Tag: Rick Burkholder

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Burkholder, Collins Discuss Road to Athletic Training

Article reposted from
Author: Beth Sitzler

The August/September NATA News featured an article about current Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society President Rick Burkholder, MS, ATC, and Incoming PFATS President James Collins, ATC. The two head athletic trainers discussed the challenges facing PFATS members, recent accomplishments of the society and what they hope to achieve in the future.

Both spoke about their passion for the athletic training profession and the drive they feel to do better for current and future ATs. This passion that has lead Burkholder and Collins to become presidents of PFATS began at an early age.

Burkholder said athletic training has always been a part of his life. A second-generation athletic trainer, Burkholder’s father, Richard Burkholder, ATC, has been head AT at the same Pennsylvania high school for 50-plus years.

“I know it sounds corny, but I do work in the best profession in the world, and I believe that. It’s been the center of my universe since I was born,” Rick Burkholder said. “Athletic training fed me, put me through college, put clothes on my back, allowed me to do things socially that you get to do as a kid.”

He attended the University of Pittsburg, where he played soccer and studied communications. He missed athletic training, though, so after earning his bachelor’s degree, he made the journey to the University of Arizona for his master’s degree in athletic training. After graduation, he stayed on for a year and worked track and field—or “boot camp for athletic trainers,” as he called it.

“It’s the hardest sport to work, and it was one of the most gratifying years of my life,” he said. “I just thought it was neat working with those athletes because they’re really in tune with their bodies. … I had to use my skills to get people better who were at 90 percent, but wanted to be 100 percent. I thought it was a great breeding ground.”

Burkholder returned to his alma mater, the University of Pittsburg, where he worked as an assistant football athletic trainer and head baseball athletic trainer. He also taught courses in the athletic training program, including evaluation, basic athletic training and rehabilitation.

“I was in the right city at the right time, and the Pittsburg Steelers hired me in 1993, and I was with them through the ’98 season,” he said, adding that the left to join the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999, where he worked with first-year head coach Andy Reid. “[He] has become a mentor in leadership as well as a real advocate for athletic training. I had 14 great years there with him, and then when he went to [the] Kansas City [Chiefs], I went with him. I’ll start my fourth season this year.”

While athletic training has always been a part of Burkholder’s life, Collins said he “took the long way” to the profession.

“Originally, I was sort of intrigued by the medical side of things,” he said. “And I loved sports. I would watch sports, but I was always interested in knowing who that person was who was helping the players when they got injured on the field.”

Collins said he wanted to be the person taking care of the players, but he didn’t know very much about the athletic training profession or how to get his foot in the door.

“I don’t want to blame it on where I grew up, but no one where I grew up had any idea what I was talking about, including my high school counselors. The coach taped your ankles, and if you got hurt, you just went to your family doctor,” he said. “I went off to college after high school, and really had no idea how to get involved [in athletic training] still.”

Collins attended Morris Brown College in Atlanta, where he walked onto the basketball team.

“The two years that I played, I just watched the athletic trainer and everything he did,” he said.

Collins left the college after those two years and joined the Navy, a decision that eventually led him to athletic training.

“That’s how I made my way to San Diego and found out about the athletic training program at San Diego State,” he said. “Dr. Bob Moore was in charge. I interviewed with him and he got me into the athletic training program.”

While at San Diego State, Collins earned an internship with the San Diego Chargers during the 1986 season. He stayed on as a full-time employee after he graduated from college the next year. After two years of working on the sidelines, he went to work with the Chargers’ team physician as a surgical assistant and office assistant.

He left the Chargers in 1991 to work for the Denver Broncos under Steve Antonopulos, MA, ATC. Then, in 1996, he became the head athletic trainer for the Philadelphia Eagles, where he remained until February 1999, when he returned to San Diego as the head athletic trainer of the Chargers.

“It was a long way around, but sometimes the shortest route isn’t always the best route, and I learned a lot along the way, so much more than if I had gone the normal route,” he said of his journey into athletic training.

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Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers Received Rewards

Article reposted from BWW GeeksWorld
Author: BWW GeeksWorld

Five members from PATS received awards at the NATA Clinical Symposia and AT Expo in Baltimore, MD in June. Two members received the NATA Distinguished Merit Award and three members received the NATA Service Awards.

