February's Alumni Spotlight

Welcome to this month's edition of Alumni Spotlight! I hope everyone had a great valentine's day, and that everyone is getting excited for national athletic training month next month! Before we jump ahead to March, take a moment to gain some wisdom and insight from our February alumni spotlight Caleb Lott! Caleb is originally from Lenior, NC and is from the graduating masters class of 2012. He obtained his undergraduate AT degree at Mars Hill University and additionally holds his CES and K-12 teaching certification. Along with his wife and son, he currently resides and works in China! Fun fact: the Chinese new year was celebrated this past month and it was the year of the rooster. In Caleb's own words this basically means, "the year of the gamecock!"

What was your experience like in graduate school (i.e. balancing working and being a student, which two assignments you had, what your research project was, etc.) and what were your professional goals when graduating? 

I was at USC for 3 years: Campus Recreation- Year 1, Football- Year 2 (internship only), Mid-Carolina High School- Year 3. My professional goals when graduating were to place myself in a competitive position to obtain job opportunities in the secondary school setting. That is why I chose the MAT route over the MS route and that is why USC was a great fit for me. The work demands for the MAT program are very rigorous because you are basically taking a 4-year degree and compressing it into 2 and ½ years and on top of that it is at a graduate level in a lot of the courses. This means graduate students have another layer of expectations and projects along the way. 

What was your experience like getting a job after grad school; what was your first job?

After leaving USC in 2012, I pursued an internship opportunity to work as an outreach athletic trainer for the Institute for Western Surgery based in Shanghai, China. A very untraditional and emerging setting for athletic trainers. My main responsibility was working at a western international k-12 school. This community was very unfamiliar with the benefits of having an athletic trainer. From my understanding at the time, there were only 5 athletic trainers in the whole country of China, so it was a very humbling and exciting experience to advocate awareness of the profession. Now, there are 10 athletic trainers that work in various settings around China and 2 in Hong Kong.  

What jobs have you had thus far and what is your current job?

After the internship opportunity ended, I repatriated back to the states to somewhere that was ‘famously hot’ and familiar—West Columbia to work as an athletic trainer at White Knoll High School. While only being at WKHS for 1 year, it was a very valuable and teaching experience. I learned a lot while working with Sheila Gordon, and even though my time there was brief, it was very memorable. Just a year later, an opportunity came to move back overseas and work as a full-time athletic trainer for Shanghai American School.  *Check out this video to see what a day looks like at SAS! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jh-_F6qf0c&t=8s

What are some of the pros and cons to being an AT working internationally?

Pros:

• Advocating and raising global awareness for the profession. 

• Working in a diverse multicultural setting.

• Having opportunities to travel with our sports teams as they compete around Asia at other international schools and also traveling with my family to experience different cultures. Cambodia has been my favorite!

Cons: 

• Inside the school everyone speaks English, outside the school everyone speaks Mandarin, so the language barrier poses challenges at times but also creates opportunities to learn the language which may affect your experience in a different way. Often, the student athletes are the only English speakers in their family, so speaking to parents about injuries can be difficult.

• Being so far from family is tough, especially now with having an 11 month old. But, my wife and I are enjoying raising our son abroad and taking advantage of those opportunities. 

In what ways do you feel that the masters program prepared you for the future, or helped you become a confident clinician? 

From an academic lens-the MAT program in PE is a top tier program in higher education that is a cutting edge, innovative, and holistic. The competency that is reached through the laborious academics in the MAT program makes post graduates confident to go anywhere in the world and implement a sustainable physical education curriculum. From an athletic training lens- I am very grateful for the various experiences that USC provided and those opportunities continue to impact my current athletic training career. Looking back, I was fortunate to receive some opportunities to work with great people. I view the annual rotations at various clinical sites an opportunity to start new beginnings, cultivate relationships, and build rapport within those communities.

 What are your current professional goals within the field of athletic training?

To grow awareness to other international secondary schools about the benefits of athletic trainers for their communities in aim to create more job opportunities for athletic trainers internationally. Also to pursue a Wilderness Emergency Medicine Technician (WEMT) certification.

What advice would you give newly graduated masters students looking for their first professional AT position? 

Your first job isn’t your last job! Think about employing yourself in the right setting that sustains a high quality of work life and also places you in better positions to meet your long-term goals.  If you are considering athletic training in the secondary school setting, definitely look into the Master of Arts in Teaching route as an option through the GA program @ USC. I believe it creates more job opportunities because you exit the program with a myriad of athletic training experiences, in addition to initial teacher certification K-12 in physical education. This makes you a competitive candidate when investigating secondary school work opportunities.

Is there an AT that you would identify as being influential in your career thus far? 

Allen Shelley, Head Athletic Trainer from Mars Hill University. He mentored me in and out of the classroom during undergraduate studies. One of the strongest clinical skill he taught was empathy. He embodies professionalism that is guided by his moral compass. 

Thank you to Caleb for taking the time to share some insight on AT's working nationally! Gamecocks are all over the world, doing great things, and advocating for our profession! Keep a look out for March's spotlight! - GSCATA Alumni Committee