A Message From Tim Hoskins

Dear TATS Membership,

It is with regret that I announce my resignation from the TATS Executive Board as the Middle Tennessee Representative.  My wife and I will be relocating to the New England area.  Both of us will be advancing our careers as well as embarking on this new journey in life.

Please know that I have thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed the opportunity to serve with y'all (LOL) to further the profession of Athletic Training. I am proud of our collective achievements and the significant progress we have made for our profession. I am particularly honored to have served as a past chair of governmental affairs and most recently the middle TN rep. I am truly grateful for the opportunities that have been given to me. As a board and as individuals, you are all tremendously talented, and I feel lucky to have volunteered by your side these past fourteen years.  I would encourage each of you to continue to promote the profession.  Our communities stand to only benefit from our services. 

Please know that I will always champion the profession of Athletic Training and remain available to the organization via telephone or email. I look forward to seeing your many future accomplishments. May God bless each and every one of you as he has blessed me and my family. Not a good bye, but, a see you later...

Sincerest regards,

Tim Hoskins, LAT

Volunteers

TATS is looking for members who have an interesting in volunteering to be a part of our working committees.  TATS committees are the primary way that members can be influential in the athletic training profession.  If you have an interesting in getting involved in our professional organization, take a moment to complete the form below with any comments you may like to add.

Capitol Hill Day 2016 - Review

TATS had huge success this year in developing new relationships and strengthening our already strong connections with legislators during Capitol Hill Day 2016 on March 23rd. The TATS contingent was able to see the State Senate in action as they finalized legislation for the 2016 session. Senator Jim Tracy also took a portion of his floor time to have the TATS representatives recognized by the entire State Senate for the collective efforts of athletic trainers across Tennessee.

We were also able to have several important meetings with Representatives Joe Towns and G.A. Hardaway to discuss issues related to youth sports safety and concussion legislation. Representative Hardaway spent an extra amount of time sharing with us his personal desire to promote safe sports and his willingness to work with TATS to ensure the safety of athletic individuals across Tennessee, especially our children. 

We were also able to have meetings with Senators Janice Bowling and Jeff Yarbro and discuss the important role of athletic trainers in secondary schools and our desire to see every high school in Tennessee have care provided by an athletic trainer.  Because of the busy day that our legislators had planned, some scheduled meetings had to be cancelled, but the one-on-one meetings we were able to have were highly productive.

TATS was represented at Capitol Hill Day by the following members: Peggy Bratt, Michael Gerlach, Tim Hoskins, Alan Killingsworth, Ray Knight, Clint Sanders, Brad Swope, and Cumberland University AT Student Megan Hacker.  Special thanks to our lobbyists Chuck Welch and Zach Bates for preparing our day on Capitol Hill and scheduling our legislator meetings.

We hope many others are able to participate in legislative efforts to promote athletic training in the future. If you would like to become involved in our legislative efforts, reach out to the TATS Governmental Affair Committee by contacting Alan Killingsworth.

Capitol Hill Day 2016

CAPITOL HILL DAY will take place this year on Wednesday, March 23rd, 2016.

Join Us On The Hill!!!

How can you help?

We want to give TATS members a chance to share their story of athletic training to the leaders of our state. We hope to meet with 12 - 15 legislators and will have talking points prepared for you to discuss with our Tennessee representatives, including discussing the importance of athlete safety across the nation.

Why do you need to help?

The Tennessee State Legislators want to hear from all of their constituents about issues important to them. The TATS Leadership alone cannot have nearly the impact that you can have with your representative. We want to take some small steps this year to improve participation by getting at least 5 people from each division of the state (East, Middle, & West TN) to join the TATS Leadership as we meet with State Legislators to discuss the future of our profession in Tennessee.

What happens at Day on the Hill?

You won't have anything to worry about on that day other than talking with your representatives. We will meet at 8:30am at Puckett's Grocery to talk with our TATS legislative liaison and discuss talking points for the day. Meetings with legislators will be pre-arranged for that day. At 9:30am we will walk to Capitol Hill and begin meetings until around 1pm.

Are you a student wanting to make a difference for athletic training?

Then join us for Capitol Hill Day! Young or old, you can make a difference by advocating for athletic training.

Everyone can make a difference! If you want to be a part of this opportunity to meet with our state leaders, click the button below or email us at tats.communications@gmail.com.

Join Us On The Hill!!!

