Learning the Language

I was watching college basketball this weekend and enjoying basketball as I always do. Players were running up and down the court on fast breaks shooting, jumping, defending making it all look so easy. This continued to be the case for the most of the game, except for a few minor injuries that only required the aid of athletic trainers. In these instances the athletic trainers were talking among one another and working together as they always do.

It was this talking that got me thinking. What where they exactly saying? A regular fan just watching sports assumes they are just saying simple easy to understand terms. While they may be using some simple terms, there are other more complicated terms used in their vernacular. Terms such as MCL (Medial collateral ligament) , ACL (Anterior cruciate ligament), LCL (Lateral collateral ligament), distal, and medial are used to describe potentially very complicated injuries. These words are taken for granted my the normal individual, but make a big difference. By using these words the care of injured athletes is done superbly. By using these words athletic trainers become defined.

I can recall a scene from Miracle where Doc is talking to Herb Brooks after Rob McClanahan's injury during intermission. He uses some athletic training vernacular much like the words used above. Brooks is baffled and demands Doc to tell him what is really wrong. Doc responds to Brooks by telling him that McClanahan has a deep muscle bruise. The vernacular Doc uses makes him appear as intelligent and in control of the situation. This representation in pop culture represents an athletic trainer in a fairly accurate way. And I do appreciate that. Athletic trainers are not always characters in movies or shows, and when they are they are not always representative of true athletic trainers (e.g. Waterboy). But, this scene from Miracle does shines an accurate light on what an athletic trainer is through the language Doc uses.

More scenes should be in sports movies or shows that represent an accurate athletic trainer. It would help people come to know and understand athletic trainers better. By using the proper words the dialogue can demonstrate the severity of the situation and what the athletic trainer feels. And in doing this people would possibly have a greater appreciation for what athletic trainers do and who they take care of.

Work Cited

Miracle. Dir. Gavin O'Connor. Perf. Kurt Russel, Patricia Clarkson, Noah Emmerich. Disney, 2004.

            DVD.