Something witty about athletic training

If you were to walk into the athletic training room in Niwot High after the school day is over, you might see tennis balls flying through the air and an array of athletes practically climbing over each other as they do their exercises. Laughter would probably fill the air and someone probably would say, "Maja, you need a new training room."

"I know," athletic trainer Maja Watne would say with a laugh and a sigh. "I try to make it fun...My favorite part of the day is when it's a little crazy, but it's organized chaos."

Watne first came to Niwot in the summer of 2020, after graduating from the University of Northern Colorado's athletic training program. She was inspired to pursue the career after having to go through rehab for her own ACL surgery in high school.

She was once a runner and played soccer at Ralston Valley High School, but a major surgery like that can halt an athletic career. After encouragement from her mother, Watne reached out to her own school's athletic trainer and together, they essentially started a student internship program. Her fascination with sports medicine began.

"People always have an air of confusion," Watne chuckled when explaining what athletic training is. "It's so much more than taping ankles or watching sports all day. The goal of a good athletic trainer, our role, is being excellent at injury and illness recognition, prevention, management and care."

She explained that sports medicine is unique because of its flexibility. Of course, there are standards with treatment–taping protocols, certain styles of exercise regimen, and more.–but trainers can be "really creative with how you problem solve," she said.

But working with the athletes is, perhaps, the main reason why she loves being a trainer. "It's been a blessing...to build relationships," she said. This past winter season especially stuck out to Watne because there were fewer athletes and fewer teams, "I got to know them better." Some students are regulars and others are new to the training room, but it's the one-on-one engagement that Watne finds exciting.

She just has to wait until the afternoons for the excitement to really start–from the time she started in 2020 to last fall, she and other athletic trainers contracted through Orthopaedic and Spine Center of the Rockies, worked part of the day in clinic, and then part of the day at their respective schools. While Watne said she liked the opportunity for further training and networking, "It's nice to settle in and know that all I'm doing is treating athletes at Niwot."

No two days are quite alike, since athletes' needs vary from season to season and student to student, but her usual day goes something like this: catching up on notes from the previous day, writing up treatment plans for athletes, and getting the room ready for when the students arrive. "I'm lucky if I can go out to practice," she said. Sometimes the waves of kids in the training room never stop, and the high pace, high energy environment means that she doesn't always get to see the students in action. But when she does, it's fulfilling.

"Everything I do goes into keeping kids on the field, happy and healthy, ready to compete."