Athletic Training in the Bluffton Picture

The football training staff showing how happy they are to reach out into the community.

Student athletic trainers are a small group of people but together they reach a large part of the Bluffton University community through their outreach in training and their daily lives and activities.

Student athletic trainers interact with the student athletes on a daily basis. They form friendships with the players during practice and also with the injured players in the training room. The trainers know that their job is to do their best to keep the athletes safe during practice so that they can perform and represent Bluffton University during their games. Not only do they keep athletes healthy so they can entertain the greater Bluffton University community, but the student athletic trainers do it because they care about protecting their friends, neighbors and classmates. “We genuinely care about the athletes we work with. When they win, we win; when they lose, we lose and when they hurt, we try to make them feel better because we don’t like seeing our friends in pain,” said Sharon Dirksen, sophomore athletic trainer.

The student athletic trainers come from all different areas of the campus. No two trainers have the same major. This means that, collectively, the students represent almost every organization and major degree program on campus – with the exception of music and family and consumer sciences. Some of the trainers are former Bluffton University athletes and almost all of them participate in intramural sports. A handful of the trainers also have other campus jobs including intramural sports staff, Bob’s place, tutoring, First Year Seminar mentoring, working for WBWH radio and Resident Advising. Marbeck Center Board and Student Senate also have representatives who student athletic train.

“Training has been a great way to meet new people and to form friendships with people I may not have spent any time with before. It’s great to be involved with so many different people,” said Dirksen.