It started with desire

On the first night of basketball practice my sophomore year, which was just the second year girls’ basketball was offered at our high school, our coach announced that in addition to his four returning senior starters, he would add to the starting lineup the player who worked the hardest in practice during the first week.

I was naïve enough to think it could be me.  

It quickly became evident that a freshman named Deb Hardel would be joining the varsity team. Deb was six feet tall, very athletic, and very competitive. And thanks to working on her family’s farm, she had muscles as strong as her work ethic.

I never stood a chance.

But I did have the privilege of playing with Deb my two years on varsity. She was one of the most dedicated and motivated players on the court. While in eighth grade, Deb and her friends had begged our junior high home economics teacher to form a club so they could play basketball, to no avail. With no girls’ sports offerings in junior high, Deb played everything she could as a high school student: volleyball, basketball, and track and field.  She also played softball through the park district in the summer.

While she credits her farm chores for building muscles that protected her knees, Deb endured more than her share of sprained ankles, which she blames on the low cut canvas sneakers we played in. I remember our coach taping her ankles before every practice, every game. She took it all in stride and made great contributions to the Lena-Winslow Girls’ Basketball Program, until a herniated disc in her back stole her entire senior year.

College women’s basketball in the early 1980s

Thankfully, as Deb rehabilitated her back, she knew her playing days were not over. As a high school senior, she had been offered a scholarship to play at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois. She had no great expectations going into her college experience but looking back she recalled how primitive women’s athletics were at the time.

The women on the team were issued one pair of cotton sweatpants and a hoodie, and a warmup suit and uniform—all of which they turned in at the end of the season. To keep within a slim budget, the team was supplied with shoes that were not always the highest quality and the uniforms were polyester, not well-suited for playing basketball. But the players didn’t think much about it as there were no other options.  

“We didn’t have a bus to take us to our games. We crammed into a van and drove to places like Wichita, Kansas and Terre Haute, Indiana. If we were lucky, we’d also get a station wagon as the second vehicle to travel with. By the time I was a junior we had one of those people-mover vans. Our coaches drove and we occasionally ate at truck stops,” Deb said. “At the hotel, there were three or four of us to a room.”

There were two head athletic trainers who worked with the men’s basketball and football teams. The women’s teams also had two athletic trainers but no one specific was assigned to women’s basketball. Students who were earning the athletic training emphasis were assigned to take care of their team’s injuries.

“The rehab equipment was very limited and the modalities like ultrasound or electric stimulation were older models of equipment. We didn’t have a weight program during the season, there was no strength and conditioning coach,” Deb said. “Treatment was pretty basic.”

So it was her own injuries from high school rather than a well-established program, that led Deb to an athletic training career. She earned a degree in a new major being offered at the time, corporate fitness, with an emphasis in athletic training, and a minor in business management. From there she moved to the St. Louis area where she earned a master’s degree in health administration from Lindenwood University and began working at St. Louis Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Clinic as a graduate assistant athletic trainer, where she earned a great deal of experience with rehabilitation. Upon graduating, Deb was hired at St Louis Community College at Florissant Valley full time in 1985 and worked there until she retired in 2014.

Athletic training—a challenging career

When Deb started at St. Louis Community College, she worked on one of its three campuses. Each campus offered all sports and had a full-time athletic trainer; the demands were high in the profession from the very start. Over the course of a year, she was responsible for 125-130 athletes in 11 sports. She provided immediate injury care during practices and games, as well as treatments and rehab throughout the season.

In 2008 the sports were consolidated, and seven sports were offered across the three campuses. Deb then had sports taking place on all three campuses, which added travel time to her schedule.

Like all athletic trainers who work with collegiate athletes, Deb put in long hours and worked many weekends. In the fall, men’s baseball and women’s softball held scrimmages; volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, and track and field were all going on at the same time. She once worked 21 straight days. She had a 9-month contract and worked well beyond that time frame. And she supplemented the low salary by teaching basic athletic training classes. 

Athletic training has always been a difficult profession to manage for mothers, but Deb was fortunate that there was daycare on-site at the college, and her young children could accompany her to practices and the athletic training room.

“My kids thought campus was their playground,” Deb said. “And I was really lucky. The college and coaches were very accepting and supportive of women. I replaced a woman when I got my job and there was another woman athletic trainer working on another campus. The community college was quite progressive in that respect. But when I attended the state and national athletic training meetings, there were limited numbers of women. We did not have a strong voice in our organization at first. I was grateful for the support and mentorship I had in my job. The men and women athletic trainers, the clinical director—it was a team of good people, good mentors.”

Deb is also tremendously grateful to her parents for their encouragement and steadfast support.

As for the coaches, they were thrilled to have athletic trainers. They looked out for her, respected her, and trusted her when she said a player couldn’t play or explained a rehabilitation plan.

But midway through her career Deb observed changes that impacted both her and her athletes. Fewer of the coaches were full-time instructors at the community college. They worked elsewhere and scheduled games and practices when they were available. They lacked the connection on-campus coaches had with their students regarding what was happening to them in school and on a personal level. The focus was on practice and games rather than the team members. And they were less supportive of the athletic trainers.

Athletic training—a fulfilling career

Deb doesn’t miss the grueling schedule, working in 100-degree heat during soccer season, or freezing during spring baseball and softball season.

But despite the challenging aspects of the job, Deb says she wouldn’t have changed a thing. She got to work with some wonderful coaches like Pete Sorber, who won 10 National Soccer championships. She loved that every three months, the sports changed along with the seasons—she was always excited for the new beginning. And, she got paid to watch sports!

But the best thing about her career was the athletes and the relationships she built with them. She was “mom” to hundreds of people. Many would come hang out in the training room just to talk. And 20-30 years later, when she runs into them in the community, they greet her warmly. She also inspired some of the students in her athletic training classes to go into the profession, and she considers it an honor that they followed in her footsteps. 

March is National Athletic Training Month

Today, athletic trainers must graduate from a program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education and pass the Board of Certification (BOC) exam, which was implemented in 1989. Most states require additional licensing. Deb started her career before the BOC was in place but took a National Certification Test in 1985. She volunteered to be an examiner for the practical skills test of the BOC, which helped keep her current with changes in her profession. 

The role of athletic trainers and the knowledge required to do the job have grown exponentially over the last 30 years, but salaries started low and have not kept pace as they should have. When she retired, Deb found the paperwork from her first job—as a health care provider, she made $10,000. Around the same time, as an assistant manager for a retail chain I was making $17,000.   

The US Bureau for Labor Statistics expects demand for athletic trainers to grow 23% from 2020-2030. Average pay is $49,860. The similar profession of physical therapy is expected to grow 21% and average pay is $91,000.

There is no doubt that Americans love sports. Isn’t it time athletic trainers receive the recognition and salary they deserve for keeping athletes in the game?

Learn more about athletic trainers

March 2022 National Athletic Training Month—Providing Health Care Everywhere

Who are athletic trainers?

 Learn about athletic trainers in your state

A brief history of Athletic Training from Bellin Health Systems      

Happy Birthday to my favorite athletic trainer, my daughter!

Photo provided by Deb Hardel Iborg