The NATA Distinguished Merit Award (MDAT) recognizes NATA members who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to leadership, volunteer service, advocacy and distinguished professional activities as an athletic trainer. MDAT exclusively recognizes NATA members who have been involved in service and leadership activities at the national and district level. This award was presented to Rick Burkholder and Larry Cooper.

Rick Burkholder, a long-time native of Pennsylvania, was born in Carlisle, PA. He attended the University of Pittsburgh, receiving his bachelor’s degree in athletic training. Burkholder then left the state of Pennsylvania for a short hiatus to attend graduate school at the University of Arizona, but then returned to the University of Pittsburgh to join the athletic training staff. Burkholder was a member of PATS from 1987 through 2013, serving as Western Representative on the Board of Directors, on the Convention Committee and as Co-Director of Education. Rick has also held memberships to many organizations throughout the country and currently holds the position of the Head Athletic Trainer with the Kansas City Chiefs and serves as the President of the Professional Football Athletic Trainers’ Society. Burkholder is a 2016 inductee into the PATS Hall of Fame.

Larry Cooper is a product of Western Pennsylvania. Cooper started his academic career at Theil College, but transferred to the University of Pittsburgh when he realized he wanted to major in athletic training. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Health, Physical Education and Recreation Education Degree with a specialization in Athletic Training. Cooper spent his initial teaching years in Virginia teaching health classes, physical education and adapted physical education while working as an athletic trainer. He then returned to Pennsylvania and has been at Penn-Trafford High School for the last 25 years. Cooper has been active in PATS at the Executive Board level serving as both the Southwestern Representative and Parlimentarian. At the Committee level, Cooper has either served as a member or a Chair of PATS’ Membership, Long Range Planning and Secondary School Committees. At the National level, Cooper has served both as the District 2 Representative, the Chair of Secondary School Athletic Trainers Committee, an Advisory Member to the NATA Appropriate Medical Care for Secondary School-Age Athletes Task Force, serves on the National Federation of High School State Associations Sports Medicine Advisory Committee. Cooper has also been a contributing writer of the NATA Position Statement of Fluid Replacement for the Physically Active, the NATA Inter-association Task Force for Preventing Sudden Death in High School Sports paper and the NATA Inter-association Consensus Statement of Best Practices of Sports Medicine Management for Secondary Schools and Colleges. This most recent award from the NATA is not Cooper’s first award. He was the recipient of the 2003 Micro-Bio Medics Award, The Pride Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1997, the 2008 Teaming with PRIDE Award for Sports Medicine Department Excellence, the 2005 PATS Service Award, the 2011 PATS Distinguished Merit Award and a 2014 Inductee to the PATS Hall of Fame. In 2013 Penn-Trafford High School was the recipient of the NATA Safe Sports Award, the first recipient school in Pennsylvania.

NATA Athletic Trainer Service Award (ATSA) recognizes NATA members for their contributions to the athletic training profession as a volunteer at the local and state levels. ATSA recipients have been involved in professional associations, community organizations, grassroots public relations efforts and service as a volunteer athletic trainer. This award was presented to Scott Devore, Jeff Shields, and Jackie Williams.

Scott Devore is a native of Eighty Four, PA. He received his Bachelors of Science in Sports Medicine with an emphasis in Athletic Training from Mercyhurst College in Erie, PA. Devore then pursued his Masters of Arts in Health, Physical Education and Recreation with an emphasis in Athletic Training at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. He began his professional career at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA as the Head Athletic Trainer and Head Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Coach. Devore has also served as an athletic trainer in a physician setting and co-founder/co-owner of The Athletic Training Room, LLC. He has extensive experience covering the PIAA State Championships in various sports, District VI wrestling championships, Woodward Extreme Sports and Gymnastics Camp, Keystone State Games, Special Olympics and State College Youth Ice Hockey. Devore has been a member of NATA since 1990 and a member of PATS since 1992. He has served many roles at the state level including PATS Convention Committee, PATS Ad-Hoc Clinical/Industrial Chair, PATS Committee on Revenue Co-Chair, PATS North Central Representative, PATS Governmental Affairs Committee and PATS Concussion Sub-Committee. In addition to the 2016 NATA Service Award, Devore also has been awarded the Henry Schein Award at the 2015 EATA Convention, the National Football Foundation/Central PA Chapter/Athletic Trainer of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014, the Drayer Physical Therapy Institute Spirit Award in 2011, the District VI Wrestling Man of the Year in 2010, the Bald Eagle Area Humanitarian Award in 2009, and the District VI Award for Humanitarian/Life Saving in 2009. Devore is a current resident of Bellefonte, PA with his wife Karen. He has a son; Scott, two daughters; Chesli and Kaitlyn, and a stepson; Mitchell. He serves as a licensed athletic trainer at Drayer Physical Therapy Institute and Bald Eagle High School.