Conference Engagement & Communication Tools

Every year at the TATS Annual Meeting, we try to improve upon the previous year's tools for keeping our members engaged and connected. This commitment to communication is for both the meeting and what is happening in the society throughout the year. Over the last 3 years we have used a tool called Edmodo to deliver conference materials, communicate with the meeting organizers, and connect with other attendees. While Edmodo has been useful in years past, there have been some issues and we hope to address these by some changes for this year's meeting. This year we will be using a new technology called Slack. A New Communication Tool Slack provides an improved communication interface that is easy and intuitive to use. It creates channels for very quick messaging and response from conference organizers and presenters. Slack also allows attendees a way to connect with one another individually, in groups, or with all attendees at the meeting. Slack can be used on any device, mobile or desktop, with a simple web interface or via native apps for your iOS and Android devices.

Pre-Conference Discussion & Networking We are also hoping that attendees to this year's meeting will take advantage of Slack's communication tools and the information already prepared in the Slack channels to better prepare for the meeting in advance. Slack can make for a great opportunity to connect with other attendees about upcoming sessions, ask questions that you hope will be addressed by presenters, and general make requests or offer feedback about how we can enhance the value of the meeting for you.

Getting Ready for TATS 2016 In order to use Slack for the event, you must be registered as an attendee. You should receive your Slack invitation shortly after your registration. We want everyone to feel comfortable with using Slack before the meeting. If you have any questions regarding Slack, please reach out via email.

In the sidebar at the right you will find some useful guides to help you familiarize yourself with Slack prior to the event. We look forward to connecting with you and seeing how you use Slack to network and become a better professional!

Resolutions

As I end my time as Chair of TATS Ethics and Compliance committee, it is appropriate to reflect at this time of passage. What did I learn in this position? What is important when we think about Ethics and athletic training? And what charge do I give to those coming after me? In nutshell, I have learned during the past three years that the athletic training community in Tennessee is alive and well when dealing with the ethical issues surrounding our profession at all times. I am proud of the support and responsiveness shown by so many others when we as an association had to deal with persons who mis-represented themselves as certified members and potentially endangered our athletes by trying to act in our stead.

On a different level, I have been so impressed with the new professionals entering this field from curriculum programs around the country. I work with several of them daily and I can see that as an old school ATC, I really have nothing to worry about. Athletic training actually will not dry up and blow away the day that I walk away.

And finally, my charge is simple and not a new thought: protect your self by keeping your license current, keep our practice act close at hand and refer to it when unsure, and support BOTH the NATA and TATS in voting and membership. They are our voice - We as a profession are constantly under assault by many other professions who want to take our place on the field and in the athletic training rooms. We must continue to improve our skills and knowledge and support this wonderful profession at every opportunity.

In closing, it's all pretty simple: Take care of your athletes/clients/patients and do the right thing.

By John Purdy, ATC - TATS Ethics & Compliance Committee Chair

2016 TATS Annual Meeting & Clinical Symposium

Annual Meeting Registration Now Open!!!

January 16th & 17th, 2016

Register Today!!!

The TATS Annual Meeting & Clinical Symposium is the premier event to kick-start the new year for athletic trainers in Tennessee. Our two-day conference boasts important educational opportunities (including evidence based practice CEUs), the society business meeting, career networking for professionals both young and old, as well as social outings hosted by the Young Professionals Committee.

The meeting will again be held on January 16th & 17th, 2016 at the GSO Auditorium on the campus of Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital in Nashville, TN.

The cost of the event is $99.00 for Early Registration. By attending the meeting you will be able to earn up to 11 CEU hours, with EBP approval pending on 4.5 of those hours.

Early registration ends on January 8th, so be sure to register prior to that day to avoid the increased fees for late registration. Registration will also be available at the door on the day of the event, but at the late registration fee cost of $110.00.

If you have any questions regarding the event, feel free to reach out to TATS at tats.communications@gmail.com.

We sincerely hope you can attend and look forward to seeing so many great healthcare professionals in January.

Register Today!!!

Sudden Cardiac Arrest Legislation

On January 1st, 2016 new legislation related to sudden cardiac arrest prevention in Tennessee will go into effect. The new legislation was passed by the Tennessee State Legislature in April 2015. The legislation is similar in language and scope to the previously enacted concussion legislation in Tennessee. This legislation will have tremendous impact in preventing injury to the youth athletes of Tennessee at all levels. The impact to athletic trainers in Tennessee is also significant and requires that all ATs are extremely aware of these new changes in legislation.

