Sports Story of the Week
Duke Athletic Trainer and Player #5
I wanted to avoid this topic. I hesitated to discuss the viral moment. I tend to look for the more obscure moments and stay away from what is viral. But then I remembered. I was once a female athletic trainer. I was once in the exact role and position that the Duke Athletic Trainer was this past weekend. I was a female in a male dominated field, literally and figuratively. So I can't just ignore it. I can't just talk privately. This situation has so many viewpoints. So typical for me, I want to address the nuance. The lessons I saw. The "And" of the situation, not just the polarity of right and wrong.
If you haven't heard or seen the clip, I will give a brief explanation and then you can view the link. I wasn't able to find one that didn't have a one-sided narrative attached.
During the Duke vs. Carolina game this weekend a Duke player went down with a scary injury. The medical team ran on the field and were addressing the player including holding C-Spine for the motionless athlete. At that time, his fellow player and friend was standing by concerned and observing. Then a female athletic trainer ran onto the field to assist and when she approached the scene, she pushed the player out of the way to kneel down next to the injured player. At that point, the player observing, player #5, swatted the athletic trainers arm away in a bit of an aggressive fashion.
The clip quickly went viral. Opinions on who was wrong, what "should" have happened.
I am not going to try to guess the narrative, not going to insinuate what it all meant, not going to hypothesize on intentions. But what I will discuss are actions. For those of us that work in athletics your "office" is on a field, a court, a pitch. Full of athletes, full of adrenaline, and usually in front of crowd, so you will catch moments that aren't easily explained. Its not a simple job. But what we can do is be human, be kind, and realize that how we speak about the people we are watching in a situation can reveal just as much about our own character that those that we are talking about.
The 3 Lessons from the Viral Duke Video
1. Fear can make us act irrational.
In this situation, even with all of the training, the practices, the mock scenarios, running onto a field for a player where you need to hold c-spine, where they may have a loss of consciousness, or you are fearing the "worst" there is adrenaline running through your veins. The world around you feels irrelevant. Its crisis mode. A crisis you plan and prepare for, and still a crisis. Others see it too. Player number 5 was concerned, as I'm sure everyone watching was. As I'm sure the medical team was, however, the ROLE of the player vs. the medical team is different. Both of the actions came from fear. Operating from fear is never the right emotion.
2. You don't know anyones role
There was SO much discussion on whether the "female" athletic trainer was even "important". Let me tell you, having been the athletic trainer that was holding the head, running up mid-scene, using hand signals for the equipment, or being the one simply driving the cart, each role is important. And ANYONE that isn't there can't guess. Holding a water bottle doesn't make you less qualified to manage a c-spine injury. Just like doing the front
3. Be careful how loud you judge, others are listening.
You might have an opinion, you might have shared it. I might not remember the opinion. But I do remember, and hear, how you called the athletic trainer a "little girl". How you spoke about the "thug". Neither are factual based on simply the video. When you make quick judgements, when you loop an identity onto a persons behavior, you also give insight into something deeper. We have to make room for nuance, for curiosity, for digging deeper than the surface. Whether it is what you see on a field, a video, and office, or a board room.
An extra 4th lesson since this was my career, and this hits too close to home.
4. The behavior you accept, becomes the standard you set.
I am tough. Fairly crass. Sarcastic. Curse too much. A little too direct. I'm also kind. I'm sensitive. All of this to say, that building a career as a female in athletics isn't for the faint of heart. I was in my early 20's and had to tell a coach with a famous pedigree making more than I might make in my lifetime that a star player won't play. I looked what would be first round NFL draft pick in the eye and hold him accountable for missing a treatment. I have gone toe to toe with coaches, players, staff alike. I have been in a team locker room when there were fights, and when there were tears. The Vulnerability, Raw Humanity, and Pure Emotion that comes when you are on and part of an athletic team is nothing you can imagine if you haven't experienced it. Here is the thing about when this happens, you address it. You apologize. You figure it out. You work through it. Apologies also come with changed behavior. When the thing you apologized for isn't a pattern. That is what remains to be seen. Because above all this, we know that if you accept a behavior without holding accountability, that behavior becomes the new standard. We can't have that. We can't have that for medical professionals, we can't have that for women, and we can't have that for work at all.
