Athletic training interns part of the team at Camp Woodward

BRADFORD, PA – “Camp Woodward is like heaven for those involved in extreme sports,” says University of Pittsburgh at Bradford senior Anthony Citriniti of Pittsburgh.

Citriniti and junior Kyley Mickle, both students of Pitt-Bradford’s athletic training department, interned at Camp Woodward in central Pennsylvania this summer.

Woodward is an extreme sports residential camp for athletes in BMX, skateboard, scooter, inline skate, snowboard, ski, parkour, cheer, gymnastics, and tumbling. If you are involved in the extreme sports community, you know about Woodward. Considered by many to have the best facilities and training program of its kind in the world, Woodward is often visited by high profile extreme athletes.

While there, Mickle of Port Allegany, PA, met 2012 Olympic gold medalist gymnast Jordyn Wieber. Citriniti was excited to have “covered the 2014 Mongoose Jam tournament, which featured more than 20 professional BMX riders.” He also met “a 10-year-old skateboarder who is the youngest to ever land a 900 degree (2.5 spins). Only 12 people ever have pulled off that trick!”

For an athletic trainer, Woodward is an incomparable place to be. Mickle explains the day-to-day work at the camp: “Work in the athletic training room involves evaluating injuries, different tapings from ankles to wrists, wound care, documenting head injuries and other major injuries, calling parents to update them of their child’s status, and doing rehabilitation exercises with injured campers.” 

A fast-paced learning environment, the athletic training room at Camp Woodward is a busy place. The camp hosts more than 700 campers at any one time — brave and daring kids involved in extreme sports. This means falls, cuts, scrapes, bruises, sprains, myriad injuries, all things campers rely on experienced athletic training interns to assist with so they can get back in the game.

In Woodward’s athletic training room, there is often a line of campers extending out the door. “I learned how to better manage an athletic training room when there are a lot, and I mean a lot, of athletes who are looking for treatment all at the same time,” Citriniti says. “It was literally a zoo at times.”              

Without the sheer number of athletes, the Pitt-Bradford athletic training room is quieter than the one at Woodward, making the interns’ time at the camp overwhelming at first. But after they adjusted, the students got invaluable preparation. “After a few days, I learned to manage tasks more efficiently without sacrificing quality of care,” Citriniti says.

Both students relied heavily on what they learned in class and in practical application at Pitt-Bradford. “I used evaluation techniques that I learned in my Evaluation of Athletic Injuries courses, and tapings that I learned in my Practicum and Clinical Athletic Training courses,” Mickle said.

Citriniti agreed, “because of my classes at Pitt-Bradford, I was confident in my skills to evaluate all the injuries I saw thoroughly and quickly.”

Interns learned from camp staff and from each other. “I enjoyed working with other athletic training students,” Mickle said. “It helps to see how they may do tests differently or how they learned a certain technique a different way.”

Both Mickle and Citriniti applied to the athletic training program because they love sports. “Sports are my passion,” Mickle said.  “I have played any and all types of sports since I can remember.”

Athletic training is about supporting athletes.

Mickle explains: “When I was in high school, we didn’t have an athletic trainer until my senior year, which meant that if you rolled your ankle in a game then the assistant coach would take you to the end of the bench and try her best to tape you up. Meanwhile, she is trying to keep stats for the head coach and watch the game.

“It is important,” said Mickle, who also plays basketball at Pitt-Bradford, “that athletes have someone who has been trained in injury prevention, treatment, assessment, and rehabilitation.”

Citriniti shares her sentiment. “I got involved in athletic training,” he says, “because I grew up playing hockey and watching sports with my dad, brother and friends. As an athletic trainer I still enjoy that team atmosphere. I get to be a part of the sports medicine team: physicians, coaches, nutritionist, physical therapist, strength and conditioning coaches, who help athletes to be successful and have a great experience playing sports.”

Knowing Woodward was a great learning environment for her students, Pitt-Bradford’s head athletic trainer and clinical instructor, Angela Honeck, encouraged them to apply. Honeck, herself an intern at Woodward while she was in college, was able not only to recommend the camp to her students, but vice-versa. Woodward usually only accepts rising seniors for its internship program, but because of Honeck’s recommendation, Mickle, a rising junior, was offered a spot.

A great asset to the athletic training department, Honeck brings numerous area physicians, surgeons, dietitians, and other health-related medical professionals to campus for special lectures in the athletic training program, providing them with the tools they will need to be successful in their field. 

“The athletic training program at Pitt-Bradford has been an awesome experience thus far,” Citriniti said. “The hands-on experience in class has made the transition from taking what I learn in the classroom to what I do in my clinical rotation and internships very easy.”

To learn more about the athletic training program at Pitt-Bradford, visit www.upb.pitt.edu/academics/athletictraining.

More information on Camp Woodward can be found at its website: www.campwoodward.com.