We only live once; we only have one body. Every decision we make, whether we like it or not, directly affects our body. What we eat, what we think, what we do, how we act – it all takes its toll on our body. Brianna Johnston, ATC Assistant Athletic Trainer at St. Joseph’s College, has recognized this and has made it her goal to help athletes with their physical well-being.
 |
| Brianna Johnston of Windham has been honored as one of three athletic trainers at St. Joseph's College to be presented the '2022 GNAC Athletic Trainer of the Year' award. COURTESY PHOTO |
It’s their job to make sure that athletes stay healthy and competing in their respective sports. If an injury occurs, they are the first ones there. On a typical day, Johnston starts her day by going to the gym to get her own workout in and makes sure she has coffee before heading to her office on campus.
“We have athletes that come in to do some rehab exercises if they have any long-term injuries. Pre-practice and pre games we tape them and stretch them,” she says. “Whether they need their ankles taped for a basketball game, or need their shoulder stretched before pitching, they come into the training room, and we get them prepared for their sport.”
According to Johnston, her favorite part is covering the athletes’ practices or games.
“We’re on the sidelines prepared for all types of injuries that may occur. Of course, we want them all to stay healthy and injury free but for when they need us, we’re there and ready.”
Johnston is 30 years old and has lived in Windham her whole life. She has six brothers and sisters, and she is the middle child. Growing up around sports, she loved every minute of it. She played softball, basketball, field hockey and a little bit of indoor track. She graduated from Windham High School in 2010 but says that she had no idea what she wanted to do for a career.
One thing she did know was that she wanted to be in healthcare at some capacity. Because she grew up playing sports, and eventually started coaching, she loved being on the field and around athletes wanted to somehow do both.
“I’m a big New York Yankees fan, with Derek Jeter being my favorite all-time player. I was watching a game one night, and he broke his ankle on a play. I remember seeing the athletic trainer run out to him and help him off the field and in that moment, I knew that that was exactly what I wanted to do.”
After doing some research on the profession, Johnston completely fell in love with the idea of helping athletes as a trainer.
“I went to the University of Maine in Orono for a couple of years and then transferred back home,” says Johnston. “In that time of trying to decide what I wanted to do for a career, I came back to Windham High School as an assistant coach for the softball team for a couple of years. Once I realized I wanted to be an Athletic Trainer I applied for the AT program at the University of Southern Maine, and I’ve been focused and driven to be the best AT I can be since then.”
And this is exactly that which got her named as one of the 2022 GNAC (Great Northeast Athletic
Conference) athletic trainers of the year.
There are three athletic trainers at Saint Joe’s; Tiffany Miller-Gagnon is the head athletic trainer, and Aaron Rice is an assistant athletic trainer like Johnston.
“The three of us have a great working relationship,” says Johnston. “This award wouldn’t be possible without all of us working together like we did. The coaches and the rest of the athletic department are a fantastic group of people that I’m lucky to be around every day. I love the sense of community that we have, and I really enjoy going to work every day because of the atmosphere that my colleagues and athletes create.”
Being named 2022 GNAC athletic trainers of the year is no easy task. There are 14 schools in the conference all over New England and each of those schools has an athletic training staff, so at the end of the year all of the athletic trainers in the conference vote for which staff they think is most deserving of the award.
“I was excited for our whole staff,” said Johnston. “We all worked really hard to give our athletes the best care and keep them in the game. This award means a lot to all three of us and we’re so happy for each other. It makes you feel like you’re making a difference in your athletes’ collegiate careers, and you know you’re doing something important.”
Johnston says that she is motivated by her athletes every day and says that there is nothing better than watching them succeed.
“Especially if they’ve had an injury that kept them sidelined for any period of time, it’s amazing to work with them and see them improve and feel better every day,” she said. “I love being around athletes, you get to know them on a personal level. They make me laugh and make me excited to come work with them every day.” <
No comments:
Post a Comment