Johnson’s longtime goal of becoming an athletic trainer comes to fruition

 

“Working with our athletic trainer at the school and doing that rehab – all stuff I do now,” Johnson said. “That sparked it.”

Johnson graduated from Mona Shores in 2007 and was a two-sport athlete, playing golf and hockey for the Sailors. After 2 years at community college, he attended Western Michigan University and graduated in 2014 with a bachelors of science in athletic training.

As a student at Western Michigan, Johnson received an eye-opener to one of the more unpleasant aspects of the job while doing hands-on training at a football game.

“This one kid had an ankle dislocation, and the foot was twisted totally backwards,” he recalls. “When you see that, you’re like: ‘How is this even possible?’ So that was a big ‘Oh, so this is what it’s like sometimes’ moment.”

Upon graduating, Johnson began working at Montague High School through Mercy Health. He also was  working towards his master’s in exercise science, which he eventually earned in 2016 from the California University of Pennsylvania. He stayed at Montague until 2020, when, like for so many others, life changed.

“When the pandemic hit, we all got let go, so I didn’t work for a while,” Johnson said. “Then I got a message from Jason Robinet asking if I wanted this job, and I took it.”

Johnson is now in his second year at Kent City, working through NovaCare Rehabilitation – formerly Robinet Physical Therapy. He said that he enjoys his work, although his schedule can often be hectic. Johnson regularly works 50-hour weeks while at the school and even longer if he’s at the clinic. According to him, fall and spring are the busiest times.

“I’m at every home game, middle school too, as long as there’s no high school,” he said. “And every away football game too, and all of the playoff games. That’s a lot of teams to cover, and I’m in charge of basically every athlete.”

Johnson said that his duties can be everything from first-aid to building programs for long-term injuries. 

 

“Recognizing an athletic injury and being able to treat it right there is big,” Johnson said. “Dealing with blood and cuts and all that. With the chronic injuries, learning to build programs specific to the person and working with them through the whole way.”

Even with the busy schedule and wide swath of duties, Johnson still is happy with the environment at Kent City. 

 

“The first thing I thought after the first week of working here was ‘Man, everyone’s so nice,'” he said.

Outside of treating injuries, he credits establishing rapport with the coaches and athletes as one of the most important parts of his job.

“I always try to build a relationship with the kids right away,” Johnson said. “I’m not a mean person… I just try to relate with them, be myself, and I’m able to build relationships pretty fast. That builds their trust, so if they get hurt, they’re not afraid to ask me about it.

“Building communication with the coaches is key. It makes the work more enjoyable, and I think it actually helps with the care, too.”

Johnson says his favorite part of the job is being able to take someone with a major injury through the recovery process to eventually being able to play again. 

 

“Fortunately, it doesn’t happen all the time, but let’s say a torn ACL. Taking them from not being able to walk, and progressing them to actually moving again, then relearning the sport, and eventually clearing them to play again,” said Johnson.

 

“That process is a really long time, but it’s super rewarding.”