Many young athlete dreams of one day making it to the professional level, hitting the winning home run, scoring the winning touchdown or hitting the buzzer beater to win the game.
For many, that dream falls by the way side.
But there are some who find a different way of making it to live out their dreams in professional sports.
This summer, former San Bernardino Valley College student trainer Andrew Batshoun got a chance to spend some time in the pros, working as a summer intern with the Las Vegas Raiders’ training staff.
Now a senior at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Batshoun has had the chance to get first-hand knowledge in the athletic training field while dealing with the current restrictions caused by COVID-19.
“So many new policies and protocols are being implemented and followed by athletic trainers across the country,” Batshoun said in an e-mail interview. “Extra precautions are being taken to ensure the safety of our patients such as extra cleaning and sanitizing of our clinics, daily temperature checks, daily symptom checks, daily or weekly COVID testing. Although this pandemic has added more to athletic trainer's plates, it has brought out our true potential as medical professionals as athletic trainers are being repurposed across the country to help combat the virus.”
Batshoun attended Bloomington High School, participating in football and track and field there until his graduation in 2014. He got his start in training, while at Bloomington, taking a class taught by SBVC Hall of Fame trainer Michael Sola through the Colton-Redlands-Yucaipa Regional Occupational Program.
“I immediately fell in love with the field of athletic training during that course which pushed me to pursue a career in the field,” he said.
Working with Sola during his time at SBVC gave Batshoun a trial by fire education in the world of athletic training. One of his most memorable incidents while at San Bernardino involved a football player from West Los Angeles College, which really solidified his choice to pursue a career in the field full-time.
“When the West LA college athletic training staff assessed the athlete, they determined that he had suffered a spinal cord injury,” he wrote. “This was my first time ever dealing with such a severe injury but I had trained and practiced the correct procedures to handle this sort of situation before. Myself and Mike Sola assisted the West LA colleges' athletic training staff with placing him on a spine board, stabilizing his spine and activating emergency medical services so that the athlete could get the care that he needed. That was the day that changed my life as an athletic training student and solidified my want to continue to go to school for athletic training so that I could work with and help athletes.”
With his degree from UNLV within his sights, Batshoun has set goals for his future in the field. After finishing this school year, he plans on applying for a seasonal job with the Raiders, while hoping one day to follow in Sola’s footsteps by working at the community college or university level.
He knows that without that early introduction at Bloomington High, he would not be on the educational path he is on now. He says that it is key for anyone interested in pursuing a job in the field.
“Reach out to any local programs and have a conversation about what the field is like,” he said. “Maybe even do some shadowing hours where they can observe the many things that athletic trainers do day in and day out.”