Prof. David Larsen has been a faculty member at The Master’s University since 2001. He serves as both the chair of the Department of Kinesiology and as TMU’s head athletic trainer. Recently, we asked him a few questions about his life and his academic field.
I was raised in a Christian family and most of my friends were believers. One time I went to the beach with some friends, and one of them ended up sharing the gospel with some people there. Through that, my eyes were opened to my friend’s boldness about him, this contagious spirit that moved him to share his faith. Shortly thereafter, I was baptized.
Then we had a very big earthquake in Whittier. I was working at a business and two TMC students came to the door and offered to help clean and restore the shop. These two incidents helped me grasp the lordship of Christ, that He’s my Savior and Lord. That’s why I’m sitting here now.
2 Corinthians 4:16-17 — “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For our momentary, light affliction is working out for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.”
I was in the athletic training and sports medicine field for 10 years prior to coming to TMU. During that time, I saw the importance behind having a community and time for my family, while still working in the field. Athletic training is a career that demanded my nights and weekends.
At TMU, however, I knew there would be a healthy balance between work and family. Here, my wife and I felt like our family was part of a bigger family on campus. In fact, our kids grew up in an environment of believers, which eventually became their own, as all of them enrolled in a major of their choosing at TMU.
I have been both a professor and the head athletic trainer for 23 years at TMU. My goal has always been to challenge the students to solve the pieces of the puzzle that is the human body. I enjoy being a facilitator for my students to learn and practice their knowledge.
In Advanced Orthopedic Assessment we observe, test, and then diagnose the patient based on the evidence we have gathered. This is called a differential diagnosis. When someone points to the inside of their knee, we ask, “What are all the potential problems going on?” Then we start to narrow our diagnosis. It is always fun as a professor to see a student’s eyes light up when they understand a lesson.
I hope students can take what they have learned at TMU and apply it to the workforce. Students get opportunities and job offers and excel at them because they are TMU students. I hope that as they engage in these grand opportunities, they know they will stand out, because of who they are and the manner of their education at this university. Students need to look and prepare for those opportunities.
What they are doing in the healthcare world is going to include a lot of pain and suffering – patients will be open to talking with them. Mix that with the knowledge and training that they get in school, and then the preparation that they get from TMU – it can’t get any better than that.
Our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made. Human anatomy is a godly design – this is why we must study it and approach it holistically. There are a lot of different things that the Lord uses to open a person’s heart and mind for the gospel. Pain and suffering act as an opportunity for the Lord to draw whoever is suffering to Himself. Disorders, conditions, and diagnoses are going to be weighing on their minds. In a major that deals with physical pain, our students learn that conversations about the gospel and truth will come up naturally with patients and people they work with.
Learn more about TMU’s Kinesiology Program here.
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