Coming out of high school, Tom Bradley didn’t think one day he would be a head athletic trainer. At the time he had heard of the profession.
It wasn’t until his college playing career at Central Methodist University, where he played football and ran track, Bradley suffered some injuries and found himself in the training room a few times, which ultimately changed his life’s path.
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“After college my path was going to be a coach but I got interested in athletic training,” Bradley said.
Bradley went on to graduate school at Midwestern State University where he got his masters in kinesiology and got licensed to be an athletic trainer in Texas.
Since then, over a 25-year career, Bradley has worked at the college level, public school level, has done work with the Houston ballet, the rodeo and other events. Five years ago, he was hired on at Bay Area Christian School as its first full time head athletic trainer.
Bradley started the student athletic trainer program, which now boasts an average of 20 to 25 kids in it per year. In spring football, they get their CPR and first aid training and also get trained in wound care, icing athletes down and taping to prepare them for the upcoming year.
The students during the day also get other lessons sprinkled in.
“I have eight different class periods during the day,” Bradley said. “Student trainers have the option to plug in whatever works for their schedule. So, I have them spaced out during the day. It just gives us a minimal instruction every day from learning the anatomy of the hand or how to do ACL rehab. Some classes they have more hands on than others.”
Not only do the students get to work with and learn from an athletic trainer in Bradley who has more than two decades of experience in the business but also get to do it in a top-notch facility on campus.
“It’s a great facility,” Bradley said. “There is plenty of room to do all rehab in house from ACLs to shoulder rehab. We have the preventative maintenance area to the area with the whirlpools. We are well equipped to take care of our athletes here.