LaTonja Lee, MS, ATC, PES, has a deep passion for exposing more girls to the athletic training profession. In 2019, Lee brought a program call Women in Athletic Training to the Girl Scouts of Nassau County (New York) (see p. 30 of the November 2019 NATA News). This June, Lee, who is a Girl Scout Gold Award recipient and member of the adult council, turned her attention to Indianapolis.
“It wasn’t necessarily strategic, in the sense of Indy is the best city for this,” Lee said. “I just said, ‘This is what I’m going to do this year, and this is a good start.’ I wasn’t trying to plan this extravagant thing.”
Alexandra Griffin, MS, LAT, ATC; LaTonja Lee MS, LAT, ATC, PES; Andrea Durham MS, ATC, CSCS; Daminska Estime MS, ATC, CES; and Monica Lorenzo, MS, ATC, CES, leaders of Girls Love Sports Medicine.
Lee said she pulled the event together in about three weeks, from contacting the leadership of the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana – who Lee said were “ecstatic” to have the group – to holding the event, dubbed Girls Love Sports Medicine.
“I had to get custom T-shirts printed, had to coordinate transportation, had to find individuals and groups – hopefully – sponsor us,” Lee said. “The night before [the event], we were packing gift bags. As stressful as it was to organize, it was worth it.”
Gatorade provided the bags, which included donations from Medco (tape, pre-wrap and water bottles), SAFETEC (first aid kits and topical antibiotics) and Collins Sports Medicine (energy chews).
The biggest change from the 2019 event to the 2023 event, Lee said, was the setting. In 2019, Lee held the event at her then employer, Molloy College. The 2023 event was held at Camp Sycamore Lake, a Girl Scout day camp, about an hour from the Indiana Convention Center where the 74th NATA Clinical Symposia & AT Expo was held.
“It was kind of primitive,” Lee said. “We had the opportunity to spread ourselves out in a location that didn’t have all the resources that would normally be available for a presentation. But that’s what athletic trainers do. We’re inventive and we facilitate things. We’re the Macgyvers of the body.”
Twenty-six Girl Scouts ranging from ages 7 to 16, or Brownies to Seniors, attended the event, which took place during the camp’s Sports Week. Lee enlisted the help of four additional female athletic trainers to help with stations that showcased what ATs do to help athletes and patients.
The stations included:
- Nutrition, led by Andrea Durham, MS, ATC, CSCS, kinesiology/entrepreneurship instructor and CEO/founder of Minority Women in Sports Medicine, where the girls learned about the importance of fueling their bodies with healthy food options while creating yogurt, granola and fruit parfaits.
- Meditation and mindfulness, led by Monica Lorenzo, MS, ATC, CES, entrepreneur and founder of ROMO Fit, Inc. & Pro Athletic Solutions, LLC, where the girls learned to meditate and practice breathing techniques to calm the mind and body.
- Stretching and mobility, led by Alexandra Griffin, MS LAT, ATC, assistant athletic trainer at Fordham University, where the girls were instructed on how to properly use foam rollers and stretching bands to help reduce injuries before participating in activities.
- Emergency care, led by Daminska Estime MS, ATC, CES, assistant athletic trainer at Wagner University, where the girls learned the basics of splint and bandage use and the importance of wound care.
- Orthopedic injuries and taping, led by LaTonja Lee, where the girls learned the most common injuries of specific sports and how to tape a wrist.
Lee said she had a strong personal relationship with three of the women prior to the event; Estime was brought on by Durham, and Lee now counts her as a friend, as well.
“I literally can call up and ask them for anything, whether it’s community service or even professionally,” Lee said. “It’s really a sisterhood. It’s something that I value because not a lot of people have [that kind of] support in their professions. I’m very blessed to have women who support me.”
Lee demonstrates how to wrap an injured or painful wrist.
Lee said her main goal for the day was for the Girl Scouts to gain an understanding of what athletic training is and the different roles ATs can hold, with a long-term goal of getting more people, especially women, interested in the profession.
“I don’t know if everybody knew what an athletic trainer was at the time,” Lee said. “At the end, we them fill out forms that said, ‘An athletic trainer is a professional who ….’ We asked them to put their perspective so we knew they took something from [the day].”
"Some of the answers included “athletic trainers slay” and “athletic trainers are your friends,” Lee said.
The Girl Scouts were also asked about their favorite station, and most chose either the nutrition station or the mindfulness station, Lee said.
“It really tells us a lot about these young people now, that mindfulness and self-care is something at the forefront of their minds,” Lee said.
Durham discusses nutrition and helps the Girl Scouts make a snack.
It’s important for ATs talking to students to be open and engaging as they teach about the profession. Lee said kids don’t know what they haven’t been exposed to.
“I don’t believe there’s a dumb question that [kids] can ask us,” she said.
Lorenzo discusses mindfullness and meditation.
Events like Girls Love Sports Medicine aren’t just about reaching the next generation of ATs, but also about reaching their parents, Lee said.
“We want to facilitate a conversation about how to protect and support young athletes,” Lee said. “[Maybe parents] will ask why their school doesn’t have an athletic trainer. [These events] start the conversation at home. It’s important for us, as [a profession], to start having these conversations and going into the community to connect with organizations like the Girl Scouts.”
Estime demonstrates how to splint an injured arm as part of emergency care.
Starting the conversation at home usually means children take something from the event, Lee said, even if it’s just an emotional connection with the profession and what ATs do. For Girls Love Sports Medicine, each girl took home a goody bag from Gatorade that included a first aid kit from Mueller Sports Medicine.
For athletic trainers who want to host similar events in their communities, the options aren’t limited to the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, Lee said. Other youth-based organizations, such as the YMCA or the Boys and Girls Club of America, would be good to reach out to about hosting a similar event. Just make sure the organization is aligned with your goals and ideals.
Griffin demonstrates safe stretching and foam rolling.
“Find a support for yourself, whether it’s another athletic training friend or somebody within the organization who you’re trying to work with who’s going to be really supportive of what you’re trying to do,” Lee said. “Because, unfortunately, sometimes people will be like, ‘Oh this is great,’ and then they don’t follow through.”
Lee said she is already planning an event for the 75th NATA Clinical Symposia & AT Expo in New Orleans in 2024. A sports medicine patch for Girl Scouts is also in the works, with Lee’s push, which will require troops to find space in their programs for more events like Girls Love Sports Medicine.