Jeff Shields, MEd, LAT, ATC has been an NATA certified athletic trainer for 32 years, having the honor of hiring and mentoring over 175 athletic trainers. Shields was one of the first ever athletic trainers hired in a clinical setting in 1984, serving at Camp Hill High School for 20 years. As an NATA Board of Certification approved provider for over 30 years, Shields has directed over 200 continuing education events and the first to offer evidence based continuing education units in Pennsylvania. He has been a member of the Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers’ Society and NATA since 1982, serving on and chairing various PATS committees including public relations, corporate relations and governmental affairs. Shields gives credit to his many mentors through the years; Dave Perrin, Fran Feld and Kip Smith at the University of Pittsburgh and Ted Quedenfeld and Jimmy Rogers at Temple University. In addition to receiving the NATA Service Award, Shields was a 2016 recipient of the PATS Distinguished Service Award. Shields is married to his wife Lori and they have 3 sons; Dan an Eastern University graduate and 4-year letter winner in soccer, Mike an University of Pittsburgh graduate and his son Kyle a senior and a 3 year letter winner in soccer at Hood College. Shields credits everyone – all of his staff and professionals he has been blessed to know and try to work their high standards each day—for his awards. He is truly humbled and bless to be in the rewarding profession of athletic training and to be a part of the athletic training family.

Jackie Williams, PhD, LAT, ATC received her Bachelor of Science degree in athletic training from Minnesota State University, Mankato. Williams’ Master of Science degree in Health, Physical Education and Recreation with an emphasis in Exercise Science is from Central Washington University, where she also served as a graduate assistant athletic trainer for 2 years. Williams served as an athletic trainer at the University of Idaho where she developed the university’s athletic training major and guided the program through its first accreditation. Williams is an active volunteer at all levels of the athletic training profession. She has served as club advisor for athletic training students, presented at high school career days for potential athletic training students, guest presented at several high school sports medicine classes, and coordinated high school students observing in the athletic training facility. At the state level, Williams has served as PATS Education Committee Chairperson, Idaho Athletic Trainers’ Association summer meeting liaison, Scholarship Committee Chairperson, and participated in the state of Idaho’s Division of Professional-Technical Education Health Professions, Sports Medicine Curriculum Team. Nationally, Williams served on the NATA Ethics Education Project Team, as an NATA Ethics Judicial Panel member, and was a member of the NATA Committee on Professional Ethics. For several years, she was a Test Site Administrator and continues to review proposals for the NATA convention program, is an NATA Athletic Training Education Journal Advisory Board committee member, and reviews manuscripts for the Internal Journal of Athletic Therapy and Training. Currently, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences at Slippery Rock University. She joined the SRU faculty in 2007. She currently teaches and advises athletic training students and serves as the Slippery Rock University Athletic Training Program Director and Exercises and Rehabilitation Sciences assistant chairperson.

For more information regarding this topic of to schedule an interview with PATS President Gaetano Sanchioli, MS, LAT, ATC, PES, (president(at)gopats(dot)org) please contact Linda Mazzoli, MS, LAT, ATC, PATS Executive director at patsexecutivedirector(at)gopats(dot)org.

The Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers’ Society, Inc. is a progressive organization of licensed healthcare professionals who work under the direction of a licensed physician. Our society continues to increase public awareness and education regarding Athletic Trainers and the Athletic Training profession while serving as the premier source of information for public safety, injury and illness prevention, early intervention, patient care, and healthcare delivery for the physically active in the Commonwealth.

“The Keystone to a Healthy and Physically Active Life”

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Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers’ Society (PATS) Announces 2016 Hall of Fame

The Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers’ Society (PATS) is honored to announce the three individuals that will be inducted into the 2016 Pennsylvania Athletic Training Hall of Fame at the June symposium in Grantville, PA.

Rick Burkholder, MS, ATC, a long-time native of Pennsylvania, was born in Carlisle, PA. He attended the University of Pittsburgh, receiving his bachelor’s degree in athletic training. Burkholder then left the state of Pennsylvania for a short hiatus to attend graduate school at the University of Arizona, but then returned to the University of Pittsburgh to join the athletic training staff.

