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IMG Academy offers opportunities for Athletic Trainers different from most secondary settings. Kaitlyn Deshaies and Jared White share what life is like at IMG.
Kaitlyn, how did you get into Athletic Training, and what led you to IMG?
I was an injured athlete in high school.
I met an AT while traveling with the team and knew Athletic Training was what I was meant to do.
Jared, How did you get into Athletic Training
Planned to go to med school and do orthopedics because I loved being in and around sports.
A random guy was sitting behind our bench with a little black bag and I started asking questions about him and what he did.
I had zero previous experience with Athletic Trainers.
Went to Anderson State University then transferred back to middle Tennessee State
Worked with Vanderbilt
GA at Auburn
Season intern with the KC Chiefs
Became the head AT for the KC Brigade Arena football
Became head AT in Nashville at a D2 school for about 7 years.
At the interview, I loved the IMG academy environment and leadership.
The academy has a boarding school with the traditional student life.
We do not have tryouts, but we have 12 support teams for the one baseball director.
We also have campers throughout the year.
Many pro teams use our campus as an off-season host site.
We are a for-profit business.
We have a very diverse population of TV Stars, a 10-year-old tennis player who is the son of an Abu Dhabi prince, professional athletes, and working-class athletes.
Wayne said there are a lot of unique growth opportunities for an AT at IMG. Can you explain?
You may have a camper here for a week or a student with a torn ACL.
Our ATs have a lot of physician interaction and see a lot of injuries.
Both Kaitlyn and Jared have been forced to grow.
As a for-profit business, we have to help the company make money.
Personal and professional growth.
We are focused on customer experience. Our staff has to understand the ins and outs of the business.
We are housed in a building that houses strength coaches, nutritionists, mental health specialists, leadership and character development, and sports science and data analytics.
We get to work with a lot of sponsors like Gatorade or Under Armor.
IMG Academy’s summer hires are looking for a staffer who can be part of our team in the future.
A good candidate needs to be a part of the team and do the same tasks as the full-time staff.
You do need to be an LAT to work in Florida.
We started the growth summit where we host an entire week of education for our AT staff.
How to read imaging
Dermatology issues
Suji BFR will host a course
Emergency Med situations
CPR AED, Emergency transport
ROM and measurement education
Where have some of the ATs who left IMG gone to?
Some have gone home and had a family, and some have springboarded into their dream jobs.
We have alumni in almost all aspects of athletic training.
Clinical, hospital, LPGA, NFL
How does IMG Academy provide life balance?
We have 23 athletic trainers now and hire 7 during the summer camp season.
We do not have a “hard” PTO schedule. If you can swap with someone to attend to a personal event then do it.
We only have 9 sports and have multiple ATs working baseball but have 200 baseball players.
Contact Us:
Jeremy Jackson – THE SMB on IG
Kaitlyn – Kaitlyn.deshaies@imgacademy.com
Jared – Jared.White@imgacademy.com
These people LOVE Athletic Trainers and help support the podcast:
Frio Hydration – Superior Hydration products.
Donate and get some swag (like Patreon but for the school)
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Marc Pro – Use “THESMB” to recover better.
