TCU’s athletic training program goes international

Fort Worth, TX

4/22/2009

By: Bibek Bhandari, Schieffer School of Journalism

The Horned Frogs from the Athletic Training Education Program in the kinesiology department will soon be able to savor sushi and study in the land of the rising sun. The AETP, in conjunction with the Nippon Engineering College of Hachioji in Japan, is working on the International Athletic Training Experience in Japan exchange program, beginning next year.

“If we go, it will be through an athletic training course at TCU like international sports medicine,” said Sean Willeford, program director of TCU’s athletic training education.

During the three-week program likely to begin in May 2010, the first week will be instruction and cultural training at TCU, Willeford said. The remaining two weeks will be in Japan where students will learn about Eastern medicine, visit organizations like the Japan Athletic Trainer’s Organization, sit in courses and see Japanese students in clinical rotations and observe the differences.

Willeford said it is interesting to see how Eastern culture and Western medicine can be incorporated—an example of which he has seen through Ryuji Mita, former TCU student from Japan who is also an acupuncturist.
Although TCU will be sending its students next year, the first Nippon group will start their studies here this fall in the Intensive English Program. They will also attend athletic training lectures along with observations of TCU students in clinical setting, Willeford said.

Masaki Komatsu, international program coordinator and instructor at the Nippon Engineering College and TCU alumnus, said in an e-mail that he also wants his students to see the profession of athletic training in the U.S. and learn the differences.

“For our students, the most important program goal is definitely to learn the role of a certified athletic trainer as an allied health care professional in the intercollegiate setting, which we do not have in Japan,” Komatsu said.

Jane Kucko, director for Center for International Studies at TCU, said the interest of both universities to have an exchange program for students is appealing.

“Not only do they [students] have interest from TCU going to Japan, but there is interest in Japanese students coming here,” Kucko said. “So any time we develop study abroad opportunity that includes interaction with the international program coming to TCU, that’s a win-win.”

TCU’s ATEP program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education and adheres to CAATE’s educational standards, Willeford said. The program curriculum covers the National Athletic Trainers’ Association’s Educational Competencies.

“I believe for all student trainers at the entry level, it is important to make sure to understand the fundamentals of Athletic Training defined by NATA first, before getting into learning the applications,” said Komatsu.

Kucko said a team from TCU will visit its Japanese counterpart during the summer to further assess the program and develop a full-fledged curriculum.

“We would like to develop more presence for TCU students in Asia, and certainly Tokyo is one of those areas,” Kucko said referring to the emergence of Asian economy in the global market.

Currently, TCU has ties with two Japanese universities—Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka and Aoyama University in Tokyo.