The Heartbeat of Athletics

To the average attendee in the stands, the staff sitting behind the team bench might go completely unnoticed. Their intense concentration on the game might be mistaken for that of any other spectator.

Until the quarterback goes down in a tackle, a sprinter trips on a hurdle, or two players collide going for the ball and don’t get back up. Then the team of athletic trainers hurrying to the center of the field has the undivided attention of a suddenly still stadium. Will he or she need a quick water break and stretch? Or is the game (or worse, season) over for their star player?

Yet these dramatic moments make up a small percentage of an athletic trainer’s week. Wheaton’s Head Athletic Trainer Tricia Deter estimates that about 95% of their workday, which runs from 9:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., takes place behind the scenes. Their main role is to care for the physical health of student athletes by preventing and treating injuries. But an injury for a collegiate athlete isn’t just a physical burden. It can create emotional, mental, and spiritual challenges, too. “Our work is so much more than medicine,” Deter said. “We’re caring for the whole health of the person.”

The NCAA estimates there are around 200,000 injuries in college athletics per year (ranging in severity). One study from the Journal of Athletic Training found that around 67% of college athletes sustained an injury during their career, and 50% reported a chronic injury. Former athletes were more likely to experience pain and degenerative changes in their joints and spine compared to nonathletes.

Athletic trainers’ work may be behind the scenes, but it’s obvious when they’re missing.

When Deter was in high school, her school’s athletic trainer was let go due to budget cuts. Faced with the consequences of what happens in that role’s absence, Deter solidified her passion for athletic training. “I watched a lot of my teammates who got hurt just go through injury without someone to help them,” she said. She went on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in athletic training from Olivet Nazarene and Illinois State University respectively. Shortly after completing her education, she came to work for Wheaton, where she has worked for 13 years and counting.

“I loved my time at Olivet,” Deter said, describing her decision to work for Wheaton. “I felt like a faith-centered school was where I was called to be—where my personality best fit to be an athletic trainer.”

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Every day for athletic trainers—off-season training, regular season practices, or game days, whether on home turf or traveling for competition season—begins with treating injuries in the training room. Although mornings are bustling with activity, it’s still the quietest part of the day. Music plays in the background of the training room as students filter in and out for their appointments. Some need ice or heat therapy for ongoing recovery. Others are working on strengthening a muscle post-surgery. Still others arrive to receive an evaluation and treatment plan for new injuries. With 21 varsity teams dependent on the Chrouser Sports Complex facilities, the staff of five full-time athletic trainers see around ten students for individual rehab sessions each morning in the training room.

Brielle Fernando ’26, Head Student Athletic Trainer, leads a team of 17 other student athletic trainers. Representing all years from freshmen to fifth-year seniors, these students assist full-time athletic trainers with foundational team needs like setting up practice and assisting in emergencies. On her work days, she arrives in the Chrouser Sports Complex’s training room to a chorus of, “How was your day?” and “How are you doing, really?” and “The workload isn’t too much, is it?” At one end of the room, a group of students she’s fairly certain aren’t in need of any injury treatment have set up a badminton game with old foam rackets, a worn ball dug up from the back of a closet somewhere, and sports tape stretched out to form a makeshift net.

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Allan Prasil in Wheaton College’s athletic training room.

“One thing that I love? We get to do life with these kids,” said Assistant Athletic Trainer Allan Prasil. “We have an open door policy here in the athletic training room. You can come in anytime you want, and you don’t even have to do rehab. You can just sit and talk. I think that’s the joy of Wheaton: There’s an opportunity where we can put away athletics and just be real with each other.”

The first word that comes to Fernando’s mind to describe the Wheaton training room is joy. “It’s a space where God is present,” she said. “It’s more than just a place people go to get physically better. It’s a place people go to experience genuine joy.”

By 2 p.m., when classes are wrapping up for the day, the training room transforms from a place of individual treatment to a hive of energy as student athletes crowd in to tape their ankles, don protective equipment, and prepare for afternoon practice, which lasts for two to three hours each day.

“For many student athletes, that’s the highlight of their day, when they get to go be with their teammates and go off to practice,” said Julie Schmela Davis ’91, who worked in Wheaton Athletics for over 20 years, including 11 as athletic director. “The training room becomes a little like a classroom. You’ll find it with 30 or 40 students at a time. It’s its own place. It’s got its own rhythm and energy.”

