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North Carolina’s best High School Athletic Trainer

Article reposted from The Times News.com
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There’s still a degree of skepticism for T’Keyah Henry as to whether Eastern Guilford athletics director Randall Hackett knew why the Wildcats athletic trainer was invited to the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s year-end awards banquet.

“They sent me a letter saying that I was invited to the annual meeting, but they didn’t say what it was for,” Henry said. “My AD kinda hinted it was an award, I don’t know if he actually knew or not. He claims he didn’t know.”

The invite was for Henry, 24, being named the NCHSAA’s Elton Hawley Athletic Trainer / Medical Professional of the Year. It’s recognition that comes as Henry is wrapping up her third academic year working with Eastern Guilford athletes — though she has been involved in state-wide events since 2011.

Henry serves as Eastern Guilford’s trainer through an outreach program by Guilford Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Center. She has worked as an athletic trainer at girls’ tennis state championships, track and field state championships, softball state championship series and girls’ and boys’ basketball regional championships since 2014, and has worked the state wrestling championships since 2011. Henry is from Denver, Colo., and graduated from Greensboro College in 2014.

At Eastern Guilford, Henry says other athletes jokingly accuse her of giving football players preferential treatment. But there’s more to it than that.

“All my kids claim I love the football players more, but it’s just I like fast-paced kind of, always doing something. With football there’s never a dull moment,” Henry said. “We’ve had to suture a couple of noses in the press box, I’ve had to wrap a couple of hips in the middle of a huddle.

“You know, it’s kinda weird asking a kid to drop his pants in front of his teammates and wrap his hip, but you know, you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. But I’m sure they’ve seen worse.”