Tag: Los Angeles Rams

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Rams jobs: Athletic training intern and what he does

Article reposted from LA Times
Author: Lindsey Thiry

The whistle blows and the Rams’ defensive linemen break from stretching to jog across the practice field.

Alongside the burly players runs Eli Kassab, with a towel draped around his neck and a carrier full of six Gatorade bottles clanking against his side.

When players come to a stop in an end zone where they will run position drills, Kassab is ready with a bottle in hand to quench their thirst.

But don’t call him a water boy.

Kassab, an athletic training intern, graduated from Weber State University and earned a master’s from Northern Arizona. He has been working as a trainer for four years and spent time with the Miami Dolphins before joining the Rams last April.

Keeping players hydrated might be the most visible part of his job, but it’s hardly all that it entails.

“The biggest misconception we get is that we’re just glorified water boys,” Kassab said, chuckling. “We know more about the body than just ice and water.”

Kassab arrives to work at the Rams temporary facility at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks around 6 in the morning. He doesn’t leave, typically, until 7 or 8 at night.

Throughout the day he assists with player treatment by taping ankles and patching blisters, packing medical equipment that travels with the team on road trips or makes its way to the Coliseum, and helping to prepare the practice field with hydration stations.

“A lot of the stuff that we set up for practice is to manage the situations where we don’t want to have heat exhaustion or heat illness of any kind and just making sure the guys are practicing safely,” Kassab said. “If they get hurt on the field we are there to take care of them and keep them hydrated and keep them going.”

Said defensive lineman Eugene Sims: “Their job is important to keep us in shape on the field and keep us from cramping up and having any injuries off the field.”

Athletic training piqued Kassab’s interest in high school after he suffered an injury and was tended to by a trainer. “Wanting to do the same for other athletes, that kind of sparked it for me,” said Kassab, who wants to become a head athletic trainer in the NFL.

“I love it. You really have to love this job to do it, that’s kind of the key part of it. If you don’t love this job then you won’t last very long.”

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Athletic Trainer Completes Dream Intership with the Rams

Article reposted from SignalscvSports
Author: Haley Sawyer

Long Beach State student and College of the Canyons alumnus Eric Encinas was expecting an uneventful summer break.

A missed call and an urgent voice message from Long Beach head athletic trainer Jarrod Spanjer indicated otherwise.

Spanjer was calling about an internship offer from the Los Angeles Rams. Three weeks before camp was scheduled to begin.

“I was in disbelief,” Encinas, a graduate of Los Angeles Lutheran Jr./Sr. High School in Sylmar, said. “The next morning, Tyler Williams called, who’s an assistant trainer at the Rams. Within 20 minutes he was like, ‘I’m going to be honest. The one person dropped out, I was given your name and I’m offering you the job.’ At that moment, I didn’t know what to say, but I said yes.”

For Spanjer, the decision to call Encinas was an easy one.

“He was one of my two students that worked men’s basketball, and he stood out as a hard worker,” Spanjer said. “When I asked him to do something, he actually runs to do something. He learned very quickly.”

Encinas has known for a while he wanted to work in athletics, but couldn’t pinpoint a profession. When he took an athletic training class on a whim at COC, he fell in love.

“(I like) just being able to help people, help athletes succeed where they want to,” Encinas said. “A lot of it we just see the athlete make the touchdown, make the basket, make the game-winning goal. You don’t see the points that they are at to get there.”

Encinas has worked as an athletic trainer at the high school, college and now professional level and says that there are parallels between athletes, regardless of their career stage.

“For the pros you have that money aspect, but a lot of the guys that come in, they work hard and they don’t essentially do it for the money,” Encinas said. “They realize they’re playing sports, which is a child’s game, for money, but they’re able to do it at the highest level.

“And with the high school and college level, a lot of them are trying to get to the pro level. But in the back of their head, it’s all for the love. And that’s where I get that energy from. I love what I do. But I see also they love what they do and I want to get them there.”

He needed that energy, working 15-hour days, seven days a week, for seven straight weeks when he was with the Rams.

As an intern, he had the same duties as the full-time trainers. He treated and helped rehabilitate players’ injuries, oversaw weight-lifting sessions and took care of paperwork. He also drove players to off-campus facilities if they needed medical attention that couldn’t be given on site.

The first few days were tedious and consisted of unloading equipment from trucks and setting up the training facilities, but Encinas embraced every moment. And the team embraced him.

“You might think (professional athletes) might be snobby or kind of big-headed,” Encinas said. “But I couldn’t speak more highly of them. They were more appreciative than I would have thought. You root for them not because of what team they are, but because of the type of people they are. From day one I felt like I was part of the team.”

Encinas is on course to finish his classes at Long Beach in December and will graduate in the spring. Afterward, he’ll look for a full time or graduate assistant position at any level of sports.

For now, he’s still coming down from a pro-football high.

“I really can’t explain how lucky I was,” he said. “Driving up (to camp) was when it kind of hit me. Like, this could be real. Then once I got there and got the dorm, got the welcome package, got everything, it was like, ‘all right. It’s not a dream.’ It’s still surreal for me.”
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Rams First Female Full-Time Athletic Trainer Takes the Lead on Relocating

Article reposted from: Los Angeles Rams
Author: Zach Welch

As well-documented as the Rams’ relocation to Southern California has been, the work that goes into such a large operation can sometimes go unnoticed.

Spearheading the athletic training room’s move from St. Louis, Mo., to California – first to Oxnard, then to Irvine and finally to Thousand Oaks – was Rams Assistant Athletic Trainer Hilary Stepansky.

