University of North Carolina Athletics
Mary Ciolek
March 29, 2001 | General
Hometown: Ithaca, N.Y.
Education: Ithaca College, BA
Years involved with athletic training: Six
TarHeelBlue.com: What led you to become involved with athletic training?
Mary Ciolek: I have always been interested in medicine. I grew up with three brothers who were very active in sports. I also played soccer year-round up through high school. So being involved in sports and with my interest in medicine, athletic training seemed like the perfect fit.
I volunteered in physical therapy clinics and with sports teams my senior year in high school. From there I went to college and received a BS in athletic training/exercise science from Ithaca College.
THB: With which UNC teams do you work and what are your responsibilities with those teams?
Ciolek: I work with the men's and women's tennis teams in the fall and the women's lacrosse team in the spring. My responsibilities for both teams are the athletes.
I am responsible for evaluating, rehabilitating, preventing and managing each athlete's injuries. In addition to that, I oversee the total care of the athletes, including such things as nutrition, weight lifting programs, and general sickness.
Another aspect of my job includes educating the undergraduate athletic trainer working with my team. Most teams are staffed with a fulltime athletic trainer, two graduate students, and an undergraduate student. The undergrads have a great opportunity to see and work right along with the graduate students and staff members as they perform evaluations and treat the athletes.
THB: Describe your duties during a typical road trip.
Ciolek: I am responsible for making sure each athlete is ready to perform, physically and mentally. You build great friendships with your athletes and they really look to you for advice, not just on athletics. This becomes so apparent on road trips.
When I travel right with the team, I am a member of the team and I go everywhere they go. Sometimes it takes a lot of creativity-treatments are usually held in hotel rooms, on the bus, before and after games.
Treatments include a very wide variety of things. I travel with a portable stim and ultrasound machine, so I am able to do electrical stimulation therapy and ultrasound therapy on my athletes. Each of these treatments are very flexible and can be changed to treat the athlete and their specific injury.
I address flexibility issues and tight, sore muscles with stretching and an occasional massage. However sports massage targeting sore muscle tissue is not always pleasant for the athlete. Then of course there is the taping. I tape a few ankles, knees, hands, and wrists and wrap one or two hamstrings and every once and a while a hip flexor.
This list is always changing as old injuries heal and new ones develop. Taping is only done for practice and pregame. Ultrasound and stim therapies can also be done pregame, but are repeated at off game times as well to encourage the healing process.
If an emergency does happen and an athlete has to go to the hospital, I will accompany them, or send the student athletic trainer with them. Traveling requires a lot of decision-making because you are in unfamiliar and sometimes not-so-accommodating situations.
THB:What kind of training did you undergo to become an athletic trainer?
Ciolek: I went to an accredited athletic training program (at Ithaca College) for four years. I received my BS degree and then sat for the certification exam to become a certified athletic trainer. Currently I am a graduate student working on my thesis, taking classes and working with athletic teams to receive my MA degree.
THB: What is the most interesting part of your job?
Ciolek: The athletes and people I meet. I love the constant change of scenery: road trips to new places, new athletes each year. It's wonderful. There is such a constant opportunity to learn, meet people and have fun.
