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Q and A: Athletic trainer Achilles Walker

Athletic+Trainer+Achilles+Walker%2C%0APhoto+by+Ava+Hinz
Athletic Trainer Achilles Walker, Photo by Ava Hinz

What does your day to day life at MVHS look like?

“It’s either first aid, some sort of treatment, it could be rehab, it can be looking at nutrition, it can be doing impact testing, it can be covering practices or games. The cool thing about my job is they’re kids being active and it’s a different population, it’s a different world. My day is always different. I do know, I’m gonna show up to work. I do know that at eight or nine o’clock, I’m gonna walk away. But it’s never the same thing. And that’s what I like about it…. I can treat a water polo kid, I can treat a football kid, I can treat a tennis kid…  There’s so many different things.”

What is your favorite part of your day?

“It sounds crazy, but I love injuries. I hate seeing my athletes get hurt, but when injuries happen, I always call it the perfect storm. Like so many things had to go wrong. For me to get here, whether they were tired, whether it was fatigue, plus someone hitting them, so much that goes into an injury, that when they happen, you kind of go, right, it had to go this way. And like I said, I hate seeing my athletes hurt, but knowing that I can see what happened and I can help them through it is probably the best feeling because they need someone who can help them and that’s what I came here for. So being able to offer that is probably the biggest thing that I love doing. Being able to say you know what, I know you’re mad, I know you’re scared, I know how to handle this. I know what we gotta do to get through this.”

Has there ever been a time where you have been scared that you will not be able to fix an injury?

“When it’s crazy and there’s an injury and things are going every which way, I feel perfectly calm in those moments. And me being calm in those moments allows my athlete to be calm in that moment. And so I’ve never, never been scared like that.”

How is MVHS unique from other schools?

It’s the balance of both worlds. The athletes are super smart. Not only are they are they super smart, they’re awesome. They found balance in both worlds. And plus, the kids here are really good kids; they may do dumb things from time to time, they may do goofy things, they may be a pain in the butt sometimes. But when it comes down to it, they’re actually really good kids. So it makes for an environment where I think the kids feel safe and that just makes my job that much easier. Because not dealing with all the other craziness that sometimes comes out.”

What is something that most students do not know about your job? “Most of them always say that I’m here only for football. And it’s not true. I will treat any athlete at any time. Doesn’t matter. I don’t care if  you play badminton, if you play football… I’m here for every athlete on this campus. All athletes are my responsibility.”

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