Athletic Training Spotlight: Matt Foote
National Athletic Training Month is held every March in order to spread awareness about the important work of athletic trainers. This Wells College feature spotlights each of this season's athletic training team members for the Express with today's feature on assistant athletic trainer Matt Foote.
Matt Foote enters his first year at Wells College as an assistant athletic trainer and seventh year in the athletic training field. Matt graduated from Canisius College with an undergraduate degree in athletic training and then obtained his master's degree from East Tennessee State University in kinesiology and sports studies. In addition to Wells, Matt is also affiliated with the Cayuga Medical Center. Prior to Wells, Matt spent time as a student athletic training intern for the Buffalo Bills, an intern athletic trainer for the United States Military Academy, a graduate assistant athletic trainer for East Tennessee State University and then as an assistant athletic trainer at East Tennessee State University. Prior to college, Matt competed at the high-school level in football and basketball. In a brief question and answer segment, Matt shared his thoughts about his profession.
How did your career path get steered toward athletic training?
MF: "Working with my high school athletic trainer, which made me interested in the profession."
What do you like best about your profession?
MF: "Working with athletes in a diverse setting and being able to return athletes to play so they can succeed on the field, court, pool, etc."
What aspect do you find to be the most challenging in this line of work?
MF: "Being able to work as a team and continue to find alternatives when things that usually work for an injury aren't working."
What skill or trait do you rely on the most to be successful?
MF: "Communication! Communication is key not only in athletic training, but almost everything we do in our life. If communication lacks between the athletic trainers, athletes and coaches, we may not be as successful in returning an athlete to play as fast as we would want to."
