Oklahoma State University Athletics
Operating Behind The Scenes
April 08, 2010 | Cowgirl Soccer
April 8, 2010
By Jordie Lindley
The crowd goes silent as the athlete falls to the ground in agony. The trainers rush to the field to attend to the injured player. While every fan in the stadium's eyes are fixed on the injured player, the dedicated athletic trainers are hard at work.
When most athletic fans think of athletic rehabilitation, they think of the athlete doing all the work and getting all the glory. While this may be true, the athletic trainers behind the scenes know the work they put in is well worth seeing the athlete back on their feet.
"A few things that are important to being a good athletic trainer are patience, a sense of humor, and not caring who gets the credit," Oklahoma State soccer athletic trainer Todd Gerlt said.
Gerlt, who has also done athletic training for Missouri, Toledo and Louisville, stumbled upon athletic training when he was in college at Missouri.
"I'm not sure that I actually made the decision as much as the career found me," Gerlt said.
Gerlt got his bachelor's degree in English, but because of some family influence, found himself doing a school internship at Missouri with the athletic training program.
"I started doing athletic training as an intern job because my older brother had done the same when he was in school," Gerlt said. "College athletics is an exciting place to work. Helping people meet goals and overcome injuries is a field that anyone can continue to grow and learn in for a lifetime. The young people I get to work with and build relationships with are incredible. It's a very time consuming but rewarding profession."
While athletic training may have just fell into Gerlt's lap, he has worked hard to get to the level he is.
"When I was at Mizzou, you could intern in the athletic training room for a certain number of hours and take a certain number of science courses that qualified you to sit for the National Athletic Trainers Certification Exam," Gerlt said. "You also needed a bachelor's degree. To further myself in the profession, I also got a Master's degree."
Even though Gerlt has gotten to work with many different sports, soccer has been his favorite.
"I have been lucky to work women's soccer at all four institutions I've been at," Gerlt said. "I would say that my personality seems to fit in best with the group dynamic. I get quite a bit of autonomy and there's always something to do to try to improve an injury, the training, and the mental health of the team."
Cowgirl coach Karen Hancock said Gerlt is the best athletic trainer the OSU soccer program has had since she has been in Stillwater.
"Athletic trainers are an integral part of our staff. They perform such important work for our team," Hancock said. "We would not be as successful as we have been without good trainers. Todd goes above and beyond the call of duty and he does his best to get our players back on the field as quickly as possible without being reckless."
Oklahoma State University has a student internship program like many universities that helps students understand the responsibilities that are related to athletic training.
"Students today are given a lot of opportunities that I wish I'd been afforded," Gerlt said. "My internship's quality was based on the quantity of hours I put in. Our curriculum department does their best to bridge the gap between the classroom and the athletic field."
When deciding where to further his career in athletic training, OSU was an easy choice for Gerlt.
"I knew Rob Hunt from my time at Mizzou. I thought of him as one of the best ATC's that I'd ever worked with, so the opportunity to leave Louisville for an incredible opportunity at OSU seemed to be fate."
Gerlt, being used to working in a larger athletic department, was happy about the closeness of the staff at OSU.
"My favorite part of OSU has been developing relationships with players, staff, and members of the athletic department," Gerlt said. "OSU is a little smaller than other athletic departments, but it creates more of a family atmosphere."
While Gerlt joked about being able to wear shorts to work was his favorite part about athletic training, he did say that athletic training is one job where hard work is always rewarded.
"College sports is an incredible place to build a career," Gerlt said. "There's the excitement of the games--I still get butterflies before the big matches, watching great young people grow in experience and become the awesome people they'll become later in life, the challenge of never quite mastering the human body's ailments. Returning an injured athlete to play is a really emotional thing for me because I have seen how much effort they put into rehab. It really makes you proud of that individual for persevering through injury."
