Curing & Confiding

As soon as athletic trainer Dakota Gelsheimer-Orlando arrives at East she headset to nurse Stephanie Ptacek’s office around 11 a.m, she begins her hour-long routine of working with athletes through stretching exercises and mini workouts.

After reporting any injuries from games or practices the night prior that morning to Ptacek, she then moves on to the office to talk with the Student Resource Officers about any possible issues with athletes abusing drugs or substances, as well as the past day’s appointments and reports.

Her next stop is administration, where she’ll check in for upcoming sports events and any possible conflicts so she can determine which event event she’ll be needed at most.

This process takes around an hour for Dakota, but that’s just the beginning of her daily duties. She’ll then head into her office where she works on reports and emails until practices begin. When it comes to the flexibility of Dakota’s day, everything depends on where she wants to be and where she feels most needed. Though she typically ends up with the football team she’s always ready to head to another practice when her services are needed.

“Every single time a girl has ever had even a minor injury at volleyball, she was there so fast and was so prepared and ready to go,” senior and varsity volleyball player Ella Bunde said. 

Dakota’s office has become more than just a place to fill up water or get tape. According to Ella, it’s a place where student athletes can be themselves and bond with their teammates.

On a typical day, you can find at least 10 kids in her room laughing, ranting and getting assistance — whether it be physical or emotional support — up until 2:40 p.m. every school day.

“If I ever had a rough day or just needed someone to talk to, I always knew I could go to Dakota’s room and she would be there for me,” Ella said.

Dakota feels that her job works equally with both the mental and physical health of athletes. To her, one of the biggest signs of a mentally exhausted student is one that will fake an injury, or exaggerate the sevrity of one.

“It is my job to treat injuries and I would never not look at a kid if they say they are hurt, but I have done this long enough to know the difference,” Dakota said. “There’s a bigger meaning behind faking an injury then just wanting to be able to say they hurt.” 

Dakota sees all types of reasons for faking an injury. A student could be pushed too hard during practices or seek attention they don’t receive at home — the list goes on, and she sees it all the time. Her job is to make sure every athlete’s bones and muscles are okay — but more importantly that their brains and their hearts are okay.

Dakota has been recognized this year by the school for her excellent work with an increase in funding. In previous years, she had a mere $2,000 to cover supplies for the year, leaving her with a lack of athletic tape and ice packs for the student athletes. This increase in funding opens the opportunity to treat every student with the highest quality of care.

“A lot of the time I used to run out of tape or any other supplies and I had to start trading supplies with other athletic trainers for boxes of tape or for a pair of crutches,” Dakota said.

According to Dakota, she’s never requested more money for her program. She always just made it work with what she was given, no matter how bad it got — but always kept her students as her top priority.

She also is always working with injuried athletes personally and making sure they are doing okay.Recently senior varsity football player Brady Aebersold injured his ankle during practice and, as always she was right there for him and has been since he got hurt. Before this happened Dakota meant a lot to Brady but this really showed him how much she cares about every individual student’s health.

“She is always checking in on me and making sure that everything is going ok and she also has just been a great friend while struggling with having to sit out,” Brady said.