SHRS alumnus Ed Strapp
With the 2024 Paris Olympics (July 26 - Aug. 11) and Paralympics (Aug. 28 - Sept. 8) taking place this summer, SHRS is showcasing some of its faculty and alumni who are supporting the athletes and programs!
Ed Strapp, an athletic trainer and paramedic, will be supporting Team USA as a medical volunteer. A state trooper/flight paramedic with the Maryland State Police assigned to the Aviation Division, he graduated from Pitt in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science in exercise and sports medicine with a specialization in athletic training.
“I went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and got my master's degree in athletic training. Also, while I was at Pitt, my senior year, I took an EMT class and little did I know 20 years later, I'd be full time in EMS. I was full time as an athletic trainer for 15-16 years in high school and college settings and slowly transitioned into EMS full time.”
After becoming a paramedic, Strapp moved to Maryland to fly as a trooper/flight paramedic with the Maryland State Police. “I've always maintained my athletic training and been able to do both,” he said.
How did you get the opportunity to work at the Olympics?
“I have traveled internationally as an athletic trainer with U.S. Ski and Snowboard since 2006. I've been around the world a number of times and been to some amazing places. I'm also a ski patroller. I spent 10 years in Maine, eight years as the head athletic trainer at a ski academy.
“I've done a number of rotations with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC). That's really how you get your foot in the door is doing volunteer rotations. So I did one out in Colorado Springs and I've done two up in Lake Placid, so that gets your name into their system. I've worked with USA Bobsled/Skeleton and kind of filtered through those areas. And that was part of why I was invited to help Team USA at the upcoming Summer Olympics.”
What will you be doing?
“I will be there as an overall provider for all of Team USA to support any and all of our teams, both clinic coverage and event coverage as well. My day will be very fluid. And I'll be placed in environments where either that team needs particular coverage or that event is a higher-risk event.
“I might be with a team for a couple of days or I might be with them for just one. It all depends on what medical providers they have for their national governing body and how we can help them and assist them.
“Bigger sports have a larger medical component coming with them. Smaller sports will have less support, so we can backfill however we need to.
“We've got probably about 20 providers that will be over, from mental health to physicians to athletic trainers and physical therapists, massage therapists. All of us will be over there to support any of the teams in any way that we can.”
How did your Pitt experience prepare you for your career?
“They always drove us to work to the highest level of our licensure. So, they really challenged us to be really good providers, and they continue to do it in the master's program.
“All of our athletic training education has a strong clinical background.
“When I was at Pitt, I worked with football and men's basketball and baseball and so I really was out in a lot of different environments. They exposed me to a ton of different sports. Rob Blanc, who was the head athletic trainer for years, was also a paramedic. So that sort of spurred me to think about that athletic trainer/emergency medicine component.
“And then the Pitt community is everywhere, so that always helps when you're starting to look for jobs or looking for other opportunities; you find a Pitt connection quite regularly in this setting.”
What are you looking forward to doing at the Olympics?
“We're there to support the athletes and they're in their career-defining moments. So whatever we can do to help them is what our goal is. In sports, it's the pinnacle of all of athletics. They're not the best in the United States anymore. Now, they're the best in the world. And that's their goal. It’s a highly anticipated event.
“And to be the team behind the team is really the exciting part for us.”
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Continue reading:
SHRS' Team Behind Team USA: Ashley Koto
SHRS' Team Behind Team USA: Christie-Lee Coad
SHRS' Team Behind Team USA: Rory Cooper
This article was originally published in Pitt Health Sciences News.