The Most Merciful Medical Attendant: Athletic Training’s College Football Roots and Implications for Athletic Training Education Jennifer Lee Hoffman, PhC, ATC, LMP, University of Washington The Earliest ATCs – Students? In the earliest editions of the University of Washington student yearbook there are references to a student helper, The Most Merciful Medical Attendant, listed among the players names on the football roster. These yearbooks published just after 1900 did not elaborate on the duties, but the name clearly implies that this student provided medical attention with compassion. The Rise of College Football College football grew out of a “student-alumni” management system that developed during a time of faculty disinterest in the extra-curriculum (Rudolf 1990). This early, independent management of football was followed by development of the collegiate ideal. The Rise of Athletic Training College football remained independent of the academic management of the institution. This left the early development of the athletic training profession highly influenced by the culture of college football. As football continued to grow, the athletic training profession grew too - often in the shadows of college football and the increasingly research oriented medical profession. Socialization  Students gradually learn the diverse criteria for a successful career through “transmission of meaning.”  Occurs in formal education, daily routines and “informal annotations of everyday experience called common sense.”  Includes stories told within the community about important people and events (Traweek, 1988).  Communication, interpersonal relationships, and teaching behaviors pass on the values of the profession (Emery, 1984). ATS Education Today Create student-centered experiences that maintain the values & customs from the collegiate ideal and apprenticeship model that distinguish the ATC from nurses, physical therapists, & physician assistants.  Purposeful Communication with ACIs  Academic Counseling  Research Oriented Clinical Experiences  Campus Diversity Initiatives The Collegiate Ideal  Intercollegiate competition is about the self- development of those competing.  Athletics provides a surrogate for the small-scale student experience idealized among those not competing.  Even though football is highly professionalized, it still strongly communicates the collegiate ideal to the popular culture. (Toma, 2003) From Stadia to Academia – The Influence of College Football Approved Clinical Instructors (ACIs) will play an increasingly important role in the in the socialization of athletic training students. However, many of today’s certified athletic trainers were socialized in certification educational settings dominated by college football. From Athletics To Academics References Emery, M. J. (1984). Effectiveness of the clinical instructor: students' perspective. Physical Therapy, 64, Rudolf, F. (1990). The Rise of Football. The American College and University: A History. Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press. Toma, J.D. (2003). Football U.: Spectator Sports in the Life of the American University. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press. Traweek, S. (1988). Beamtimes and Lifetimes: The World of High Energy Physicists. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. For more information contact Jennifer Hoffman Athletic Training & The Collegiate Ideal  Remain connected with the collegiate ideal: focus on self- development of the physically active participant.  Strongly associate with academic components of the collegiate ideal.  Be attentive to our profession’s college football roots. Suzzallo Reading Room University of Washington, Princeton Tigers Student Athlete’s Self-Development Close Relationship With College Football ATS as Protégé – Idealized College Experience