First and foremost, I would like to thank the membership for having faith in me to represent you and lead this great District as your 15th District 2 Director.  Back in September 2010, when we as district director candidates received an email from Jessica Viana, District 2’s nomination chair, there were a variety of questions that we had to answer regarding our views on what the NATA and District should be doing for its members and what did we want to accomplish while serving as District Director.  For me, it was all about the membership and what can we do to support you and your needs.  Thus, from my platform, we came up with a program called CAS,  which stands for Communicate Activate Serve.

In my experience as District 2 Secretary, members use to approach me with questions about where the NATA or District 2 stood regarding specific issues.  Most of the time the answers had already been announced through the minutes or the NATA and District web sites.  Over time, I realized that we needed to do a better job communicating to our membership, especially at the District level and so Communicate is the first component of the CAS program.  In the past, we have communicated by email and through the District 2 web site, but as times change, so must we.  Therefore, to help improve communication, we have ventured into the world of social media by launching a variety of social media pages.  We have four members who have volunteered to manage these various accounts.  We have a members’ only Facebook account (Lauren Kreha), a public Facebook account (Neil Matz), a Twitter members’ only account (Mark Gildard) and a LinkedIn members' only account (Doug Sawyer).  Each time there is a posting to the district 2 website or an update is sent through the D2-Wire, we will also post the information on our private social media pages. You can sign up for these accounts through the our web site.

Once you apply, the administrator for that account will verify your membership and then add you to the group. 

Currently, the only way members receive information from NATA BOD and District 2 Executive Board meetings is through written minutes.  This sometimes can be a slow process because it takes time to transcribe the minutes and then get them approved before being posted on the web site.  This process usually takes approximately one month.  To keep the membership up to date in a more timely fashion, I will be posting video summaries of NATA BOD and District 2 Executive Board meetings on the District 2 web site.  The goal is to have these videos posted within one week of a meeting.  We will also post the dates of our board meetings on the web site and social media pages.  The NATA BOD usually has a conference call once a month  while District 2 Executive Board, at a minimum, has three scheduled meetings per year. Two are during the conventions and one is via a conference call.  Members have also informed me over the years that sometimes they feel they do not have a voice.  To combat this concern, I will hold Skype the Director sessions once a month.  Right now they are scheduled for the first Monday of each month around lunch time.  For more information or to sign up for a session, please go to the District 2 web site.  Continuing to take advantage of Skype technology, I will give a live NATA BOD report through Skype at your state meeting.  If we cannot get online for the meeting, then I will record the report on DVD, which can be played at the state business meeting.  Those of you who attended the New York and Pennsylvania state meetings this past June, already experienced a DVD report. 

We are not limiting our improved communication to just the computer.  We will also keep you connected through your mobile phone.  When appropriate, we will use text messaging and voice broadcasting as another means to communicate.

Communication is just one module of our new initiatives, the other two, “A” and “S” are components that blend together.  We want to Activate 30-40 members to Serve the District 2 membership and so we are developing three programs for our members.  The first is an online educational program that will provide one free CE.  We will be asking the curricular programs within our district to develop the content for this particular program.  If you are an educator and are interested in helping, please look for an email inviting your college/university to participate in this project.  The second program is the Help Network.  Here, members can ask for help in certain areas through our web site and then we will have groups of members who will offer you their opinion on the situation.  Again, these are members in District 2 providing a service to their peers.  The final area of this plan is called Employer Education.  A member will complete an online form requesting specific help with their supervisor.  In return we will send a packet of information that will help educate the individual on the profession of athletic training.

Currently, it is projected that the Serve part of the CAS program will be up and running either late summer or early fall.

Finally, I would just like to thank Charlie Thompson, Tanya Dargusch and the rest of the District 2 Executive Board for their support throughout my transition to District 2 Director. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at director@natad2.org.

Best in Health,

Michael Goldenberg MS ATC
Associate Director of Athletics/Athletic Trainer
The Lawrenceville School
Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
(609) 895-2105
Fax: (609) 895-2158

NATA: Health Care for Life and Sport