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Iowa State grad completes athletic trainer internship at Super Bowl

Article reposted from Ames Tribune
Author: Grayson Schmidt

When Iowa State graduate Jordan Pierce first thought about becoming an athletic trainer as a high school junior in Indianola, he had no idea that one day that would lead him to the sidelines of arguably sports biggest stage, the Super Bowl.

“Growing up, I never imagined that these are legends in the sport that I’m now getting experience with,” Pierce said. “It really is an incredible opportunity, and incredible experience. It’s definitely something you never thought would happen, and then all of the sudden it’s Wednesday of Super Bowl week.”

Pierce, 25, is finishing a season-long athletic trainer internship with the New England Patriots, who take on the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII tonight. And even though he will be working the sideline of one of the most watched events of the year, Pierce said the realization really hasn’t set in yet.

“We’ve been so busy getting everything ready, and working on the guys and setting stuff up that we didn’t really have a second to appreciate it the last couple of days,” Pierce said. “We’re so busy on game day that it has not been until late in the season that I’ve really appreciated the gravity of the opportunity that I’ve been given.”

According to Pierce, he became interested in athletic training in high school, when an injury had him sidelined, and he spent a lot of time with the school’s athletic trainer. After entering the program at ISU, Pierce was able to serve as an athletic trainer for the football, wrestling, track and swimming and diving teams, and also interned one summer for the Denver Broncos. He said that working with so many different sports, athletes and types of injuries gave him the exposure he needed to succeed once he graduated.

“The injuries that you’re going to see in football are going to be different than track and field, which are going to be different from wrestling, and different from swimming,” Pierce said. “Just getting to see different types of injuries, injuries to different body parts, and different demands of different sports was great clinically to help me develop my skills, but then working with different staff athletic trainers at Iowa State really helped me to develop who I wanted to be as an athletic trainer.”

According to ISU, Pierce is not the first Cyclone athletic trainer to have opportunities at the professional level, and he is not the first Cyclone alum to intern at the Super Bowl. The ISU turfgrass program has sent multiple students to intern with Toro and the Super Bowl grounds crew, most recently in 2016.

Upon graduating in 2015, Pierce took a two-year graduate assistant position with Louisiana State University, where worked with the track and field program for one year and the football program for another, until May 2017, when he took his position with the Patriots.

“I didn’t necessarily have a sport in mind, but it was more that I wanted to go to a place that had a great staff with good people and good opportunities,” Pierce said. “That’s what I was looking for, and that’s why I ended up at LSU.”

Prior to working in New England and Denver, Pierce said he was a fan of the Green Bay Packers. Growing up in central Iowa, Pierce said he had friends and family who are Minnesota Vikings and Kansas City Chiefs fans, so during this year’s NFL playoffs, he said there was a little trash-talking, but by now he said majority of them will be cheering for the Patriots.

“Throughout the season and early in the playoffs, there was certainly that (feeling of) ‘I hope you do well, but I want my team to win.’ Now getting to this point where I don’t really have any Philadelphia Eagles fans as friends, I think everyone’s kind of pulling for us,” Pierce said. “I think they’re rooting for me as much as the team I guess, but that was kind of a funny dynamic there for a few weeks in the playoffs.”

Pierce said he has enjoyed the ride thus far, and is grateful to the Patriots staff and players for welcoming him and providing him with such an experience. All he hopes is that the Patriots can get one more win before he goes to work for his new team. Going forward, Pierce said he has already accepted a position at Vanderbilt University, and will have a relatively short turnaround before he has to be in Nashville.

“It’s been a great experience. I’ve worked for a great staff here,” Pierce said. “The opportunities that I’ve had over the last five or six years now have been unbelievable. When I got to Iowa State, I thought that this was as big as it ever gets, and then to move on to so many different places and meet so many great people has been so totally incredible.”

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Patriots Earn Athletic Training Staff of the Year honors from Ed Block Courage Award

Article reposted from New England Patriots
Author: New England Patriots

For their steadfast commitment to protecting the health, safety and careers of their players on a daily basis, the New England Patriots athletic training staff has been named the 2016 Ed Block Courage Award NFL Athletic Training Staff of the Year, the team announced today.

The annual award, named for the longtime head athletic trainer for the Baltimore Colts who demonstrated an untiring dedication to helping others, recognizes an NFL staff for their distinguished service to their club, community and athletic training profession. The honor is voted on by members of the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society and will be presented at the 39th annual Ed Block Courage Awards on March 9 at the Renaissance Hotel-Inner Harbor in Baltimore.

Leading the daily efforts in ensuring the best evaluation, care and treatment for New England athletes is Patriots head athletic trainer Jim Whalen. (Photo by David Silverman)

Leading the daily efforts in ensuring the best evaluation, care and treatment for New England athletes is Patriots head athletic trainer Jim Whalen. Whalen began his professional career as an assistant athletic trainer for the Patriots in 1992 before going on to spend time as a member of the training staffs at the University of Miami, Kansas State and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He returned to the Patriots in 2002 and has held his current role with the team since that season.

Patriots assistant athletic trainer and director of rehabilitation, Joe Van Allen has been a member of the New England staff since 2001. He is responsible for the physical therapy and rehabilitation of injured players, and also works closely with other members of the staff on all aspects of the club’s training program.

Whalen and Van Allen are joined by assistant athletic trainer Daryl Nelson and physical therapist Michael Akinbola. Nelson joined the Patriots training staff in the summer of 2016. After completing his master’s degree at Ohio State, Nelson spent time as a graduate assistant at the university before serving as an intern with the Patriots for the 2013-14 seasons. He later went on to work as an assistant athletic trainer at the University of Louisville and returned to New England this past offseason. Akinbola also joined the Patriots in the summer of 2016. He received his bachelor’s degree in Sports Medicine from DePauw University in Indiana before earning his doctor of physical therapy degree from the University of Delaware.