Lauren Riddle is a student in the Athletic Training Program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, who is working to become the first female athletic trainer in the National Hockey League.

I started shadowing my athletic trainer in high school and I just kind of fell in love with it and I've always been really into hockey. And so I just kind of came to the conclusion that the NHL was where I wanted to be.

Lauren believes that Pitt's athletic training program is bringing her closer to her dream.

Every semester, we get a different rotation of clinical site. So you get that variety of different sports. If I had gone elsewhere, I may not have had that same opportunity to work in hockey. That's ultimately why I decided to come to Pit.

And while students gain a variety of experiences through clinical rotations, the athletic training program also helps students develop extensive skills to respond to critical situations.

We don't just meet the expectation of our accrediting body, we exceed that and we do that in a variety of ways. One really good example is the Spine Boarding Series that our students do.

In general spine boarding is probably a small portion of all of the duties and skills that we learn. In the grand scheme of things, probably one of the most important.

Our program doesn't just go over that once we go over it a multitude of times.

If there's ever a head, neck or back injury, athletic trainers use a spine board to stabilize the athlete to prevent a spinal injury.

Spine boarding and just managing injuries isn't like a black and white thing like, this injury happens, you do this. like A happens, you do B. You kind of have to get a feel for it and see like what's going on.

Students prepare for these scenarios by practicing spine boarding in a wide range of environments, from the field, to gymnastic foam pits, in swimming pools. And even on the ice.

We got to go to the Lemieux Sports Complex up in cranberry and we were able to learn and practice spine boarding on ice and the equipment removal.

On ice kneeling for the first time is very different. Sliding or moving a patient on the spine board on ice that's unstable standing can be very different. So we try to afford our students all of those experiences.

So the good thing about the situation at Lemieux is that you're you're comfortable, you're with your peers, you know that the patients that you're dealing with are athletic trainers, so they know what you should and shouldn't be doing. So whenever you mess up, they'll immediately tell you like, "Hey, you're not really grabbing my like neck hard enough, or you're not stabilizing me enough."

And it's this type of hands-on experience that helps students pursue their passion.

My ultimate goal for our students in our program is to find that one thing, not necessarily with professional sports or collegiate sports, but that one thing that they're going to feel like they can make the biggest impact.

I feel much better about knowing what to expect. like once you get out onto the ice and just like having that experience to be able to work with hockey, I feel is just going to help me further my career. If I had the opportunity to work in the NHL as a female, I think it would be amazing for the sport and for females everywhere. It would be awesome. Like words can't describe.