{"id":2495,"date":"2023-01-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bocatc.org.user.server321.com\/achieving-at-goals-amid-challenges-of-sma\/"},"modified":"2024-03-11T22:13:01","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T22:13:01","slug":"achieving-at-goals-amid-challenges-of-sma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bocatc.org\/newsroom\/achieving-at-goals-amid-challenges-of-sma\/","title":{"rendered":"Achieving AT Goals Amid Challenges of SMA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: right; width: 289px; height: 450px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bocatc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/book_cover_-_In_Article.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"289\" height=\"450\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Kurt Beach, ATC is an outreach Athletic Trainer (AT) practicing at Springfield High School in Holland, Ohio. He has been a certified AT for 23 years. He loves his career and said, &#8220;Getting athletes back in the game by making them better after an injury and being able to save people&#8217;s lives as a member of a health care team is so rewarding.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Growing up Beach felt most at home as an athlete and was inspired to pursue a career in athletic training from working with his high school&#8217;s AT. Just before college, Beach was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a rare form of muscular dystrophy. His physician told him to consider a desk job, but with no other desires, he continued to pursue a career as an AT.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest impact of SMA for Beach has been the physical challenge. He began losing his ability to run and climb stairs beginning in his mid-20s. After his diagnosis, Beach was going to the gym six days a week to try to keep his muscles and endurance but gave up playing sports to avoid getting hurt.<\/p>\n<p>In fall 2018, Beach covered a road running event, helping patients as they crossed the finish line. This event, coupled with a burning desire that something was missing in his life, inspired Beach to run a race of his own. He was connected with the Project Athena Foundation and their Keys to Recovery Event, which includes a 120-mile, three-day event, biking and kayaking from Key Largo to Key West,Florida. His initial thought was to participate and walk in a 5K, but in November 2019, he headed to sunny Florida to prove something to himself.<\/p>\n<p>After crossing the finish line of the difficult event, Beach realized what was missing from his life. &#8220;The one thing that I had given up on [to not get hurt, causing him to become less active], was actually the one thing that pushed me to fight my whole life, and that was the essence of an athlete. I felt for the first time in 26 years the feeling of what an athlete was again,&#8221; Beach said. And now, he feels like he can relate to his patients more as an athlete than when he first began practicing.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, he has started putting challenges (races) that many would never think of trying on his calendar, including completing Keys to Recovery two more times, doing a 75-mile bike race in one day, and finishing a 5K with his daughter. &#8220;It gives me the drive to keep trying to push myself beyond what I ever thought I was capable of,&#8221; he said. Beach has been involved with the Project Athena Foundation where he shares his story of determination with athletes, demonstrating how he has walked the walk.<\/p>\n<p>His condition has played a big part in all his life decisions, from his social life to marriage and having kids. He kept his diagnosis a secret for many years. &#8220;I was afraid of letting people know that I had a disability,&#8221; said Beach. &#8220;But the more I came out about it, I was surprised at how receptive people were.&#8221; He&#8217;s had to learn to adapt and ask for help in certain situations (i.e., help getting an injured athlete off the field). With a drive to overcome challenges, Beach has accomplished much, including being the first AT to receive the Chuck Ealey Undefeated Spirt Award and publishing his first book, &#8220;Searching for Every Step: Finding My Purpose Living with Spinal Muscular Atrophy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Beach&#8217;s advice for other ATs is to live life to the fullest, even amid hard times and struggles. &#8220;When an opportunity comes to you don&#8217;t let that opportunity pass you by. Even if you don&#8217;t think you will complete it or succeed, keep trying. [The patients] we work with day in and day out, even if they fail at times. It&#8217;s the true champion athlete that never gives up even when times get tough. [They] know that no matter victory or defeat that they have done whatever it takes to try to win the battle.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This article was originally published in the <a href=\"https:\/\/7f6907b2.flowpaper.com\/BOCCertUpdateWinter2022\/#page=16\">2022 winter &#8220;Cert Update&#8221;<\/a> newsletter.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bocatc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Kurt_Beach_Photo_Collection.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kurt Beach, ATC is an outreach Athletic Trainer (AT) practicing at Springfield High School in Holland, Ohio. He has been a certified AT for 23 years. He loves his career and said, &#8220;Getting athletes back in the game by making&#8230; <div class=\"more\"><a class=\"continue\" href=\"https:\/\/bocatc.org\/newsroom\/achieving-at-goals-amid-challenges-of-sma\/\">Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6,10],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-2495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsroom","category-athletic-trainers","category-boc-news","tag-athletic-trainer-in-depth-look"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Achieving AT Goals Amid Challenges of SMA - Board of Certification for The Athletic Trainer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bocatc.org\/newsroom\/achieving-at-goals-amid-challenges-of-sma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Achieving AT Goals Amid Challenges of SMA - Board of Certification for The Athletic Trainer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kurt Beach, ATC is an outreach Athletic Trainer (AT) practicing at Springfield High School in Holland, Ohio. 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