Recently more details have been updated on the Tennessee Department of Health website, including resources for education of athletes, parents, coaches, and other school officials. The required forms related to this legislation have also now been made available. This information has been conveyed by the TSSAA to all secondary schools in Tennessee, however the legislation has broader impact than just at the secondary school level. TATS encourages all members and the general public to take time to review the available resources from the Tennessee Department of Health at http://www.tn.gov/health/topic/sudden-cardiac-arrest-prevention-act/.

Call for Nominations - TATS 2016 Awards

The Tennessee Athletic Trainers' Society Honors & Awards Committee is pleased to announce its call for nominations for all TATS Awards for 2016. Award categories include the following:

• Sports Medicine Person of the Year
• Joe Worden Clinic / Professional Athletic Trainer Award
• Sandy Sandlin High School Athletic Trainer Award
• Eugene Smith / Mickey O’Brien College Athletic Trainer Award
• Backbone Award
• Jerry Robertson Educator Award
• Corporate Award
• Lifesaver Award
• TATS Hall of Fame (This requires a separate nomination process - See Below.)

The 2016 TATS Honors & Awards will be presented to our honored recipients at the 2016 Annual Meeting & Clinical Symposium held on January 16th & 17th, 2016. If you know of a deserving individual, please take a few minutes to recognize this person for their outstanding achievements and dedication to the athletic training profession.

Additionally, the TATS Scholarship Committee is pleased to announce the call for applications for the Undergraduate and Graduate Athletic Training Student of the Year awards. The recipient of the Undergraduate and Graduate Athletic Training Student of the Year Award will each receive a $1,000.00 scholarship. The applications for all Student of the Year awards can be found by visiting the Scholarship Committee Page. UPDATE: Nominations are no closed

You can learn more about all of the honors and awards presented by TATS or you nominate a deserving individual by visiting the Honors & Awards Committee page.

The deadline for nominations is November 15th, 2015.

Thank you in advance for your nomination and we look forward to hearing of all the amazing work that athletic trainers have been doing throughout Tennessee this year.

Need EBP CEUs? Here's another opportunity!

 

The Hughston Foundation, in conjunction with Rutherford County Schools is providing athletic trainers with a one day opportunity to earn up to 10 EBP continuing education credits. The event will be held on Tuesday, July 14th, 2015 at Central Magnet School. To find out more details click here.

2015 TATS Election Results

 

TATS Executive Board Nominations & Elections were held throughout April and May. We had good participation in this year's election process even with all nominees running unopposed. The results from this year's Executive Board elections are as follows:

• President - Scott Byrd
• Vice President - Peggy Bratt
• Secretary - Clint Sanders
• Treasurer - Therese Sparn
• East TN Representative - Mike Van Bruggen
• Middle TN Representative - Tim Hoskins
• West TN Representative - Tripp Turner

Congratulations to the incoming Executive Board members who will begin their terms to serve TATS and its members at the Annual Meeting next January.

Decisions Made Regarding Future of Athletic Training Education

 

Last week the AT Strategic Alliance announced changes to the entry level degree for athletic training. Much of this change was influenced by discussions between CAATE and NATA members from an open comment survey in March. This decision will have major impact on our profession for years to come. The NATA and AT Strategic Alliance have put together some information related to these changes that every athletic trainer should read. This information can be found through the links below.

AT Strategic Alliance Statement Degree Change FAQs

2015 UT Sports Medicine Symposium Recap

On Monday, May 4th, 2015, University of Tennessee hosted its second annual Sports Medicine Symposium in conjunction with a TATS East Region Meeting. The free event was held on the UT Knoxville campus in the Anderson Training Center and featured presentations on rehabilitation of hip arthroscopies and concussion management. Three Evidence Based Practice CEUs were earned by attendees.

Dr. Chuck Thigpen of Proaxis Therapy in Greeneville, South Carolina provided insight into the rehabilitation of intra-articular hip injuries, primarily femoral acetabular impingement and labral tears. Dr. Thigpen said of hip rehab, “I think it is challenging because it is a fast-evolving approach of how we manage that within the athletic training room and rehab facility as we get kids back to sport.” For him, it was a bit of a homecoming, having played football at UT-Chattanooga and graduating the Physical Therapy program at East Tennessee State. Additionally, Dr. Thigpen previously served as an intern at UT. “I have a strong connection to East Tennessee. It’s really exciting to get to come home.” he said.

