The featured image of this article won third place in the 2023 Michigan Interscholastic Press Association spring awards ceremony.
An athletic trainer is an important person for all athletes. They help them work through injuries, make them feel safer, and give them mental toughness. After the previous athletic trainer Brian Killinger left last year and the athletic department trying to find a replacement, Sydney Foster stepped into the position.
While this is Foster’s first time as a high school athletic trainer, she has been preparing for this job for a long time and immediately knew that it was for her.
“When I found out [the job] was for Northview High School, I was super excited,” Foster said. “I went to Comstock Park for high school, so I know the area and know that communities over here are so much stronger than they are on the other side of the state from what I’ve experienced. When they offered me the position it was kind of a no brainer.”
Foster went to Grand Valley State University for her undergraduate degree and then went on to get her master’s degree in athletic training at Wayne State University. She is excited to move forward with her athletes.
“[The job is] kind of hard. There’s a lot more students here than I expected, so every opportunity that I take for education is huge,” Foster said.
Foster is already excelling at her job, according to her colleagues. Athletic director Pat Marsman is glad to have someone like Foster at the high school.
“She’s everything I want,” Marsman said. “She’s very visible. When I say visible, she gets out to the practices, and she doesn’t just stay in the training room. She’s very nice, she cares about the kids, and she’s very good at what she does.”
Athletes already love working with Foster. Senior swimmer and team captain Danika Fessenden worked with her during the season as she underwent a shoulder injury.
“During the season, I had tendonitis in my shoulder, and she helped me fix it and strengthen it so it didn’t bother me while I swam,” Fessenden said.
Foster wants to get athletes back into their sport, and that takes an extra push.
“I try to get [athletes] to motivate themselves and pick themselves up, I want them to see they are willing to push themselves to get back onto the field,” Foster said. “I pretty much tell them that there’s only so much I can do to push you, you have to want it. So I think that gives them a little bit more confidence and a little bit more internal motivation.”
As an athletic trainer and someone who has past sports experience, Foster strongly believes in the importance of educating athletes in their safety in sports. She goes through a process to give an athlete a detailed [description] of their injury and how to properly heal.
“I’m here for prevention, intervention and to return to play. Along the way, if a kid gets injured, I take the time to show them the anatomy, tell them about inflammation and how the body is reacting when you have an injury,” Foster said.
Foster wants to make an impact on student-athletes she works with and have people understand that what she does is important.
“I really like connecting with athletes and kids as much as I can. I know that sports medicine is wildy under-known, and there’s misconceptions about athletic training and what I’m actually here for and what I do,” Foster said.