Burkholder has vast experience at the professional athletic level. After leaving his alma mater, Burkholder began his career in the National Football League with the Pittsburgh Steelers before moving across state to the Philadelphia Eagles athletic training staff. He served as the Head Athletic Trainer for the staff when they were named the NFL’s Athletic Training Staff of the Year in 2010. Burkholder also has been a member of the medical staff covering multiple National Football League Pro Bowl games in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Burkholder was a member of PATS from 1987 through 2013, serving as Western Representative on the Board of Directors, on the Convention Committee and as Co-Director of Education. Rick has also held memberships to many organizations throughout the country and currently holds the position of the Head Athletic Trainer with the Kansas City Chiefs and serves as the President of the Professional Football Athletic Trainers’ Society. As president, his goal is to increase the hiring of females to current NFL athletic training staffs. Rick Burkholder is a second generation athletic trainer, whose father, Rick Burkholder, is a member of the inaugural Pennsylvania Athletic Training Hall of Fame class.

Jim Thornton, MA, ATC, CES, PES is a native of Mount Pleasant, Utah. He has quite the list of professional accomplishments ranging from publications and presentations to recognitions, leadership and service to the athletic training profession at the state, regional and national levels.

Thornton has been a member of PATS since 1996, serving on the Long Range Planning and Finance Committee. He has also served as an Executive Board Member for the Eastern Athletic Trainers’ Association (EATA). Jim then began his extensive national career by serving as National Athletic Trainers’ (NATA) Association District II Secretary. While serving as chair of the NATA Secretary/Treasurer Committee, Thornton was able to devise a plan to reallocate NATA dues money to the state and help increase state membership. The committee also supported state scholarships and the quiz bowl. Most notably, Thornton served as NATA President from 2012-2015, after serving as vice president from 2009-2012.

Many honors and awards have been bestowed upon Mr. Jim Thornton. He was named the 2007 PATS Service Award winner and the NATA Division II Athletic Trainer of the Year in 2008. In 2010 he was the recipient of Clarion University of Pennsylvania’s Most Distinguished Volunteer Award for the work that was done on The George Garabino Athletic Scholarship Endowment.

Throughout Thornton’s career, he has made many public appearances on the local, county, district, state and national levels. He has been keynote speaker for numerous events and has presented at many conferences about the future of the athletic training profession, mentoring young athletic trainers, wrestling weight management, and postural assessment.

Jim Thornton currently is the Head Athletic Trainer at Clarion University and serves as the athletic training liaison to the NCAA Wrestling Rules Committee, acting as the contact person for all NCAA wrestling in regards to weight-class certification procedures and the rules regarding disposition of athletes with skin infections.

Tom West, PhD, ATC is a native of West Long Branch, NJ. He earned both his bachelor and doctoral degrees from Penn State University, and his master degree from West Virginia University. Dr. West has had a huge impact on education in the athletic training profession. He has taught various courses at educational institutions including George Washington University, Penn State University, Bloomsburg University, Lock Haven University and currently at California University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. West has made significant contributions to the profession of athletic training since becoming a member of PATS in 1999. Most notably, he held the position of chair of the Convention Committee before becoming PATS President in 2006. Dr. West was recognized with the PATS Distinguished Merit Award in 2014 and the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Service Award in 2015.

In addition to Dr. West’s enhancement of the athletic training profession through professional membership and leadership, he has spoken at state, regional and national athletic training meetings across the country. Dr. West has promoted extensive scholarly growth through publications, poster presentations, published abstracts and research and travel grants.

Currently, Dr. Tom West is a professor in the Department of Health Sciences at the California University of Pennsylvania and serves as a site visit chairperson for professional level programs with the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE).

For more information regarding this topic or to schedule an interview with PATS President John Moyer, LAT, ATC, please contact Linda Mazzoli, MS, LAT, ATC, PATS Executive Director.

The Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers’ Society, Inc. is a progressive organization of licensed healthcare professionals who work under the direction of a licensed physician. Our society continues to increase public awareness and education regarding Athletic Trainers and the Athletic Training profession while serving as the premier source of information for public safety, injury and illness prevention, early intervention, patient care, and healthcare delivery for the physically active in the Commonwealth.

“The Keystone to a Healthy and Physically Active Life”

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