Article reposted from Three-Rivers Commercial News
Author: ELENA MEADOWS
A 2014 Three Rivers High School graduate played a significant role in Western Michigan University’s Cotton Bowl game on Monday, Jan. 3, as an athletic trainer getting the football players ready to go out on the field.
Maggie Tomlinson and five other athletic training students traveled with the team, passing out water to make sure the players were hydrated, doing pre-practice treatments and preventative taping — ensuring they were ready to play and keeping their pain down.
“It has been an awesome experience — once in a lifetime,” she said.
When she started with the team, she knew she had a job to do with the athletes in her care, but after more than 500 clinical hours, she got to know the team members, saw how hard they worked every day, and about how much they truly cared about not just the game but also about each other.
“It was a very humbling and very exciting experience,” she said, expressing appreciation to all those involved in the Western football program for letting her have this opportunity.
Tomlinson entered the athletic training program after debating which medical field she should pursue after graduation — Nursing? EMT? Physical therapy? Occupational therapy? When she found out about athletic training through a soccer camp at Hope College, she realized it involved injury prevention, nutrition, emergency injury management, and physical therapy for injury rehab.
“It really combines all my interests into one,” she said.