Moving an entire medical operation three separate times – for a total of nearly 2,100 miles in five months – is no small feat and her peers have noticed the effort that has been put in.

“Since we relocated to Los Angeles she’s been the catalyst for organizing the logistics during our transition,” Rams Physical Therapist/Assistant Athletic Trainer Byron Cunningham stated. “Within a five-month span we have moved our athletic training room a total of three times. It’s unbelievable to me that she’s able to lead that entire process and still complete her day-to-day athletic training responsibilities.”

The logistics and the move that Stepansky has led is just one notable piece from Stepansky’s story.

Stepansky is one of only five full-time, female athletic trainers in the National Football League and her work is appreciated in the Rams locker room.

“She’s a hard worker,” Rams RB Todd Gurley said when asked to describe Stepansky. “What I appreciate the most about her is that she’s always there anytime I need anything – no matter how big or small.”

“Her passion for medicine and player care really fits in well with our identity as an athletic training staff,” noted Rams Assistant Athletic Trainer Tyler Williams.

At the forefront of hiring female athletic trainers in the NFL has been Rams Director of Sports Medicine and Performance Reggie Scott. Scott, who enters his seventh season with the Rams was a part of something special during one of the Rams’ preseason contests in Los Angeles. During Week 2 of the preseason, the Rams and Kansas City Chiefs had a combined five female full-time or student athletic trainers working the game – a number believed to be the highest in a single game in NFL history.

“It’s been wonderful to see how the NFL has embraced women in athletic training over the past few years,” Scott stated. “The culture that Jeff Fisher, Les Snead, and Kevin Demoff have cultivated to provide this opportunity for women in the NFL workplace has been wonderful to be a part of.”

Scott was able to appreciate the special occasion that occurred against Kansas City.

“It has been a delight to have Hilary and various female student athletic trainers provide care for the players on the Rams organization,” Scott said. “Hilary has been a great addition to our staff and her energy and work ethic has been instrumental in our continued success in the athletic training department.

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Hilary Stepansky Hired as Assistant Athletic Trainer for the LA Rams

Article reposted from Saint Louis University Doisy College of Health Sciences
Author: Saint Louis University Doisy College of Health Sciences

Sarah Thomas and Jen Welter may not be household names; the general public may not know the strides that those two, among many others, are making for equality, but Sarah Thomas and Jen Welter are pioneers in every sense of the word. Last year, Thomas became the first ever female official to take the field in a National Football League (NFL) game. In the same season, Welter became the first female coach in the NFL. Thomas and Welter are two women on the forefront of dispelling the notion that football is meant to be exclusively a man’s game and are proving that skill and intelligence, not gender, are what get results.

Saint Louis University alumna Hilary Stepansky, MAT, ATC, is another woman making her mark in today’s NFL. Stepansky is an Assistant Athletic Trainer for the Los Angeles Rams. While a few other teams had previously hired female athletic trainers, Stepansky was the first one hired by the Rams.

“At first, I did not know how I would be treated in this league,” said Stepansky. “Quickly, I learned that, as long as I could do my job well, I would be treated the same as my male counterparts. I justJose Mendez and Hilary Stepansky

show up every day with a smile on my face, ready to attack the task at hand. By doing that, I earned the respect of the players and staff across the organization.”

The NFL has had a growing female fan base for years; however, the emphasis on opportunities for female employment in the league has only recently entered the national spotlight. In addition to the female hires that have already taken place, the NFL is exploring the implementation of a rule to increase the number of interviews that females receive for open positions with the league.

Stepansky does not believe that the hiring of females in the NFL is just a passing fad.

“I think this is absolutely a trend that will continue to grow,” said Stepansky. “I think the teams and the league itself realized they were pigeon-holing themselves by not looking at more women as candidates for open positions.”

Stepansky also remains grateful for her education at Saint Louis University and how it prepared her to be a successful athletic trainer.

“Aside from the practical athletic training skills, my education at Saint Louis University taught me the importance of being able to take the information that I have and apply it to new situations,” said Stepansky. “As my boss says: ‘Be a problem solver, not a problem creator.’ ”

Director of Saint Louis University’s Athletic Training Program Anthony Breitbach, Ph.D., ATC, was not the least bit surprised to see Stepansky excelling in her role with the Rams.

“Hilary is an outstanding athletic trainer who, in addition to her knowledge and clinical skill, has the ability to take on any challenge with energy and enthusiasm,” said Dr. Breitbach. “We are extremely happy she got this opportunity to work with Reggie Scott (Rams Director of Sports Medicine and Performance) and the rest of the Rams Athletic Training staff.”

Whether male or female, player or executive, rookie or veteran – there is one commonality in every member of the NFL community that is clearly evident: a passion for game day.

“Without a doubt, my favorite part of my job is game day,” said Stepansky. “When all of the work has been put in leading up to Sunday, the lights dim, the national anthem plays and the game begins, there is an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment and excitement I get knowing our players are healthy and ready to play at their optimal fitness level.”

For more information about the Athletic Training Program at Saint Louis University, click here.

Saint Louis University is a Catholic, Jesuit institution that values academic excellence, life-changing research, compassionate health care, and a strong commitment to faith and service. Founded in 1818, the University fosters the intellectual and character development of nearly 13,000 students on two campuses in St. Louis and Madrid, Spain. Building on a legacy of nearly 200 years, Saint Louis University continues to move forward with an unwavering commitment to a higher purpose, a greater good.

Photo: SLU Athletic Training Program alumni Jose Mendez, MAT, ATC, and Hilary Stepansky, MAT, ATC, in 2014 when they were athletic training interns for the Rams (Mendez has now works on the athletic training staff of the Arizona Cardinals).