A torn ACL injury her junior year in high school inspired Bianca Broughton to become an athletic trainer. It was her high school athletic trainer who helped her with rehabilitation and therapy and that’s what sparked her interest.
Now, Broughton, an athletic trainer at Moisés E. Molina High School, is paying it forward with her students.
“One of my favorite things is having the opportunity to mentor the kids that we have on campus– to show them that they can go into the world and do bigger and better things,” she said.
In fact, Broughton inspired some of her past students to become athletic trainers,. They have come back to thank her and share their experiences. Broughton has been in this field for 12 years, eight of which have been at Dallas ISD. She is a graduate of Baylor University and the University of North Texas.
Athletic trainers play an important role in the district, helping students recover after being injured, and to be able to return to not only their sport, but their daily activities–such as just playing with friends at home or helping dad or mom with the yard work, said Broughton.
Rehabilitating student-athletes could be nursing anything from ankle sprains to broken bones–things that can happen when playing a sport, according to Broughton.
“We work with our team to get them better—to get back to being able to do what they were doing before,” Broughton said. A smaller aspect of that is educating the athletes and the coaches about injuries, nutrition, injury prevention, and anything that has to do with the body and how you can keep it well, she said.
Last month, the accomplishments and contributions by athletic trainers throughout the country were recognized during National Athletic Training Month. This year’s theme was “From Head to Toe,” which highlights the whole-body, whole-person care that athletic trainers like Broughton provide their patients—in this case, students.
“Bianca goes above and beyond and is always a consummate professional who takes care of her student-athletes,” said Corey Eaton, assistant director of the Athletic Department, who oversees sports medicine. “She is reaching our students with student engagement and creating positive experiences for them.”
According to Eaton, the district has 41 athletic trainers, and they all play a crucial role in the lives of student-athletes. He described them as the front-runners of the sports medicine field and most of the time are the main medical providers for the district’s student-athletes.
Parents who have children that attend Molina often remember Broughton because she helped an older brother or sister. It’s about building those relationships and trust with the community, Broughton said.
Not only is Broughton a shining star in the district, she also has a leadership role in her advocacy as an athletic trainer, having recently been elected as president for the North Texas Athletic Training Association. While this used to be a male-dominated field, Broughton said that she sees more and more women athletic trainers in secondary schools. However, she does recognize that there is still room for improvement in college and professional sports as far as representation of women athletic trainers.
“If your dream is to be an athletic trainer for an NFL team, do it anyway because there are a lot of different opportunities for females and a lot of the pro sports and college sports are leaning towards hiring more females,” Broughton said. “So I would tell a young athletic trainer, if that’s what you want to do, just shoot forward and go and do it.”
