Five Questions with

Brandie Martin has been a certified athletic trainer since 2004. After receiving her Master’s degree, Brandie completed her fellowship training in athletic training at The Steadman Clinic. Her clinical experience includes serving as athletic trainer for the U.S. Women’s Alpine Ski Team and U.S. Snowboard Cross Team at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and Sochi, as well as multiple alpine skiing world and national championship games. She remains a member of the medical volunteer pool for the United States Olympic Committee. She has been the athletic training medical director for many local sporting organizations and is actively involved in community outreach including concussion management for Eagle County School District and Ski and Snowboard Club Vail. She is currently the Program Director of The Steadman Clinic Athletic Training Residency Program and is the Athletic Training Outreach Program Director for the Steadman Clinic. She is an active member of the Post-Professional Education Committee for the National Athletic Training Association (NATA) and a member of the NATA workgroup on Specialty Certification for athletic trainers.

"The residency/fellowship program begin in 1996 and at around that same time we started the outreach program — mainly with the local high schools.  But we provide medical services and coverage to a wide variety of institutions, both locally and nationally as well.

 

"We oversee two public high schools here in the valley – our two-main public high schools, Eagle Valley H.S. and Battle Mountain H.S.  We also provide coverage and athletic training services for Vail Mountain School and Ski and Snowboard Club Vail.

 

"Overall, between the high schools and the local ski programs, we probably support close to 1,000 people with athletic training and medical services to our youth programs.

 

"We provide daily coverage at the high schools and on weekends cover their games so we are with the schools roughly six days a week."

"We're providing an education for the athletic trainers.  It's a post-professional educational program. All of these athletic trainers have earned their Masters degrees and they are certified at least one to two years.  "(The program) really emphasizes and hones in on their skills with the orthopaedics.  One of the components of that is they are introduced to the athletic trainer and physician practice setting as well as in the OR (operating room). They gain experience in the operating room and learn to assist there."

"There are a handful of these programs around the nation. In my opinion, we're the top program.  We have 80 or more applicants that apply every year – and we normally accept five to seven – so it is a very competitive program nationwide.  We are one of the most established and have been around about 20 years doing this.  We have nearly 100 graduates from the program.  Part of the uniqueness is that our residents get to work with these world-class physicians and surgeons every day, in clinic and the OR.

"The knowledge that they gain in this one-year program exceeds everyone's expectations when they first get here.  They learn so much in this one year.  It just makes them such stronger clinicians coming out of the program because it moves them leaps and bounds above their peers.

 

"They leave here knowing that there is so much more to learn that they become very active educators and continue to be students in orthopaedics as they move on with their careers."