Bobby Gragston, Louisiana Tech Kinesiology Class of 2011
My name is Bobby Gragston, and I am a 2011 graduate of Louisiana Tech University. I grew up in Benton, LA and I am a proud graduate of the College of Education and Human Sciences and Department of Kinesiology. I am so lucky to be able to share with you today a little about myself and my journey. It would be very remiss of me to fail to mention the wonderful educators you all have the pleasure to learn from, as I know from personal experience! Mrs. Rhonda Boyd, who reached out to me to contribute, was nothing less than phenomenal during my time at Louisiana Tech. The confidence gained in her courses with working with others most definitely helped to catapult me to where I am today. Dr. Szymanski played an integral role in providing me with my first experience of assisting in research. Additionally, he expected (I presume this is still the case) nothing but the best from his students and everyone that he worked with, which is something I have taken with me throughout my career. Mrs. Szymanski was just as special! I have not had the pleasure of working with any of the other members of staff, but taking a quick look at the bios of each makes me wish that I did!
My current position affords me the opportunity to work with some of the most gifted athletes in the world as I am an Assistant Athletic Trainer & Physical Therapist with the Los Angeles Chargers where I just finished up my first season. The journey to this point has been long and has not been void of obstacles, but I am better for it. People are resilient and we must adapt to the imposed demands (see what I did there?) to thrive.
I have so much love and respect for my university as we have always been known for “doing more with less”. To be successful early on in my career field as an Athletic Trainer, this was my life’s mantra. Getting my start in the high school setting and moving to a Junior College in Arizona, I did not have all the resources at my disposal that I have today. This forced me to “keep things simple stupid” to get the job done, which I did.
Following my time spent in Ruston, I had applied for entrance into Physical Therapy school as I wanted to be a “Sports Physical Therapist”. I was lucky enough to get accepted into my school of choice, University of Central Arkansas. Had a great experience and was an absolute compliment to my foundational education at Louisiana Tech. After graduation, I accepted a position at an outpatient orthopedic clinic in Little Rock, AR where I ultimately grew into a clinical director. I cherish that time as it provided ample opportunity for growth, personally and professionally, but I knew I wanted more. During that time, I was introduced to a gentleman looking to grow soccer in the area and was preparing to start a semi-professional team in the area. He asked if I’d be interested in looking to oversee growing the Sports Medicine department and with ignorance, I said yes without hesitation as I was eager to work in sport.
I was able to leverage my employer to become a partner which allowed me the ability to utilize those resources to help take care of the athletes, but needed to find help for match days as I had no idea what to do when it came to taping and emergency care on the pitch. I brainstormed and thought about the organization’s emphasis on growing youth soccer in the area so it felt natural to reach out to Arkansas Children’s Hospital to see if they would be interested. Lucky me, they were! Had the opportunity to meet and work with some great Athletic Trainers for a few years that helped facilitate further growth and ideas!
Two years later, I resigned from my position as the clinical director and took out my 401k to go back to school across the country to become an Athletic Trainer. After much research and discussion with people I respected, I thought this was in my best interest to accomplish my goal of working with elite-level athletes at the highest level. In the summer of 2017, I started at Northern Arizona University in the Master of Science in Athletic training Program. I had the pleasure of learning from some of the best in the high school and JCO settings while there! The summer between the academic years, I applied for a summer internship in the NFL with the Denver Broncos and to my surprise was selected. I enjoyed the long hours and hard work of a training camp in the NFL and was invited back following graduation for a season long job opportunity as an AT/PT intern. I cherished my time spent there and became a sponge as I worked around some of the best to ever do it.
Following this experience, I had been reached out to about an opening in professional soccer as a Head Athletic Trainer. I decided to interview and was extended an offer and accepted in February of 2019. Began preseason with so much excitement in this new position and began implementing some new positive changes and then the world shut down, including the seemingly impermeable world of sport. During this time, I survived by working clinically with a lot of tele-health which was tough for me at the time but was obviously nothing relative to what others had to sacrifice during the pandemic. Made it out on the other side to become an expert in communicable disease and in the development and implementation of health protocols which is something I had never expected. Talk about drinking out of a fire hydrant! Got to complete a shortened season in which we were successful, and another opportunity was on the horizon.
As the season was concluding, I had been pointed in the direction of a job opening as a PT/AT with the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) at the training site in the San Diego area. I applied, went through the process, and was extended an offer which I accepted. I grew so much in that position as a clinician where I had the opportunity to work with some of the best athletes in the world in their respective sports. When the Olympics rolled around in 2021, I spent a month in Tokyo, Japan working at the High-Performance Center in support of Team USA. What an experience! This time and experience ultimately set me up for the next adventure, with USA Rugby.
During my time spent with the USOPC, one of the National Governing Body’s (NGB) I worked in support of was USA Rugby (Sevens’ Program). Through relationships built through the Olympics, I was offered the Head Athletic Trainer & Physical Therapist position. I started in late 2021 with USA Rugby following the Olympic and immediately hit the ground running. I developed lifelong relationships personally and professionally here and grew so much as I was responsible for a team in contact sport traveling internationally weeks at a time. I got to visit all corners of the world from South Africa to Hong Kong to Dubai and the list goes on. I am so thankful for my time spent with those athletes and support staff.
I always wanted to work in the NFL, and while the road was not direct, the journey was totally worth it. Never be satisfied and be a life-long learner. Do the little things well that require zero talent and things will take care of themselves. Treat people with respect and be empathetic. Be useful. Know that the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Go Dawgs!
The Exponential Factor 