Over the past four years as a New England College athlete, I have spent many hours in the athletic training room. I have become well known by our wonderful training staff who have helped me with everything from minor to major injuries. They have traveled for our games in the snow, rain, and heat, worked with our tight and tedious schedules, and are always there for us athletes.
Not only have they been a fantastic physical support for the New England College athletes, they have often been mentors and showed support with players’ mental health. As most would know, the mental aspect of a game is just as important as physical play on the field, court, or ice.
The past year has posed many challenges for our training staff.
With COVID-19, changes were made within our college as a whole. This goes as far as weekly testing, using our Kinsa app with the provided thermometer, and housing for quarantine students (if needed). As for the training staff, rehab for players is still a top priority. They have been taking serious safety precautions, like cleaning equipment, tables, and creating more planned out logs for rehab times. Sanitizing the athletic trainers room has been increased to ensure safety for not only the players, but for our staff. With other changes that took place in our training room, they have made sports more of a safe haven for athletes.
Becky, Heather, Steph, Cole, and our newest addition to the training staff, Sam, have been the backbone to our success rate for this challenging school year. New England College has been one of the only schools in the state of New Hampshire to successfully have a steady rate of negative Covid results. The training staff here has supplied its students with resources for testing, informational articles, and support throughout this difficult period in time.
I am writing this article in order to show appreciation for the people that tend to go unnoticed. The trainers have taken on many changes, but I don’t think they know how much they truly mean to us. I have had the opportunity to work closely with Cole, as he was the softball trainer for my freshman year, and Steph who had been by the softball team’s side for almost three years. I have learned so much about myself from these individuals and I never take that for granted.
As for Heather, Becky and Sam, I have only had a few visits, as they work closely with other teams on campus, but their work is also much appreciated. From past and more present conversations with other athletes, there is nothing but positive reviews of our staff.
Thank you for having the patience to work with so many obstacles in your way. As a member of the softball team, I understand how chaotic this year has been. I also understand how difficult it is to work with many students and juggling attendance at our sporting events. Even without Covid affecting our whole lifestyle, as an athlete at NEC, I have never felt helpless when I know our trainers have my back.
Thank you for being our biggest fans and always wanting the best for us. We appreciate the rehab hours, strengthening logs, and even those pesky six in the morning work out sessions with Cole. Your work does NOT go unnoticed.
Hard work pays off and you have taught me, and many other athletes, that lesson. Your job is not easy to balance and somehow you make it seem effortless.
Sincerely, your student athletes.
