Head
Athletic Trainer for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Mike Ryan, PT, ATC, PES is the
newest member of the Medical Advisory Board for Advocates for Injured
Athletes. He comes to A4IA with 25 years
of experience working in the NFL and involvement with a variety of
organizations ranging from the Professional Football Athletic Trainers’
Society, Korey Stringer Institute and Gatorade among others. Mike was drawn to A4IA after speaking with
Beth and hearing Tommy’s story and how a potential tragedy was averted. He is also an advocate for increasing the
number of athletic trainers in the high school setting and understands the
value of the ASA™ program and the athletic trainers who teach it.
Mike
has achieved a life-long dream by becoming a head athletic trainer in the
NFL. Once his high school guidance
counselor made him aware of the athletic training profession he took an almost
single-minded focus toward achieving his goal.
He did not achieve this goal on his own, but with the help of many
mentors along the way including Carl Krein, Head Athletic Trainer at Central
Connecticut State University and Ronnie Barnes, Head Athletic Trainer for the
New York Giants to name a few. They gave
of their time and knowledge to help him be the outstanding professional he is
today. In the same way they mentored
him, Mike has worked to mentor and give back to others. Mike’s desire to mentor others and give back
is exciting for A4IA and the ASA™ program.
Mike’s experience and outlook on advocating for athletic trainers and
athlete safety will be extremely valuable in expanding the impact of the ASA™
program to more and more youth athletes.
Mike
has been in the NFL long enough to really see the focus on player safety
increase. There are several
organizations associated with the NFL, athletic trainers and sports medicine
that are working diligently to make the game safer for all players. The focus covers a variety areas from rule
changes to injury management and injury documentation expectations. Unfortunately, player safety at any level is
not an exact science, but he believes efforts to improve player safety should
continue. He believes the value of the
ASA™ program is in its potential to provide peace of mind for parents who can
be assured their children are safer.
Their children will be safer because the program has resulted in an
increased number of athletic trainers at youth events as well as preparing teammates
to help each other recognize potentially dangerous situations.
Mike
is an athlete himself, completing six (6) Ironman Triathlons and numerous international extreme athletic
events. He loves the challenge and the
opportunity to travel to see different cities while pushing himself to his
limits. Mike believes in the positive benefits of sports participation not only
for himself, but for others. Benefits
such as improved self-confidence, teamwork and meeting a challenge can
potentially be part of the value of the ASA™ program because it can help keep
more youths involved in sports. The ASA™ program can potentially minimize the number of parents who opt
against sports participation for their children feeling as though the safety
concerns outweigh the positive benefits.
In
the brief phone conversation I had with Mike I could hear his passion for his
work as well as for challenging himself and giving back. He said it best himself, “I always want to
feel that at the end of the day I am better than I was when I woke up.” To that end, he works hard to keep his
athletes healthy and gives freely of his knowledge to others. A4IA is proud to be one of the organizations
Mike has agreed to give his talents to, it will only make A4IA and the ASA™
program better. A4IA believes very
strongly in collaboration in order to maximize what we’re able to offer and Mike
is now a part of that collaborative effort.
If you want to learn more about Mike and his passion for sports medicine
and fitness check out his website HERE. Welcome to A4IA and the Medical Advisory
Board!
Submitted by Heather L. Clemons, MS, MBA, ATC
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