To me, this is a critical issue for athletic training education
programs. As educators, we want to provide meaningful clinical
experiences for athletic training students. Pre-season athletic
practices have the potential to give students unique experiences that
will be with them the rest of their careers.

However, we need to ask ourselves what our motivation is for "giving"
these experiences. If the students are merely needed as workers, this
is not a good reason to require them to participate. One option is to
schedule a clinical course in the summer time, and have some
pre-season activities be a part of it. If I know that something will
be a good experience, I will incorporate it into a clinical course
that is part of the curriculum. All students who take that course
will have the same experience, and they will not be used merely as
workers.

John