An athletic trainer’s role during practice is to help coaches know which athletes are available for practice and what their limits are. They help ensure students stay hydrated, and in the event of new injuries, they’re ready to respond. For a coach, these efforts are invaluable. Kent Madsen, Head Women’s Basketball Coach, interacts with athletic trainers daily during the basketball season. “Without athletic trainers, we don’t make it through a season,” he said.

After practice, there are still athletes who need icing, stretching, and more, which athletic trainers provide on a walk-in basis until the training room finally closes up around 7 p.m.

Unless, of course, it’s game day. Whether at home or away, athletic trainers prepare players and pack up countless pieces of equipment. They travel on the bus with students and remain on-site for most competitions. Actively watching the performance can help athletic trainers respond quickly and effectively to any emergencies. When they see an accident happen, they’re ready with context that helps them evaluate and treat an athlete in ways that avoid unnecessary pain or further injury.

Then there are postgame therapies to help athletes recover from going all-out, often administered on the bus ride back or after arriving back on campus, sometimes late into the night. During the fall, athletic trainers could clock 70–80 hours in a week. And even when they’re off the clock, even at the end of a grueling travel day, Deter and Prasil make themselves available to students who need a listening ear or helping hand. “I couldn’t tell you how many times both Trish and I have gotten phone calls or text messages at 10:30 or 11 at night from one of our athletes because they’re struggling with something,” said Prasil. “And that’s special, because they reach out to us.”

No matter how late they were up the night before, Deter and Prasil are back in the training room the next morning, ready to greet each student with joy.

“We love our job,” Deter said. “Don’t get me wrong: It’s stressful, and there are very hard times. But we feel we have a deeper purpose at our job than just caring for injuries. The reason we keep going is because we love the people we work with and love showing up for these kids. That’s probably the thing I love the most. I love that at the end of the day, I get to talk with these kids about and encourage them in their faith.”

MORE THAN AN ATHLETIC TRAINER

“In many ways, athletic trainers are the heartbeat of the athletic department,” said Athletic Director Mike Schauer ’93, M.A. ’96. “They are probably the hardest-working group in our department, and they have a special space because they’re treating the physical wellbeing of our student athletes. They also end up becoming mentors to our students because they spend so much time together.”

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Tricia Deter with supplies on the field.

From her vantage point as a student, Fernando can confirm this sentiment. When she first started working in the department during her freshman year, she was primarily hoping for a reliable student job while she completed her degree in biblical and theological studies. But she quickly realized she’d found her vocation, due in large part to what she experienced working alongside Deter, Prasil, and their staff. “A Wheaton athletic trainer is more than just a trainer,” she said. “They’re a therapist, a nutritionist, a friend, a parent—they’re this whole list of things. It’s powerful to see all these people love their job so much that even when they’re stressed, they still take time to care about each individual athlete and student that walks in there. I admire them a lot for that.”

At the end of the day, athletic trainers are often the first ones there for their students when something goes wrong. “Athletic trainers are really key in providing not only physical care, but also a sense of community in that training room,” Davis said. “One of the closest relationships a student athlete has might be with their athletic trainer.”

For student athletes, an injury is more than physical pain. It might mean they don’t get to do the thing they love most for an extended period of time. It could feel isolating from their main community, their team. And it can be an emotional, stressful burden for young adults, many of whom are away from their families for the first time.

“Injuries can be lonely for an athlete,” said Madsen. “That’s where your athletic trainers can come alongside those athletes and just talk with them, reassure them, and help them understand even from a spiritual standpoint that your worth isn’t just because you play basketball. There’s still a lot of things you can do to help the team even when you’re injured.”

Prasil brings his own personal experience with injury to his work, perhaps increasing his ability to step into the shoes of his student athletes and walk with them through many of the most challenging emotional aspects of injury. At age 18, he was set to run track on a scholarship at Eastern Illinois University. Then he tore his ACL during a skiing accident just before college. He headed to physical therapy discouraged and at a loss for what to do next. His doctor noticed his mood and suggested Prasil could stay in the athletics world through a career in athletic training. “I went to the library, did research, and fell in love with the description of what athletic training is,” Prasil said. After graduating with a degree in physical education and athletic training, he spent several years working as a personal trainer. Eleven years ago, he returned to his first vocational love by becoming an athletic trainer at Wheaton, and he’s been here ever since.

“Taking an athlete through an injury and then watching them go back to their sport on the football field, baseball field, basketball court, swimming pool, and seeing that smile on their face—that’s special to me,” Prasil said. “I still get teary eyed when those athletes go back on the field and say, ‘I couldn’t get through the season without you. Thank you.’”