UT Team Physician Dr. Christopher Klenck presented information on current trends in concussion management. He gave an overview of UT’s concussion management plan, highlighting new research findings and concepts that should be considered when developing management strategies. Next, UT Director of Sports Medicine Jason McVeigh provided a number of case studies related to concussion and facilitated a lively discussion among attendees.

At the conclusion of the symposium, TATS East Tennessee Representative Mike Van Bruggen provided an update of TATS business to the membership in attendance. He reported that the 2016 TATS Annual Meeting and Symposium will be January 16th and 17th in Nashville. Mike also described the “Hit the Hill” activities of TATS members on April 7 in which TATS members met with Tennessee legislators in Nashville about a host of issues. Mike specifically identified two upcoming pieces of legislation related to sports activity for Athletic Trainers in the state to monitor. SB0985 and HB32 – both titled “Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act”—require education of coaches, administrators, parents, and youth athletes about the risk and symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest and set forth return to play guidelines similar to Tennessee’s Sports Concussion Law. He also reported that TATS representation was present at the Tennessee Interscholastic Athletic Administrators conference in Murfreesboro in April and will also have a booth at the Emergency Medical Services meeting in July. Mike recognized Cocke County High School and Cosby High School as recipients of NATA’s Safe Sports School award, bringing the number of Tennessee schools having received that honor to eight.

Lastly, Mike reminded the TATS members in attendance that elections are begin held now for all TATS executive board member positions and encouraged participation in voting.

Announcing Elections for the TATS Executive Board

The elections for the TATS Executive Board begin tomorrow, May 1st, 2015 and run through May 15th, 2015. All Certified-Active and Certified-Retired members of the Tennessee Athletic Trainers' Society are eligible to vote in this election. It is important that all members participate in the election by voting to make your voice heard. The candidates for the upcoming Executive Board positions are as follows:

• President - Scott Byrd
• Vice President - Peggy Bratt
• Secretary - Clint Sanders
• Treasurer - Therese Sparn
• East Tennessee Representative - Mike Van Bruggen
• Middle Tennessee Representative - Tim Hoskins
• West Tennessee Representative - Tripp Turner

To learn more about each of the candidates for office, visit the TATS Election Page at http://www.tnata.org/2015-tats-elections.

Voting can be completed online via this link OR members can submit a written ballot to Kevin Wolf, TATS Parliamentarian. The preferred method of communication is online. Written ballots must be sent by USPS mail to 1527 Shagbark Trail, Murfreesboro, TN 37130. Written ballots are available here.

Voting ends at midnight ET on May 15th, 2015.

President's Blog - Summer 2015

I hope everyone is having a good spring sports season, it seems like we just go started and within a few short weeks we will see new state champions crowned. Since the Annual meeting we have had a few exceptional projects that have produced better than expected outcomes.

Hill day was a tremendous success this year as we were able to meet and discuss Athletic training topics with 6 elected officials. We had a great turn out of members but also 14 MTSU students gave up a morning to come to the Hill. We had many productive meetings discussing current legislation in committee related to sudden cardiac death, as well as thanking legislators for their support of our previous concussion legislation. Keep an eye out also for SB985 / HB32 Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act. This new legislation Creates the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act. Similar to the Concussion law, it Requires governing authorities engaged in school youth athletic activities and activity fee charging organizations engaged in community-based youth athletic activities to adopt programs to train and educate coaches, school administrators, youth athletes, and their parents or guardians of the nature, risk, and symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest.

Moving forward we are excited about ideas to improve our presence on the Hill. Please I urge to be on the look out for ways to help us with our Governmental Affairs initiatives.

We have also secured a booth at the 2015 EMS / Education Conference in Murfreesboro on July 8 - 10, 2015. We have worked out an arrangement with the TNEMSEA organizers to allow us to present AT related info to their constituents and we will host them at our annual meeting in January.

The annual TIAAA/AD conference was a great success this year with us making new contacts and getting requests for information to pass along to School Administrations to try to create new ATC positions within the Secondary school setting. I have been requested to attend a school system board meeting to present on this topic from the meeting.

TATS is proud to be partnering with the University of Tennessee Sports Medicine Department to host their annual Spring Sports Medicine Symposium. The symposium is a FREE EBP CEU event on May 4th, 2015 from 8am - Noon. Topics include Hip Arthroscopy, Concussion, and the TATS East Regional Meeting. The event will be held in the Anderson Training Center on UT's campus. Registration for the event has now closed due to such high demand. Registrants will be receiving further details about the conference via email from Robb Duncanson. You can learn more on the TATS website. We are looking forward to this being a great event.

