Posted: Sep 04, 2020
Q & A With Megan: Featuring Becca Straub
Alfred State sport management major Megan Gridley recently interviewed assistant athletic trainer Becca Straub. Straub joined Alfred State in 2017 and is the primary athletic trainer for volleyball, women's soccer, cross country, track & field, and swimming & diving. Gridley, a member of the volleyball team, interviewed Straub with questions about the AT room and COVID-19.
What is one of the biggest challenges you have faced as an Athletic Trainer since COVID-19 entered our lives? One of the biggest challenges I have faced as an AT since COVID-19 would have to be when it all first happened; the abrupt ending of the spring semester and everyone being sent home. This impacted not only the ability of our spring teams to finish their seasons, but it also prevented the opportunity to say goodbye to everyone before they left for the summer. Outside of the initial shock of the situation, trying to plan for this upcoming year has posed its own challenges as well. AT's are typically planners who like to have all the potential scenarios and solutions worked out before they happen. COVID has caused such a fluid environment within athletics that we would create plans and then new information would force us to continuously modify those plans.
I know you are close with your student-athletes and enjoy seeing them every day. How has having appointments for treatment changed for you? Going appointment based in the Athletic Training room has been quite the adjustment. The positive side is I can have more 1 on 1 time with my SA's and not feel like I am trying to do 10 things at one time. The downside is that I don't see as many SA's throughout the day like I normally would. I miss athletes stopping by after a lift to grab a bag of ice and say hi. It's like we are missing out on opportunities to bond with our SA's and see how they are doing, with school and life and be that listening ear for them.
Do you feel that the athletic department has done everything they can to keep our students safe, while still having the training room available and trainers available? Absolutely! We have changed the way we do so many things with the safety of our Alfred State community being the focus. Appointment based is the biggest because it helps control the traffic in the Athletic Training room to be sure we can maintain social distancing. All equipment used during appointments is now sanitized immediately after its been used. We've been in constant contact with our team physician in order to make sure our plans for participation line up with NCAA and state and local health department guidelines. In a situation where we only have so much control of the situation, I feel its safe to say that we are doing everything humanly possible to protect everyone here at Alfred State.Do you feel that this spring having all sports competing is going to be challenging for you?
Do you feel that this spring semester with all sports competing is going to be challenging? It is most definitely going to be a challenge. No matter what we do, this situation creates a lot of work for just the three of us to handle. I think the key to this situation working out is going to be top notch communication and planning with our coaches. Being able to look ahead at the schedules and see where activities will overlap to be able to disperse the three of us efficiently will be key.
What is the plan for the trainers for the spring? How are the trainers going to be dispersed to each team as we are going to have many sports going at once? Until we get more details on this situation, it's hard to say for sure. What I can predict at this moment would be that Alexe will be at football, because we are required to be on field due to the high-risk nature of the sport. Then we would have a floater available for sports occurring outside and another one of us in Orvis available for our indoor sports. Basically, trying to centralize ourselves to be available and equidistant between everything going on.
Quick Hits:
Favorite animal: My goldendoodle, Zeppelin
Favorite Pro-Athlete: Martha Ruether-2016 Rio Paralympian & training for Tokyo 2021 for USA Swimming! Martha and I swan together back in high school when, back then, she looked up to me as the upperclassman. Now, the roles are reversed, and I look up to her as I get to watch her compete and succeed against the best in the world! Martha Ruether Olympic Bio
Favorite vegetable: Roasted Broccoli
