Trainer makes jump to academia
Apr. 9—After 20 years of practicing athletic training in a clinical setting, Brian Bobier is now in his second year at University of Texas Permian Basin.
Bobier is clinical assistant professor and coordinator of clinical education for the athletic training program.
"This is a complete career shift for me. I spent the first 20 years of my athletic training career practicing in the clinical setting in a wide variety of places around the country and different patient populations. This is something that's really new," Bobier said.
The clinical settings include stops at the University of Houston, the University of Texas, Kansas State University, Texas Rangers, and Miami Marlins. During his time in professional baseball, Bobier served in various roles within the Rangers and Marlins organization, including rehabilitation coordinator and athletic training coordinator.
An Oklahoma City native, Bobier arrived at UTPB in 2021 after working as an educator and athletic trainer in the secondary school setting at Okarche Public Schools in Okarche, Okla., the UTPB website said. While at Okarche, he served on the Oklahoma Athletic Trainers Association Secondary Schools Committee and volunteered as a host athletic trainer for the NCAA Division 1 Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.
"As the athletic training coordinator, you oversee the medical operations on the Minor League side. (You) ... review draft medicals for the upcoming draft, free agent medical reviews, work on policy procedures, work hand-in-hand with the Major League staff on players coming up and down and implementing risk-reduction techniques throughout the organization," Bobier said.
He did get to work one Major League game.
"That was with the Rangers. They came out to Arizona for a series against the Diamondbacks and the Spring Training complex for the Rangers is out in Surprise, Arizona, so I did get to work one game with the Rangers in the big league team. That was fun, and then spring training, we all kind of shift and get some time working the Major League games because they usually have ... 60 to 70 players in Major League camp right now. With just three athletic trainers that's hard to do so you kind of float back and forth and get that experience. When guys get sent down, they kind of start getting back to normal staff," Bobier said.
Bobier has played baseball since he was in kindergarten and loved the game ever since. He earned a bachelor's degree in professional studies from the University of Oklahoma, a master's in physical education with an emphasis in sports and fitness administration and a doctor of athletic training degree from A.T. Still University — Arizona School of Health Sciences in 2022.
"When I was at college, I just thought you know, this might be an interesting career path. It was my sophomore year, I applied for a PBATS, which is a Professional Baseball Athletic Trainer Society summer internship. I was at home in Oklahoma City and they have a Triple A team, who at the time was affiliated with the Texas Rangers. That athletic trainer was Greg Harrell. Greg called me up and said, 'Hey, would you like to do a four-game series?' And I was like, absolutely. So I came up there and just did a quick four-game series, and then kept in touch with Greg. Then my last two years in college at OU, I did summer internships with them," Bobier said.
All summer long, Bobier was with Harrell for home games. His last year Bobier was with them until the first of July. He started his grad assistantship at the University of Houston. He continued keeping in touch with Harrell.
In 2002, a year and a half into his graduate assistantship and working on his masters, Harrell called Bobier and asked if he was still interested in pro baseball as they had a few openings in the organization.
Bobier sent his information to the coordinator at the time, Frank Velazquez, and from there, Bobier was off. He added that it's a year-round job.
Bobier and his wife, Jill, have a daughter named Madison. Jill is a first-grade teacher at St. Mary's Central Catholic School.
Bobier added that the two of them have taught everywhere. He noted that traveling for professional teams involves a lot of wear and tear.
"It's not really conducive for a good work-life balance because you're gone six, seven months out of the year. You're not home very much, if at all. My wife and I adopted a little girl in 2018 and that kind of changed perspective of life for us. So that's when I decided to take a step back. Between 2018 and when I started here in 2021, I was working at a high school working on my doctorate degree as a teacher and athletic trainer. That ... gave me a little bit more of a work-life balance for my family," Bobier said.
He added that he enjoyed the academic side.
"It's fun; it's enjoyable, and I feel like I'm giving something back to the profession. Teaching students that want to be athletic trainers is very rewarding. It's a ... change of pace. It's still a lot of work with planning and putting together lessons and showing them hands-on skills and time management, but teaching future athletic trainers has been a joy. I get to be at home a little bit more, so that's a plus," Bobier said.
He added that his students at UTPB want to be there.
"They've made a commitment to athletic training, human performance. They're very invested into their education. ... At the high school level, you had the classes — I taught anatomy, physiology and sports medicine (which) were essentially electives. Students were placed into those and they may not have been wanting to be in there and that's perfectly fine. But here students are invested. They want to be in it. They are driven and that's a great thing to see because (with) the students we have, I know that the profession is in good hands moving forward," Bobier said.
He added that he's impressed with the staff, vision and technology in athletic training and the related areas.
"There's a lot of room for growth and I think there's a lot of great ideas at this institution. Meeting with our program director and department chair, Alanna Dennison, her vision for the program for the department as well drew me here. There's a collective effort seeing what everybody's vision is and what we want to take this program to was very enticing," Bobier said.
Dennison said Bobier has been an instant asset to the faculty.
"His wealth of professional experience combined with his passion for athletic training and incredible commitment to our students has had a significant impact on our program. He has added a number of unique clinical education sites for our students to gain diverse experiences and has been instrumental in the development of our Master of Science in Athletic Training program. We are very thankful to work alongside Brian and appreciate all of the incredible things he brings to our program and university," Dennison said.
Clinical Assistant Professor M. Spencer Cain said Bobier is an awesome individual to work with.
"His robust clinical practice experience has allowed us to collaborate in various innovative ways in both our academic programs and research studies here at UT Permian Basin," she said.
