Behind the bench: WHHS junior athletic trainers

Kylie Bridgeman and Megan Dorr|November 16, 2021

Madisyn Ellis

Athletic trainers are in charge of the water station during the football games, home and away.

A relatively unknown support staff behind the WHHS football team is the seven student athletic trainers, who do a wide variety of jobs to help the team. SENIOR Eleanor Frost was a student trainer for the first time, and greatly enjoyed her role.

“This is my first year doing it,” Frost said. “I only found out about it from one of my friends who is in one of my classes, but I wanted to do it since I was a freshman. I just didn’t know the opportunity was available.”

Frost worked alongside several other students in the program. SENIORS Angel Wright, Lulu Craven, Dallas Tisdale, Janaya Render, Katie Collopy and Delanie Gulley, ‘23, were all also athletic trainers.

The athletic training program is led by Nathalie Towchick, who received her Bachelors of Science in athletic training from Xavier University and her Masters of Exercise Science and Health Promotion from California University of Pennsylvania.

Towchick is able to serve as a role model for the junior athletic trainers throughout the athletic seasons. This program allows students to discover if a career in sports medicine is right for them.

“I’ve always wanted to work with athletes and I want to go into it as a career. So being able to get hands-on experience was a good thing,” Frost said.

While the experience enables students to try out a possible career, it also allows them to form connections with the players they treat.

“My favorite part was getting to know athletes because they are so much fun and to have that community is really nice,” Frost said.

The athletic trainers are able to form these connections with players because they are there through every step of the season.

“We set things up for practices and games,” Frost said. “We get the tents and all the medical equipment out. During the games we actually do water for the athletes because they can’t touch [the water bottles] because of COVID.”

As the winter sports season approaches, only two athletic training spots are available, but fall season trainers such as Frost, hope to be back on the sideline in the Spring of 2022.