Enriquez 1

Jocelyn Enriquez

ENC1102-24

Professor Lambert

20 February 2024

Women Developing in NFL Athletic Training

Women in the NFL. The NFL is the national football league, which is a male dominated

area of work and study. So, women in the NFL have not been heard of until the past few years.

However, the questions I have are: How did women get there? When did it start? When was it

accepted? How is it now? The NFL start in 1920 and it is now 2024 so many years have passed

with many new society developments. Many women have now gotten into the NFL but my focus

on this paper is women as athletic trainers for the NFL. The first time a woman trainer a full-time

athletic trainer was in 2002. So, in all naturality women becoming athletic trainers for the NFL

has only just begun. As a student athletic trainer myself wanting to become one of these few

women in the NFL this idea came to me. My topic is the development of women athletic trainers

in the NFL. The sources I have found that will be used in this paper are about literacy, skill sets,

women working in athletics, and many obstacles’ people need to overcome. The development of

women in the NFL is a crucially important because it helps to show women that everything that

want to do is possible no matter what gender you are.

Healthcare

This topic generalization is important because it is the beginning of any medical field

which includes athletic training. As one of the article states healthcare is “the delivery of person-
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centered” and the teaching of “high quality care to patients” (Argis 1). Healthcare professionals

go through a lot of many different and do many things in their field. They are professionals and

can also be management professionals. Many of these healthcare professionals do need to have

professional literacy skills to be able to continue working in a professional environment. To the

point where in one of my articles called “Teaching the Literacy of Professionalism: When

Clinical Skills Are Not Enough” it talks about research with actually making a course of

professional literacy for people in the healthcare world.

Although these two articles for this topic generalization are more about literacy and

professionalism than they are about healthcare they still mention several aspects of healthcare

that are important for athletic training. It shows the readers what people are starting in this career

to see where they are in their education. As in the article, “Teaching the Literacy of

Professionalism: When Clinical Skills Are Not Enough” it stated that the many people in

healthcare do have “career accomplishments, unique clinical scenarios, and valuable project

contributions.” Many of the skills in healthcare are particularly useful when it comes to athletic

training work. This can help show readers the baseline of what trainers do before getting into

what they actually do for their type of career. Especially women in athletic training since it is a

dominant male career people need to know that no matter the gender people do have a normal

baseline of this career.

Women in Athletic Training

For this paper, the big main topic will be women in athletic training because that is the

only topic generalization in my thesis. Now women in athletic training are such interesting area

because even though it seems like there is a lot of women in athletic training there truly is not.

There are still more men than women in athletic training and the equality is still unfortunately
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not there. As the article “Women in Athletic Training: Striving for Equity” it stated that men and

women have the same knowledge and skill set in training however men get more advance

placement and compensation (Perez 88). Women already have a big disadvantage when it comes

to this career path. However, it is not just on a professional sport level but on every level of

sports. As in the article of “The Professional Socialization of Collegiate Female Athletic

Trainers: Navigating Experiences of Gender Bias” tell the readers the gender bias when it comes

to college level sports including division one. No matter how much a woman does an athletic

trainer there still is a gender bias but with the right number of skills and networking in this career

many women can go extremely far. Which brings such a sweet victory for women in athletic

training.

Literacy Tools

Literacy is the knowledge of skills in a certain group. There are also many diverse types

of literacy and a big one in this profession is known as professional literacy. As Yvonne Smith, in

“Teaching the Literacy of Professionalism: When Clinical Skills Are Not Enough,” describes

professional literacy as “the ability to seek and apply skills related to scholarship for career

advancement.” This becomes crucial in this field because to get to be an NFL trainer you need to

be able to take advancement on this career path. Skills and knowledge are a crucial part of the

development of an athletic trainer. As in the book What They Don’t Learn in School in chapter 7

the author mentions the several types of literacy in the different types of groups. This book

brings up the fact that it is not just the skills of reading and writing that can help someone, it is

the experiences and the communication throughout the group (Mirabelli 146). Which is exactly

why this is particularly important for women in athletic trainer going into the NFL. It is not easy

to get to, which is why there are only very few of them but with the right communication and
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skill set it could truly be effective. The literacy tools needed make a massive impact on

everything. However, it does not happen all at once or in one day. It takes many different

obstacles to continue to gain more literacy tools.

Obstacles and Developments

Both topics are big parts of the overall research as these are the two important things that

happen through this career path especially as a woman. The obstacles are the hardest part, but the

developments are the most rewarding. In the article written by Parnell they state that a big

obstacle is one being burnout. Different obstacles can be harder than others but this one,

however, is a crucial obstacle to get over. Being burnout can truly change how someone can

overall feel about this career path. However, overcoming the obstacles can bring up

developments. These developments can be for your career path or even for yourself. These can

make women stronger to be able to reach their goals for becoming a women in the NFL.

Overall

All these articles are a significant help to my research paper as they help in every aspect

of my topic. From talking about women in athletic training to the obstacles people take to get

where they want to be. This topic is a big one with much research and many things could be said

in each of their smaller conversations. This secondary research will help me continue with my

primary research. I will continue by looking into the women trainers in the NFL and everything

that they do in life. By looking into their life through social media or interviews that they have. I

will then fully be able to see my research question come to life. The development of women in

the NFL is a crucially important because it helps to show women that everything that want to do

is possible no matter what gender you are.

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Work Cited

In-Depth Look: NFL Athletic Trainers Breaking Barriers and Making History,
bocatc.org/newsroom/in-depth-look-nfl-athletic-trainers-breaking-barriers-and-making-
history. Accessed 25 Feb. 2024.

Mazerolle, Stephanie M., et al. “The Professional Socialization of Collegiate Female Athletic
Trainers: Navigating Experiences of Gender Bias.” Allen Press, Allen Press, 1 Nov. 2012,
meridian.allenpress.com/jat/article/47/6/694/111299/The-Professional-Socialization-of-
Collegiate.

The Language and Literacy of Food Service Workers,

www.umsl.edu/~alexanderjm/mirabelli_learning-to-serve.pdf. Accessed 26 Feb. 2024.

Parnell, Terri Ann, and Julie Agris. “Health Literacy: An Essential Element of Health Care
Professionalism and Resilience.” Information Services & Use, IOS Press, 1 Jan. 2018,
content.iospress.com/articles/information-services-and-use/isu180026#a.

Perez, Patricia Streit, et al. Women in Athletic Training: Striving for Equity ,
digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1016&context=sferc#:~:text=The
%20Women%20in%20Athletic%20Training,well%20as%20in%20leadership
%20positions.

Smith, Smith M. “Teaching the Literacy of Professionalism : When Clinical Skills Are Not
Enough.” Page Expired, oce.ovid.com/article/00006223-201205000-00013/HTML.
Accessed 25 Feb. 2024.
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Work Cited