Have you ever wondered who the students attending to injuries on the football field are? This special type of healthcare professional is called the Athletic Trainer. Athletic trainers are responsible for assessing and treating injuries, as well as attending to emergencies both on-and-off the field at athletic events. In honor of National Athletic Training Month, we are recognizing one of our senior athletic trainers, Natalie Murillo.

Third-year trainer Natalie Murillo was first introduced to the athletic training field by family friends and decided to pursue it for hands-on experience.

“I liked the aspect of learning on my feet in the medical field, and it’s [athletic training] quick-paced, so that’s what made me go for it,” Murillo said. 

Murillo’s favorite part of being a trainer is the connections she makes with people.

“When you’re on the football field, you learn a lot by yourself and with your teammates,” Murillo said. 

Being a trainer requires patience and a willingness to learn as a leader.

“[The most difficult part is] having to learn different people’s perspectives and learning how to communicate with those people and then assessing the situation,” Murillo said.

Straightforward and hardworking, Murillo always knows how to keep people in check.

“We have to separate work from being friends, and she does that really well and is still able to lead a team while still feeling like you’re friends,” junior Alyssa Vanportfleet said.

Murillo’s display of leadership has earned respect from other trainers.  

“Sometimes I’m even a little afraid of her because she’s very assertive in what she does,” Vanportfleet said. “We don’t have to worry about falling behind somewhere because someone wasn’t paying attention, because she’ll pick up the slack from what they were doing and still be able to make everything work efficiently.”

Although she does not plan to take training to college, Murillo plans to take the skills she learned from training.

“Training taught me how to address a person,” Murillo said. “I had a wrestling patient whose kneecap was on the side of his leg and he was panicking, so I addressed him as he was panicking. I calmed him down while the professionals dealt with the issue, so in the future, I want to take that ability to connect with another person and be able to calm them down in a situation like that.”

Murillo’s role as a responsible trainer and dependable friend impacts many.

“She’s always there; she’s like a guide for me, like a role model because that’s the kind of person I want to be,” Vanportfleet said. “She sets the standard so high that I’d like to be able to follow her footsteps and hopefully be how she is because she’s so inspiring.”