Thundering applause echoed throughout the football stadium as her name was called. Walking across the field a smile spread across her face as she caught sight of her friends, family and the huge cardboard check.
Senior Hadley Guthrie received the Team Behind the Team scholarship on Aug. 29 at the second game of the season. She is one of the 12 nominated students from the district who received the scholarship of $1,000. Winners of the scholarship are seniors who have shown school spirit and have worked to support the football team throughout their years in high school. The scholarship is funded by Frisco Education Foundation and this year is sponsored by Town and Country Roofing.
“If you want to be an athletic trainer, you need to know that it’s very time consuming,” Guthrie said. “You need to have a good work ethic… [and] a good attitude all the time. It’s really easy in this position to get upset or start complaining about it because of the early mornings. You just have to learn to have a good attitude about it.”
Students find out they have received the scholarship any time throughout the football season. Guthrie learned she’d received the award on the first day of school.
“I was in my statistics class and my teacher said ‘Hadley, the principal needs to see you,’” Guthrie said. “I thought he was joking because it was the first day of school. He [Dr.Perry] pulled me into his office and told me; I was very thrown off guard because it was so soon, but I was super excited.”
Hadley joined the student athletic trainers class in her freshman year and has been part of the program since. This year, she is one of four students who are veterans to the program, while the rest are new. Due to this, she has taken over more of the leadership roles.
“She’s grown in every facet,” athletic trainer David Wetzel said. “She was a shy freshman when she came in and now she kind of runs it. She decides what jobs everyone has. She does a lot outside of school, when we need someone to cover games, she volunteers.”
Athletic trainers are expected to be present at practices and games. On game days athletic trainer’s main roles entail wrapping players’ injuries, setting up the field before the game starts, and handing out water.
“Training is really time consuming,” Guthrie said. “We have to go to the morning football practices at 5am. We’re at the games an hour before anyone is there. It’s really not any different than being an athlete in any sport. It’s a lot of hours but I’ve been doing it for so long, you get kind of used to it.”
In addition to giving students the opportunity to work closely with athletes, being a student athletic trainer also gives students an opportunity to explore sports medicine careers. Wetzel invites speakers who are involved in the career to speak to the students about the field. They also get the opportunity to shadow medical professionals.
“We’ll bring in athletic training colleagues that had cool experiences, or a team doctor, anyone that’s had unique experiences,” Wetzel said. “[My collegue] Heather worked for the Dallas Mavericks at one point, she’s now at the New York Knicks. She did a zoom call, where the kids got to ask questions so they could get exposure.”
Guthrie joined the program to be involved in athletics and due to her love of being on the field and close to the action. Her favorite part of being an athletic trainer is the varsity football games. The program has also given her a new appreciation for the work put into games.
“It’s changed my perspective on all the behind the scenes work and sports medicine athletic trainers,” Guthrie said. “It’s really inspiring seeing it. It’s a lot harder than people think. There’s so many highs and lows, but the highs are so high. Waking up early… It’s all worth it because you get to go to the games and just have so much fun.”
