NATCHITOCHES -- While athletic training has been traditionally a male-dominated field, more women are making their mark. Northwestern State employs six women out of the nine-member athletic training staff, with Natchitoches Regional Medical Center funding two of the female positions.
 
March is National Athletic Training Month and International Women's Month.  NSU Athletics salutes its women in athletic training.

Featured in this question and answer interview: Hannah Knopp, graduate assistant of sports medicine, who works primarily with Demon cross country and track and field.

Q: Why did you apply to Northwestern, and why did you choose Northwestern?
A: I've always been someone who's never been afraid to travel and get out of my bubble. I'm originally from Ohio, so it's a 16-hour drive for me to get down here. On NATA, there's a career center website, and there was an open position. I thought it was a great opportunity for me to come and network with new people I don't know as well as broaden my horizons and see what's out there. I applied for this position, and here I am. I work with cross country and track and field, and last fall there were two of us. This semester it's just me. I've been here since the end of July.

Q: What's been the best part of your experience here?
A: I think the best part has been getting to interact with my athletes. I love that I've been able to make connections with them and help them more than just from a physical standpoint. It's more than just giving people massages and helping them with their shin splints and getting them better. It's more of making that connection with them and making them better individuals and really getting to know all my athletes. Even though you have such a big team, I made it a priority to know everyone's name and know how they feel very day and to check in with them every day to see how they're doing. To me that's been very rewarding to be able to have those interactions and those relationships with people.

Q: How did you get involved with athletic training? What was your moment when you realized this is was your calling?
A: It was during my sophomore year in high school. I played softball from I was three until my freshman year of college, but sophomore year I had to have physical therapy on my shoulder. It was seeing how the physical therapist had interactions with athletes every day, but they were still doing hands-on stuff. You're not just sitting behind a desk every day. Getting to help people and push them to their potential really turned me on. First it was physical therapy, but then I was like "I love sports." I got introduced to athletic training. The university that I attended had a pre-physical therapy program and an athletic training program, so I figured if I could do both why wouldn't I? I ended up doing that and just falling in love with athletic training and working with athletes every day and being involved in something in sports which I love. My whole family is sports oriented, so it just felt normal and natural for me to be involved in it. I'm also someone who likes to help others, so if I can combine the two, why wouldn't I?

Q: Since it's Women's History Month, who are some of your women inspirations and role models? Are any of them in the athletic training profession?
A: There's not like one person in particular I would say is my female role model. It used to be one of my head athletic trainers at my undergraduate university. Her name was Alicia Hurps. She was in charge of football. She also has a family and three kids, and her husband is a football coach. Just the way that she was able to balance everything and still be a beast at the same time was really cool and someone I wanted to emulate and take some of the things she's doing and bring it into how I practice and do things on a daily basis. There's not one person I would say is who I want to be like and this is who I want to model my career after. I think it's just seeing women in general push the boundaries in athletic training and move up and be in those high positions of being an athletic trainer for an NFL team or an MLB team and pushing themselves in a zone or sports arena that was purely men before. They're just going to keep doing what they love to do, keep pushing the boundaries, and keep bettering the individuals around them regardless of the situation.

Q: Do you have any advice for females just starting in the profession or are considering becoming an athletic trainer?
A: You can't let others' opinions dictate how you're going to live your life and how you pursue your profession. You just have to go and do it. You have to be assertive, be decisive, be confident in yourself and know that your decisions are the best decisions for that athlete at that time. Overall, you're wanting what's best for them in the long run, not just for their next competition. It's really having that confidence and really being able to assert yourself in situations, especially as a female working in a male-coach dominated realm.

Q: Northwestern's athletic training department is 2:1 female to male in gender. Even though it's a noticeable ratio, do you think there's any barriers you've had to break through or work with on this campus as a woman?
A: I don't think there are a lot of barriers I feel like I had to overcome or face. I think the hardest thing was coming into a whole different program. I came from a Division III university to a Division I university where there are different rules you have with NCAA Division I. There's more athletes and a different feel. Probably the biggest barrier I've had to face is getting used to how a new program runs from something I was used to for four years in undergrad. As far as having barriers with my coaches and with my athletes, I don't feel like there's any. There isn't any with my superiors. They've been open with me, and I've been open with them. It's helped a lot.