Athletic Trainer

All who wander are not lost. 

FAMILY BACKGROUND

MV’s father was a cement mason who rose to management of his company but preferred driving its trucks. His passion was music while playing in a band, which he gave up after getting married, to devote time to his family while working to support them all. MV’s mother was initially a homemaker until the four children needed less attention, when she went to work in a bakery, dealing directly with customers.

FAMILY INFLUENCE TOWARD CAREER CHOICES

Among the four siblings, MV was born second in the batting order. His older brother played ice hockey at a high level, which influenced MV toward his own participation in sports.

MV’s mother, noting that MV’s father had given up his music passion to focus on their family, advised all her children to “follow your passion into a career.” (Editor’s note: Commentary: “Follow Your Passion!” 

EARLY CAREER GOALS

While still in elementary school, MV had multi-faceted career goals: (1) play on the same professional hockey team’s (Islanders) front line as his favorite player (Mike Bossy); (2) work in the field of athletics and (3) if MV could not earn a living as a pro athlete, then get involved in physical education. Now looking back, MV knew he had too much energy to work while being confined mostly to an office, which ironically reflects his father’s career path. 

HIGH SCHOOL YEARS

In addition to active participation in athletics, MV’s passion while inactive, was reading history. He heard about a well-regarded private, nearby urban high school and took its entrance exam, hoping to enroll since he would have the opportunity there to play sports and choose elective courses involving history. The tuition might have been affordable if MV or his parents then knew of the opportunity to apply for scholarship aid but neither MV as a teenager nor his parents had any understanding of the process to seek financial aid. 

The neighborhood children were all attending a local, private parochial school so MV joined them there but while academically talented, earning As and Bs without much studying, he was not especially interested in the limited curriculum offered. He tried to enroll in an anatomy and physiology course, but it was not available to him at the time. 

Prior to meeting with the parochial school’s guidance counselor as high school graduation approached, MV completed a career interests survey, which the counselor analyzed to conclude that MV was best suited to enroll in the local community college. 

COLLEGE YEARS

With no other college options presented and in the absence of any parental guidance, MV enrolled in the two-year community college. The CC curriculum was focused more on preparation for a specific occupation than “liberal arts” courses such as history so MV selected among available science courses (part of his passion to become an athletic trainer or physical therapist) which would not interfere with another passion, playing on the baseball team. 

RANDOM OPPORTUNITY 

Following the end of a baseball game when MV had batted well against the opposing pitcher who had been the initial focus of a baseball scout from a local university’s team, the scout approached MV to ask whether MV would be interested in transferring to the local university’s four-year program. MV had already investigated – on his own initiative – and successfully applied to several other university programs where he could play baseball, study history, and prepare for his future as a physical therapist or athletic trainer.  MV promptly checked into the specifics of the curriculum from the scout’s university offer and when added to the recommendation of a friend already playing a competitive sport there, agreed to enroll as a full-time student and “walk-on” (non-scholarship athlete) to the baseball team, initially 5th on the infield depth chart but soon rising to full time, starting player. 

By now with some college experience, MV carefully arranged his schedule to permit taking anatomy and physiology lab-based classes to accommodate playing on the baseball team, often involving time consuming travel to far away campuses to compete on the varsity level. 

LUCK? 

Editor’s note – MV claims that he was lucky that the scout, attending a game to focus on a different player, happened to see MV have success in that one game, which led to the opportunity for MV to earn a 4-year college degree from a well-regarded university while allowing him to play four years of competitive baseball. But by the time he was presented with that university offer, MV had already worked hard to enhance his athletic skill and he had taken the initiative to investigate schools which could meet his goals of studying history and learning to be a sports trainer or physical therapist. Some define luck as “Hard work meets Opportunity.”

POST COLLEGE – VAGABOND YEARS

Following college graduation with his coveted Bachelor of Arts degree, MV – unmarried with no children at the time – played professional baseball at the level of “ILs” (Independent Leagues – teams were not affiliated with specific Major League baseball teams but playing was both fun at the time and a showcase for MLB scouts to sign players to their specific teams.) MV and his underpaid peer group played for IL teams for several years, often sleeping on hotel room floors and subsisting on hamburger and soda / beer diets as the only affordable options. 

This vagabond lifestyle came to an abrupt halt when MV collided with a teammate while chasing a fly ball, crushing his jaw and several other facial bones. His parents rushed to the hospital ER and essentially mandated that MV return to home base and when physically recovered, get a real job. MV accepted the reasonableness of their proposal. 

FIRST JOB TOWARD A MULTI-FACETED CAREER

Toward the end of his 3-month recovery from facial fractures, MV had filled in as a substitute teacher – on the (random) recommendation of a friend – at a local, private parochial, elementary school. Apparently, his teaching performance was being informally monitored by the school administration, which soon offered him a full-time teaching position along with coordinator of baseball and softball athletics for the students. MV was certainly qualified as an athletics coordinator but pointed out to the school administrator that he had no formal teaching certifications. “Not to worry,” said the administrator. “We’ve seen your ability to work well with our young students so you can “shadow” experienced teachers for awhile and we’ll teach you anything else you’ll need to know.”

INITIAL JOBS LEAD TO FURTHER CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Over the next several years, MV’s reputation for dedicated teaching and coordination of athletic programs and occasional team coaching, led to several opportunities to pursue those types of careers at different private schools, where formal teaching certifications are – unlike public schools – not required. 

By then and into the foreseeable future, MV had only been certified as a qualified strength and conditioning coach. 

Along the way, MV returned to higher education for two years to earn his Master’s Degree in history (Notes MV: “It met my academic interest but such a post-graduate history degree provides extremely limited ways to earn a living.”) while concurrently earning money to support himself by bar-tending and working with small groups of 5 to 10 year olds in anticipation of starting his own business training young athletes. 

A PASSION NEVER ABANDONED FINDS ITS OPPORTUNITY

MV never lost sight of another passion: “Own my own business involving sports training for young athletes.” Using his experience working with a few 5 – 10-year-olds, MV opened his own sports training business. While building a clientele in sufficient numbers to create adequate financial income, MV was able to use his successful teaching and sports coordinating experience to land several part-time positions in local schools and even one university (where part-time faculty are known as “Adjunct Professors.”)

Business and teaching were proceeding full speed ahead – until they couldn’t when MV’s plans were derailed by a physical challenge: cancer. 

CAREER CHALLENGE – CANCER 

MV’s sudden diagnosis of several cancerous tumors brought his teaching and business careers to a full stop while he underwent 5 months of intense chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery, followed by a year and a half of recovery while slowly regaining his physical strength. But MV’s mental strength and his passion to continue his dual careers, was never diminished. 

Consistent with his optimistic and active personality, MV resumed his part-time teaching and full-time sports training business as soon as he had the physical strength to do so – which, as you might by now have guessed, was a lot earlier than anyone would have predicted.  

CAREER SATISFACTION

MV is now the successful owner and operator of a thriving business training young athletes to perform at their best with his conditioning techniques and gentle motivation. He continues to fill time when his young clients are in school, by part-time teaching and refereeing, all the while a father devoted to his wife, child, and surviving parent. 

He has watched with pride as many of his trained athletes have gone on to play competitive sports at a variety of college levels, from D1 to D3, often earning athletic scholarships. Perhaps those student athletes will not follow his vagabond path but he’s happy that he did and can occasionally take a few moments to savor the successful paths of his students.