Since childhood, I have always wished to become a sports physician even though my granny has been continuously nagging me to become a vet like my grandpa who is a renowned veterinary. However, that should not be the case for me becoming a pet caregiver. Well, you must be wondering why I opted to become a sports doctor. It does not only owe to my interests and personal characteristics, but a sports physician comes as a package (Starkey, 2013). Overall, my career choice of becoming a sports physician was attributed from my non-ending love for sporting activities and sadly the injuries, which I suffered while playing.

I have been playing football, soccer, track athletics, and basketball since I was 8 years, and while playing I suffered several injuries, which I ignored and they do not allow me to play today. Moreover, I used to be a scout back in my high school days. In most sports, I offered first aid services, and since then, I have always wanted to take care of the sportsmen. I am still passionate about sports, and I currently engage in it as a personal trainer. As such, taking this class this semester would assist me in learning the healthcare basics, program requisites, and costs to accomplish my career choice and objectives.

Conversely, as a second option, my choice of being a vet was always an interest of wanting to take advantage of my affection for animals. Currently, I have three dogs and my younger sister has two cats. All my life, I have always rescued pets and love doing the same although people frown on the career as it is not high-paying. However, regardless of my love for animals, my interest still lies on a career as a sports medicine doctor, and that is what would like to pursue for the rest of my professional life.

Generally, a sports physician mainly deals with musculoskeletal injuries, and such wounds mostly occur in the knee, ankle sprains, fractures, and shoulder injuries, to mention just a few. Unlike taking care of animals, a more of silent communication, I fall again for being a sports physician because we merely offer to counsel the athletes and interact with them at personal levels to understand their strengths, weaknesses, and motivations. As a result, it helps them evade injuries as well as maximizing their performance (Hoffman & American Kinesiology Association, 2011).

During my previous visit at the University of North Carolina, I learned that becoming a sports physician requires undergraduate students to take up courses in physics, chemistry, biology, and organic chemistry. For a sports physician or a vet, an undergraduate degree is mostly an essential requirement close to all medical schools. Also, both the two careers align with one another when it comes to the undergraduate scholars taking part in extracurricular activities (Starkey, 2013). I will not tell much on the other end, but I believe in myself becoming a viable sports physician and one who can validate leadership abilities. Through this, I am optimistic about becoming a brilliant and competitive applicant for the medical school I opt to join.

One other thing that makes me very fascinated about being a sports physician is the remuneration. In one instance, I happen to have summed up an average base salary in addition to the average total compensation for the two careers. For a Sports Medic in the U.S, the base salary ranges between $192,898 and $288,959. After taxes and all other deductions, I carry home about 230,000 USD. Compensations, which include retirement, health reimbursement, and bonuses add up to about $260,146. Unlike the former, I still get surprised that a Veterinarian carries home about 78,000 USD on an annual basis.

More so, a vet needs not to show their customers that they are only practicing it for money (Starkey, 2013). Besides the little pay, one opting to become a vet needs to anticipate more extended working hours. I once had a chat with my grandpa who admitted low payments, besides the tedious work involved in handling the clients’ pets. Some pet owners are so rude such that since they offer money in exchange for the service, they demand the vet’s attention all time.

Often, when I dig deep into sports medics, friends keep on admitting that opting to join a medical school is a tip of an iceberg towards the tedious journey of finally becoming a physician. I am already aware of foreseen questions at the school like, “what do you specialize in?” Even though becoming a sports physician is a significant milestone in my life, my personality together with own preferences also take up considerable roles towards determining the best medical field that is fit for me (Potteiger & American College of Sports Medicine, 2014).

Just like a veterinarian comes up with different experiences regarding personality traits, so does a sports physician. In striving to become a sports physician, I look forward to devoting to comprehensive care for my patients. By being open-hearted, I am determined to have traits that end up developing long-term affiliations with my fellow teammates.

References

Hoffman, S. J., & American Kinesiology Association. (2011). Careers in sport, fitness, and exercise. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Potteiger, J. A., & American College of Sports Medicine. (2014). ACSM’s introduction to exercise science. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Starkey, C. (2013). Therapeutic Modalities (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis.

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