Work has been giving me some really long days recently. With the season fast approaching (first practice in less than a week), I'm working hard to tie up the last of the loose ends. Most of the girls have either completed or are at least scheduled to take the Impact test. Also, 15 of the 25 girls have gotten molds of their mouth for custom made mouthguards. Now, they are not required to have custom mouthguards, but they are required to have mouthguards of some sort and custom mouthguards have not been offered to the team in over four years, so almost everyone wants to take advantage of the opportunity. In addition to my time with the team, I had to put in my weekly hours at the Student Health Center yesterday. Because we are seeing so many patients in such a short amount of time, I hardly notice that I am there for 4 1/2 hours. It really flies by. I am also noticing how good (in my opinion) these patients have it. When I see someone for an orthopedic issue, I see a doctor for about 30 seconds and that's it. These patients are getting a full evaluation from me, the same evaluation that I would do on any one of the varsity athletes, in addition to a "check", official diagnosis and order for treatment by the doctor. I guess its just another good argument for why athletic trainers should play a bigger role in the medical world.