we are suppose to write an essay in regards to the following question...
- APTA's vision for physical therapy is "transforming society by optimizing movement to improve the human experience". How will you embody this vision as a future physical therapist?
Please any feedback would be greatly appreciated!
As a former NCAA Division I basketball player, along with being a NJCAA 1st Team All American, basketball has taught me more than just the game itself. It has taught me that hard work, leadership, communication, and teamwork were key aspects in my success as an athlete. All of which are personal qualities that I will be able to use towards being the type of physical therapist I strive to be.
Weather an athlete working to get back into the game or an elderly man trying to regain movement for everyday activities, physical therapy on the human body is crucial to achieve the optimal quality of life for each individual. With a strong background in athletics, it allows me to easily relate to the athletic side of physical therapy. Thus resulting in my decision to want to work in a sports physical therapy setting. Without basketball in my life I would not have been able to develop the personal skills necessary to become an efficient physical therapist who will be able to adequately apply the new visions.
Through all my years in athletics I was often a team captain. I learned what it takes to become an effective leader. A few years ago I was faced with one of the biggest test to my leadership abilities. Due to an ACL injury of our starting point guard during my sophomore year of college, I was forced to transition from a shooting guard to the point guard of the team. My team's spirits were down as they saw our chances of making it back to the NJCAA National Tournament for a 2nd year in a row slip away. Knowing I would not be looked at as a point guard by recruiters for my next school, I took on the challenge because my teammates needed me. After a while I began to understand how to communicate with my teammates and coaches on the court, and I was able persevere and become the player and team captain that my team needed.
With my new roll came a new view of my teammates. I was responsible for our teams cohesion, everyone's actions on and off the court, and lastly our success as a group. I respected my teammates and in return they showed me the same respect, as a result of their trust in me they voted me team captain. That year we finished with a 33-3 record, we won our conference, obtained a regional title, along with a 3rd place finish at the national tournament. Individually I won many honors including being named a NJCAA First Team All American. As a result the success of the success of that year I was proud to accept a full scholarship to a NCAA Division I school, the University Of South Carolina Upstate.
As a team captain I made sure I was there for my teammates, showed them motivated on and off the court, believed in them, showed them respect, practice positive communication and teamwork. As a physical therapist I want to be someone my patients can count on and confide in. I want to be able to help push them to reach goals that they have lost all hopes of every reaching, and provide them with the most physically accessible life possible.
After recently being on the patient side of physical therapy, a result of tearing my ligamentum teres during my junior year of my colligate basketball, I learned just how much a physical therapist can change an individuals life. It was one of the most challenging times of my life and what led me to choose a career in physical therapy. Not only was it challenging from a physical aspect but mentally as well. I became depressed and frustrated with fear of never being able to return to the same caliber of play. With that came the worry of losing playing time or worse losing my scholarship. But with the help of my physical therapist, and surgery, I was able to overcome it and return to play the game that I love. My physical therapist believed in me and pushed me to give me my "life" back. I strive to be able to help other athletes in the same way. For many athletes the time that they able to compete is and may be forever looked at as the best time of their life. Through everything basketball has instilled in me, I know I will be able to utilize these qualities towards helping others reach their goals.
My experiences have shown me that as physical therapists we don't simply give people pain-free mobility or increased speed and agility, we give them their life back. After thousands of hours spent in athletic training rooms and physical therapy offices, I know this is what I am suppose to be doing with my life. I have qualities and fortitude to one day provide that luxury to my patients and be a great physical therapist.
Hohl, while you spoke at great length about your experience as a team captain, working with the team, your team wins and championships, even your injuries and how it opened your eyes to the important of physical therapy, you were not really able to explain how you would embody the mission and vision of the school once you become a physical therapist. You were not able to answer the prompt in any way. This is they key portion of the prompt that you had to answer:
How will you embody this vision as afuture physical therapist?
Rather than discussing your past achievements leading to your decision to become a physical therapist, you should have been discussing your plans for the future. This is a future look or flash forward essay. Not a reflection or backward look paper. You need to answer the essay in terms of where you see your career in say 2 years and how you will have, by then, embodied the motto of the school in the performance of your duties. That is what the prompt is asking you to discuss and that is what is missing from this current version of the essay.
That is why I will strongly advise you to rewrite this essay to more closely align with the prompt. You need to do that in order to make this essay acceptable for submission to your university of choice. In its current form, it just does not apply and does not deliver what is expected of you. Good luck with your revision :-)
