Jan 29, 2015Education on Transgender Student Athletes
“Because of the relationships athletic trainers have with student-athletes, we converge with them really quickly,” Nicoles says. “And we might be the first individuals a student-athlete tells before or during their transition, so we need to know what we need to do to make sure we provide the right duty of care and that we’re assisting these individuals.”
The presentation is designed for athletic trainers at both the collegiate and high school levels, since individuals may start planning their transition in high school, and then begin the process in college. “I became aware of the topic when I had a [collegiate] student-athlete come to me at the beginning of their transition process, and I had no idea what to do,” Nicoles says. “So the whole goal of this presentation is to help you be prepared and know how to handle it. You don’t want to piece something together at the last minute and end up negatively affecting the student-athlete’s process.”
The presentation will include the following information:
- What it means to be transgendered
- The medical diagnosis
- Levels of transition
- How to prepare your department for having a transgendered student-athlete
In preparation for this session, you can check out the Bulletin Board section in the December issue of Training & Conditioning, where we covered the NCAA’s new policy on transgendered student-athletes. The special topic session “Transgender Student Athletes: What Athletic Trainers Need to Know” is on Wednesday from 4 to 5 p.m.