ATC and success

I had a young man message me about becoming an ATC and some snipets that may have defined my success in coming up. I believe he is a young personal trainer in a big box gym.This was my response to him if I understood his questions of me correctly.   Either way, some brief snipets and a psuedo-comedic finale typical of me.An athletic training degree is very specialized, and it does not give you a lot of leverage to work outside of that field. It is a legitimate health care professional, but 1) particularly in NJ, you are not allowed to use any of those skills outside of an "athletic" setting, which would be a school, organized event, college, or professional team, and 2) it holds no credibility by the public (should you be trying to create that for personal training endeavors).If you are keen on becoming an athletic trainer and following a career there, then by all means, but I don't think it is a premiere choice to augment any personal training goals.If your goals are to get into professional sports and climb the ladder at the minor league level, then the ATC will be extremely valuable.I was an ATC first and then went right to PT school with the idea of being a PT would make me a better ATC. The way my career in professional basketball became funneled into strength & conditioning, everything all fit together in terms of certifications and formal and continuing education.As far as what has made me successful, if that is even true I'm not sure, it is a combination of like what everyone else says: who you know, being in the right place at the right time, kissing the right people's asses, checking your ego at the door when necessary, and hitting line drives whenever you get a chance to pinch hit.If there is one thing that I am not humble about, what I am probably better at that others is simply wanting to be better than everyone else. That is a hard thing for some people to grasp. Many people say they want to be good at what they do or help people or this and that. The better folks will say they always want to be the best they can be. Very few people look at their lives and walk out the front door every day and say to themselves I want to be the best at what I do that has ever walked the Earth. That will never happen of course, but when you have that intensity and live your life towards that end, you will by default be the best you can be and serve those that have come before you and those regularly around you.I think this is what has made me "successful," and again success is decided by others, not me. I actually don't think I am all that good at what I do. I think everybody else just sucks.