Interview by Jaya Merkman
The Falconer: So, what is it like to be an athletic trainer?
Mr. Muse: It's really awesome! It's very…I think the word I would use is rewarding because I think I see students when they are super excited to do their sport and I'm here to help the students. They are very appreciative of the work that I do and they are all very kind and so it makes my job very easy because it doesn't feel like coming to work everyday because I'm just coming to hang with friends basically. Like I'm coming to see friends and help people and it's pretty easy. For me anyway.
The Falconer: That's awesome! I love that you like coming here and seeing us and helping us! Next question, Where did you go to college? Or like what did you major in?
Mr. Muse: I went to the University of New Hampshire and I majored in athletic training. I got my bachelors degree, athletic training is now a masters program, but I graduated two years before that transition or I think a year or two before that transition happened to masters so I got my bachelors.
The Falconer: So, what is it like to be an athletic trainer?
Mr. Muse: It's really awesome! It's very…I think the word I would use is rewarding because I think I see students when they are super excited to do their sport and I'm here to help the students. They are very appreciative of the work that I do and they are all very kind and so it makes my job very easy because it doesn't feel like coming to work everyday because I'm just coming to hang with friends basically. Like I'm coming to see friends and help people and it's pretty easy. For me anyway.
The Falconer: That's awesome! I love that you like coming here and seeing us and helping us! Next question, Where did you go to college? Or like what did you major in?
Mr. Muse: I went to the University of New Hampshire and I majored in athletic training. I got my bachelors degree, athletic training is now a masters program, but I graduated two years before that transition or I think a year or two before that transition happened to masters so I got my bachelors.
The Falconer: That's very interesting! Did you always want to be an athletic trainer or did you change your mind a lot throughout the years?
Mr. Muse: So I started.. I think it started when I got really close with my athletic trainer in high school and she had offered a few athletic training classes that I took and she was kind of my first friend in high school because I came from a different district and met her the summer before my freshman year and I honestly, when she would teach us about like anatomy and the Physiology of the body I was like, “Wow I really relate to this and this is something that is very interesting to me.” The functions of the anatomy was very interesting to me so it immediately struck a chord, and I don't think I've ever wavered in the subject matter but I have thought about different routes in healthcare.
The Falconer: Wow! That's actually really sweet.
Mr. Muse: Yeah I really appreciated her, my athletic trainer, and she's my mentor now and I really appreciate the work that she did because she exposed a path for me that I really enjoy at a very young age and so I wouldn't have had that opportunity any other way. So I really appreciate her and her work.
The Falconer: That's really cool! Next question, What is your greatest accomplishment working as an athletic trainer?
Mr. Muse: I think my greatest accomplishment is my ability to make my patients or as you say the students comfortable enough to trust me in helping them. You know when you get injured, it's a very sensitive topic and it's a very personal thing because, I don't know the right words for this, because you are very vulnerable and so to have to know that they trust me in coming to me for things like that and of that nature I think that would be my greatest accomplishment. Just making them comfortable.
The Falconer: What techniques and equipment do you have the most experience with?
Mr. Muse: So I would say I have a good amount of experience working with cupping, IASTM, and stretching. It is only my second year so I'm just trying to implement them as much as I can. But we did use cupping and these equipment in my undergrad career so I'm kinda familiar with them and stretching techniques. Massage could use some work but I always enjoy doing these things because, not only do I think that they are beneficial for the athlete, but they also just give me experience to improve my skills so I would say massaging, stretching, cupping, and IASTM are the things that I have the most experience with. Lastly, I think I have a pretty good grasp on not technically diagnosing, because that's what doctors do, but I can come up with kinda an assessment and I would say I'm pretty good at breaking them down and determining an accurate assessment.
The Falconer: Wow, that's really amazing. I think I've seen cupping being done before but it seems like it hurts! Next question, what is the one thing you do more than anything else?
Mr. Muse: Like in my work life?
The Falconer: Yes.
Mr. Muse: Probably taping ankles.
The Falconer: I knew it!
Mr. Muse: Oh yeah taping would probably be another one of my skills! So I taped a lot of ankles over the football seasons. When there were football games I would tape like 22 ankles and I would bang them out and it was wild! But not to my credit or anything I mean it was just like they gotta get out there so you gotta do it real quick. But, I tape a lot of ankles. I say that's like the most consistent thing that I do.
The Falconer: Next question, how do you motivate an injured athlete?
Mr. Muse: I think that it's important to look at the broader goals and at the same time as smaller goals. Like there are a lot of ways I can motivate an athlete in their sport so they're not like… because at this level you have a lot of indecision with kids who are like “I don't even wanna go to practice blah blah” and they don't have to really. That is their decision so, there are a couple of different avenues like if I can use. Like if i motivate them in a sense of their injuries so we look at shorter term goals like “we wanna reach this by this week” because if we look at bigger goals too often then it is really hard to progress and injury treatment is big psychological game where you know it's very easy to get down on yourself if you are not improving the way you expect to so, not making goals that are like “Ok lets get full range in motion first” or even “Ok lets get half range of motion back first. That's our goal.” That can be done pretty easily and we can move on from there. So, making smaller goals and then keeping the broader goals in mind but really focusing on things that are achievable in the near future to give that gratification so that allows them to kind of keep going forward.
The Falconer: What is the worst injury you have seen so far?
Mr. Muse: Honestly nothing crazy. I think the worst in terms of time out would probably be an ACL injury in college but I guess one of the more crazier ones, it's not even that crazy, but what I've seen here is just a broken fibula because someone had rolled their ankle inwards and had broke his fibula and sprained their ligaments. So that was probably the most like “Woah! That's an injury” verses like an ACL that's in your body but it takes a long time to repair and recover.
The Falconer: Why did you come to mashpee? Were you transferred here?
Mr. Muse: So I have lived on Cape Cod all my life, short life, this is not like I'm 50 and I'm like, “All my life I've lived on Cape Cod.” *Laughter* But I grew up here and I just graduated college two years ago so I decided to take some time off from working so I kind of toured America a little bit and then Covid happened and Leslie [the prior trainer at MMHS] was leaving. I had built a connection with Leslie through soccer and soccer camps, so she texted me and was saying that she was heading on her way out and I was like, “Oh perfect opportunity for me to gain experience.” At first it was definitely intimidating. I think when I look at something from the outside in, then it is much more intimidating than if I am in here. But that even happens like over weekends and I like get intimidated by going back in sometimes. But then I get in here and it's like “We are all fine and everything is fine. We can do the good work and get everything done that we need to” And then I have nothing to worry about.
The Falconer: Yeah honestly, I feel that same way with soccer and what not. Like I would go to soccer practice and I would be like, “Oh I don't wanna be here, everyone is so much better than me.” But then I get started and have fun with everyone and everyone is so nice and I'm just like “Ok it's not so bad anymore.”