athletes’ Bill of Rights, during the convention in Indianapolis, all of which will be distributed to their respective U.S. Senators by NATA’s lobbying team in Washington, D.C.