The timing lined up perfectly for Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science students Kadarius Burgess and Felipe Ocampo.
As they entered their 4th year, the NFL launched its Diversity successful Sports Medicine Pipeline Initiative. They some applied for the program, and yet landed with the Rams, wherever they each completed abstracted four-week rotations with Los Angeles' aesculapian and diversion grooming staffs earlier this fall.
"It's thing we couldn't truly miss if it presented itself," Ocampo said. "That's 1 of reasons I applied, and I don't cognize if I ever would person gotten acquisition similar this otherwise."
Campo and Burgess got a hands-on look astatine what it's similar to dainty nonrecreational athletes and regular patients, with their schedules consisting of 3-4 days of session work, followed going into the operating country connected Fridays with Dr. Christos Photopoulos, 1 of the Rams' squad physicians.
"It was a premix of similar going to clinic, seeing real-world patients, and past session astatine the Rams' installation arsenic well," Burgess said. "So it was a bully premix of things, seeing however the quality of attraction is from similar NFL and similar however they dainty people, and the non-NFL players too. So it was good."
It wasn't conscionable the squad physicians they got to know, either. The Rams made definite some students got to spot the mode different sports medicine unit worked – truthful not lone the roles of the squad physicians, but besides the sports psychologist, the carnal therapist, the diversion trainer and the dietician arsenic well. Burgess and Ocampo got to interrogation respective radical and larn astir their roles and however they interact with not lone the players, but besides the squad physicians, arsenic good arsenic their vocation paths.
Each besides got to spell to a Rams crippled to observe however the Rams aesculapian and diversion grooming unit treats players successful that situation successful existent clip – for Burgess, that was the Falcons game; for Ocampo, the Cowboys game.
"I realized how, not lone with the games, but also, arsenic acold this experience, adjacent the diversion trainers are, and benignant of similar the archetypal line, arsenic acold arsenic taking attraction of the players," Ocampo said. "So they're similar the archetypal 1 to spot the players. Like Reggie, they archer him that they're hurting first, and that they person similar a genu pain, and past Reggie and the players unneurotic volition spell and spot and speech to the squad physicians. So I realized that it's not the squad physicians who are similar their archetypal – I mean, I conjecture it truly depends, but for the astir part, the diversion trainers are the archetypal line. That's thing I didn't cognize before. I thought possibly similar the squad physicians were ever the 1 to benignant of unreserved and spot what was going connected with players. But it's not ever the case."
For Burgess, it was his archetypal clip going to an NFL game, which was "pretty cool." He likewise was amazed by the gait of that process arsenic helium witnessed it.
"It was besides beauteous eye-opening, seeing however fast-paced it is," Burgess said. "Like, watching it connected TV, 1 happening you didn't recognize is however agelong things take. You astir apt deliberation it takes longer, but being connected the tract and really seeing it work, everything moves precise fast. And it benignant of makes sense, due to the fact that you're trying to marque definite these players are acceptable and capable to enactment successful the game, hole for thing that's fundamentally their job, truthful it's beauteous chill to spot that."
Both Burgess and Campo appreciated the networking worth created by the programme and look guardant to capitalizing connected it to assistance beforehand their ain aspirations. They besides appreciated what seeing that practice means for their careers.
"Mentorship is important," Campo said. "I deliberation erstwhile radical spot idiosyncratic getting to enactment with NFL athletes, for them, it's motivational to privation to prosecute careers similar that. I deliberation not lone from my experience, but being capable to amusement people, particularly those underrepresented successful this field, that they tin bash that and bash these kinds of chill things, that's a large crushed wherefore this programme was truly cool."
English (US)