The Unsung Hero in My Daughter’s College Soccer Journey: Her Athletic Trainer
The Unsung Hero in My Daughter’s College Soccer Journey: Her Athletic Trainer. When you send your kid across the country to play Division 1 soccer, you brace yourself for the training, the heavy class load, the travel, and the constant juggle of a new life. You do your best from afar, but you can’t be there for the daily aches, the illnesses, or the moments when something feels off.
That’s where Katie Walker comes in.
Katie is my daughter’s athletic trainer—and she is everything. She is on the front line every single day, knowing my daughter in a way I no longer can. Mentally and physically, she tracks how her body is responding, notices the smallest changes, and hears the tone in her voice before it cracks. She is the first person my daughter calls, and the first to notice when something isn’t right. She listens, she helps, she is her parent away from home.
And it really is everything. One night she FaceTimed Katie from her dorm after cutting her finger. She’s helped her with allergies. A rash. A deviated septum. Menstrual issues. Oh and the injuries, that’s a never-ending part of her job. In case you didn’t know, soccer players get hurt A LOT. But she’s so much more than that. When there was a chance my daughter had been exposed to mono, Katie was the one who knew if she’d had it before—not me. She’s the one scheduling their doctor’s appointments, sending them for x-rays, coordinating the follow-ups. If something happens—big or small—Katie is always the first stop.
She also has access to all their trackers and data. The Oura rings, the sleep reports, the heart rate and blood pressure numbers—Katie knows when something is off. She knows when recovery needs to be adjusted, when an athlete needs to back down, or when it’s time for extra treatment, or time in the water relax pods.
But more than the data and logistics, she is steady. She is kind. She is the safe space someone my daughter can talk to and count on every single day. She is the bridge between doctors and coaches, the protector, the early warning system, the one who sees what a mom miles away cannot.
And it’s not just my daughter. Every parent I know feels the same. Katie is the glue for all of our kids.
That’s why I was struck when I read psychiatrist and fellow sports mom Dr. Kim Quigley’s piece on LinkedIn (Read Here). She wrote that the biggest crisis in college athletics isn’t NIL or realignment—it’s the athletic trainer shortage. Trainers are “mission-critical infrastructure,” the ones who see everything first. She described her own son’s trainer as like another parent, the person who would be first to catch anxiety or depression creeping in.
Trainers are the parents and our kids lifeline, and are critical in preventing injuries and managing recovery—but they are also saving lives. Just last week at San Clemente High in California, athletic trainer Amber Anaya raced to the field with an AED after a coach went into cardiac arrest during practice. Her quick action kept him alive until paramedics arrived. That’s another big part of the value of having trained professionals on staff.
But here’s the truth: too many schools still don’t have trainers at all. The ones who are there are covering hundreds of athletes, working exhausting hours, and carrying more than anyone should be asked to carry. They are the safety net our kids rely on—and right now, that net is fraying.
So here’s my ask: thank your school’s athletic trainer. Tell them they matter. Tell your athletic director how much they matter. And if you’re able, support the broader community through the National Athletic Trainers’ Association. Because if we want them there for our kids tomorrow, we need to stand up for them today.
Katie is the reason my daughter can keep chasing her dream—and the reason I can sleep at night. For every athlete, trainers are the invisible scaffolding holding sports together. They deserve our gratitude, our support, and our voices.
