By Emily Deskevich

Winston, varsity football head coach Mark Palyo, and Deskevich tend to a cramping football player. Photo credit: Bryna Darling.

The sun beats down as the Collegiate varsity football team takes to Grover Jones field for another home game on an unseasonably warm Friday afternoon in October. I stand on the sideline alongside one of Collegiate’s athletic trainers, Shannon Winston, and Collegiate alumnus and orthopedic surgeon Dr. Paul Caldwell (‘88). Suddenly the whistle blows, and silence falls over the field. I snap back to reality, reminding myself that I am not a spectator at this game, but assisting Winston in evaluating and providing aid to the football team. Winston takes to the field, running towards an injured player, and I follow.

By the 4 p.m. kickoff, I have already stood for three hours in the training room, have another four ahead of me on the sidelines, and then I am back in the training room post game. The mixture of cheers from the student section, parents, rival fans, the players, and coaches are matched by the whistles of refs running down the field. Despite the cacophony of noise, I find comfort in the volume. While an arm or leg may need to be wrapped on the bench, or a bag of ice is needed, the noise of the sideline and fans in the stands means no one is in emergent pain. 

Winston, Deskevich, and Caldwell on the sidelines of a varsity Football game. Photo credit: Bryna Darling.

Much of the fall season, I spent my afternoons on the sidelines of Cub, JV, and varsity football games, along with multiple volleyball and soccer games, as a student athletic trainer. In addition to the fall season, I continued my time as a student trainer through the winter season as well, when I supervised track meets, futsal games, and all three levels of basketball games. In addition to providing athletic training at competitions, I also worked four days a week in the training room, helping rehab and diagnose injuries that varied in severity. 

The process of diagnosing and treating injuries was an area I learned the most about during my time in the training room. I was fortunate enough to learn what it takes to form a diagnosis and create an action plan from Collegiate’s three athletic trainers: Winston, Tara Tate, and Erin Deloye. The diagnosing of injuries was the hardest part. I was amazed at how the trainers were able to take what an athlete told them about their pain and discomfort and turn it into a conclusive opinion on the nature of the injury. I was astonished at how many different tests and questions can lead an athletic trainer to figure out what muscle or bone group is causing an issue. The diagnosis process is something I believe I will become quite familiar in the years to come when I study human nutrition and exercise at Virginia Tech.

My favorite part of working with athletes is the connection a trainer builds with the player over the recovery period. I loved having regular athletes who seeked me out to assist in their treatment. Some of my recurring athletes that needed daily rehab dealt with knee injuries, sprained ankles, or broken fingers. I also had regular athletes who needed my assistance for wrapping them before practices or games. I often wrapped fingers, hands, wrists, arms, and various abrasions. 

Deskevich, Winston, and Caldwell on the field to help a player. Photo credit: Bryna Darling.

Over the course of the 2021-22 school year, Collegiate has had five seniors spend at least one season in the training room as an assistant. When asked about the Upper School students who shadow her, Winston stated, “I am most impressed with how much confidence students gain with these skills by the end of the season. Gaining the trust of an injured student when you are just a student yourself is a great skill and very impressive.”

Maggie Bowling (‘22) spent the spring season working in the training room. When asked about her favorite part of shadowing, Bowling stated, “The people I work with. I have loved taking a break from my hectic school day and focusing all my attention on helping others, and Coach Tate and Coach Erin are so passionate in what they do, so working with them inspires more of a passion in me as well.” 

When I first started working in the training room in September, I thought I knew what I wanted to do in the medical field: physical therapy. However, working in the training room and getting to talk to medical professionals during my time has left me conflicted, as I also now want to pursue a career as an orthopedic physician’s assistant. I don’t know exactly what the future holds for me in regards to what field of medicine I’ll pursue, but I will always be grateful for the hours I spent in the training room, and all the hours that others put in to teach me and share experiences with me. When I reflect on my senior year, I think about how many sports teams and individual athletes’ lives I impacted and who equally impacted me. While I never played a team sport this school year, I felt as if a little part of me was on each of the teams that I worked with. 

Featured image credit: Bryna Darling.