College of Education Q&A with Dr. JoEllen Sefton

Dr. JoEllen Sefton is the director of the Neuromechanics Lab and the Warrior Research Center, both housed in the School of Kinesiology. Together, the lab and the Warrior Research Center seek to improve performance, resiliency, and health and wellness while providing leadership through research, education, training, and implementation of new knowledge in order to better serve Warriors, Veterans, tactical athletes, families, and the community.

What initially spurred your interest in working with tactical athletes?

I picked up a phone call back in 2008 that changed my research agenda. It was a call from an Army Major at Ft. Benning/Moore. He had been tasked with reducing injuries in their unit that trained future infantry Soldiers. He played football in college and knew athletic trainers helped athletes stay healthy. He found me online, knew Auburn was drivable, and asked for help. I went down to Ft. Benning to meet them and talk about what they were doing. And that was the start of the Warrior Athletic Training Program. The Warrior Research Center came out of the realization that, at that time, few people were doing research to help tactical athletes.

What do you hope is achieved through the Tactical Athlete Summit?

The Summit is not a typical conference. The goal is to bring researchers, military, police, fire and other tactical athletes, industry representatives and government together to discuss what we know, what we don’t know, what has to change, and how to get there. Researchers must present with tactical athletes or at least spend a large portion of the talk on take home knowledge that they can go use today. The tactical athletes in the audience ask real questions and tell researchers what they need, where they are off track as far as solutions (that won’t work in the field) and everyone networks to share new information and ideas.  It’s a great mix and we all learn a lot.

Have your students’ interests broadened the work you have done with tactical athletes?

Always! I have to drag us back at times so we don’t get too broad. We have to keep our focus and use the skills we have, but if a student isn’t excited about the research, we don’t get their 100 percent effort. It’s easy to get bogged down in the red tape and time it takes for change to happen when you’ve been doing this a long time. They re-invigorate me every day with their ideas and enthusiasm. 

This 2023 Tactical Athlete Summit focused on females… why is that work and research important in this area? 

The female tactical athlete was one special focus, along with police and fire. These are all areas that need more research. The goal is to bring to the surface how little work is being done in this area and why it is vital that we do so. We had great women describing what they have been dealing with in addition to doing the job. Things no man would put up with. I think we met our goal. The Army research laboratories are committing to more focus in this area. Also – I received the following quote in an email. This is why we do what we do.

"Before I finish there was one note I did want to express about this summit. As a female service member and a kinesiologist, I really felt seen and heard in a very positive way. Thank you."