Heather Heidel leads the Delaware Athletic Trainers’ Association. She has spent half of her career serving on the state association in Delaware.

When did you get introduced to Athletic Training? During my high school sports career, I was often injured, and the AT became a mentor to me.

A surgery in my junior year led to my not playing basketball as a senior.

Did an internship as a senior

Where did you go to college? UD & Cal U of PA

Where was your first job? Tidewater Physical Therapy in Milton, DE

How long have you been practicing? 16 yrs

In my 7th year as a secretary for 4 years

The past two years, the president-elect

I know almost all of the ATs in our state

We are 1.5 hours from top to bottom

Turnover rate

Funding for positions

The long-term hires are through the district rather than a clinical outreach.

2 million dollars annually 

It is divided among the public schools based on enrollment and is only allowed to be used for hiring an athletic trainer.

We have used a lot of the AT Your Own Risk data to educate lawmakers.

They mandate ATs, and I love the beach.

We have a lot of young ATs and a lot of mentors.  We are small and tight-knit

Frio Hydration – Superior Hydration products.

Xothrm – Best heating pad available – Use “SMB” or email [email protected] and mention the Sports Medicine Broadcast

Donate and get some swag (like Patreon but for the school)

HOIST – No matter your reason for dehydration DRINK HOIST

MedBridge Education – Use “TheSMB” to save some money, be entered in a drawing for a second year free, and support the podcast.

Marc Pro – Use “THESMB” to recover better.

Athletic Dry Needling – Save up to $100 when registering through our link.