Executive Board Elections will be starting soon too. Please exercise your right and vote! We, as the TATS EB, would love to see record or near record turn out for this year's elections!

The TATS Facebook page has reached 250 members! we will be trying to keep you more informed about the Middle and West regional meetings through social media as the confirm the dates and times

I hope everyone gets an opportunity to recharge over the summer and hope to see you in St Louis!

- Scott

Update - 2015 UT Symposium & TATS Regional Meeting

The registration for the 2015 UT Spring Sports Medicine Symposium & TATS East Regional Meeting was excellent this year and has gone well over capacity. Registration for the event has now been closed. For those who will be in attendance, UT has received approval from the BOC for 3 EBP CEU credits from this meeting. All of those who have registered for the event will be receiving further details via email from the conference organizer Robb Duncanson, MEd, ATC, LAT, CSCS. TATS is excited about the upcoming event and looks forward to seeing all those in attendance.

If you have any further questions, please contact Robb at Duncanson@utk.edu or 865-293-6345.

Also, information related to the Middle & West Tennessee Regional Meetings will be coming to the TATS website and T-Blast Newsletter soon.

NATM Receives Proclamations Throughout Tennessee

Members of TATS throughout the state were instrumental in promoting the athletic training profession throughout the month of March. The local governments of several Tennessee cities and counties recognized March as National Athletic Training Month through government proclamations. Some of the areas that received proclamations included:

• City of Murfreesboro
• Knox County
• City of Knoxville
• Jefferson County

NATM was also recognized with a proclamation presented to TATS members from the Tennessee State Legislature while we were visiting Capitol Hill in early April. Below you will find several of the proclamations from the various parts of the state. If you received a proclamation from your local government representatives and are not mentioned here, please let us know at communications@tnata.org.

Here the Mayor of Murfreesboro is joined by local athletic trainers during the signing of a proclamation for National Athletic Training Month.

Front Row from L to R: Chance Ragsdale, Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland, Brad Rohling Back Row from L to R: Blake Sissom, Amanda Januchowski, and Stephen Maples Not Pictured (but present): Kristi Phillips

Text of the Proclamation from Madeline Rogers, Mayor of the City of Knoxville

Youth Sports Safety Conference & Gala

The Program for Injury Prevention in Youth Sports at Vanderbilt is hosting the Youth Sports Safety Conference & Gala on July 16th & 17th, 2015. Athletic trainers throughout the state of Tennessee are invited to attend this educational event. Details can be found on the flier below and also at the PIPYS website.

TATS Day On The Hill

On Tuesday April 7th, 17 TATS members, ascended onto Capitol Hill for our “day on the hill”. We were accompanied by Zach Bates, our legislative liaison, who had set several appointments with legislators in advance. While we did not have a specific want or need from lawmakers at this time we were able to continue to foster relationships previously established as well as begin some anew.

It was a good opportunity for athletic trainers to say thank you for the work that had been done with regard to the concussion bill and the protection of health and wellbeing of the athletes that we serve. We even had one legislator who agreed to sign on to support the sudden cardiac bill when we made him aware of the current legislation.

Another byproduct of our meeting was the initiation of talks, with the members of the executive board, to develop a strategic plan as to how we go about strengthening our relationships with legislators and being more of a presence on Capitol Hill.

A special shout out goes to the 10 MTSU athletic training students who showed to support our efforts; Amanda Januchowski, Brandi Caruso, Chris Miles, Colin Biegas, Dabrisha Garner, Isaiah Foster, Matt Warner, McKenzie Leonard, Pali Dingler, and Trey Link.

Call For EB Nominations

It is once again time for TATS elections. This announcement serves as the official call for nominations for all elected offices for TATS. The following offices are up for election to two-year terms:

• President
• Vice-President
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• East Tennessee Representative
• Middle Tennessee Representative
• West Tennessee Representative

Any Certified-Active or Certified-Retired member of TATS is eligible to nominate their colleagues for the TATS Executive Board offices. To determine a TATS member’s eligibility to serve in any of these offices, please look at Article IV of the TATS by-laws on the TATS website. You can also download the most recent TATS By-Laws on the TATS website.

Please send all nominations to Kevin Wolf, TATS Parliamentarian. The preferred method of communication for nominations is by e-mail at kwolfatc@yahoo.com. Nominations may also be sent by USPS mail to 1527 Shagbark Trail, Murfreesboro, TN 37130.

Nominations will officially close at midnight ET on April 16, 2015.