The Power of 2: Michael Muller and Athletic Trainer Dakota Orlando have learned and grown from each other while helping East athletes

Scoping the field, Junior Michael Muller sprints after Athletic Trainer Dakota Orlando. But she is already 40 yards ahead of him running to the injured player. When he arrives, he’s ready to assist her with any injury spanning from a paper cut to a dislocated shoulder. 

This is a daily routine that Muller and Dakota have found themselves in. Everyday after school Muller heads down to the Athletic Training Room and fills the water jugs for practices as well as the ice bath tub for players who overheat. Then, they walk to the fields and make sure they catch every injury or possible issue. Shadowing Dakota and helping her with even the minor things, is thrilling to Muller because he doesn’t know what new problem he’ll have to face that day. But Dakota’s care for others is what makes him like her as a person. 

“I knew I wanted to shadow Dakota as soon as I started to develop a passion for helping others,” Muller said. “Which came a lot from being around her and seeing what she does for a profession, last season.”

As a football manager last year, he set up practices and brought players new pads and waters. Now he goes where he’s needed and assists Dakota with the medical aspects of practices such as checking on dehydrated players and analyzing a players pain level on a scale of 1 to 10 to report back to Dakota. 

“Her mix of fun and joking with seriousness is what I really admired about her,” Muller said. “She could be your friend one minute, [and then switch] to a whole new mindset and personality as soon as somebody needed her.”

Muller’s job and duties as a sports liaison was best described by Dakota as “a form of contact.” Muller didn’t take the Sports Medicine Program as a class due to scheduling space, but Dakota has been able to answer all of his questions and teach him new things everyday while keeping him involved on the field.

“We can learn a lot from each other,” Dakota said. “He learns a lot from me because it’s my professional career and I can learn a lot from him because he can fill me in on what is plaguing his generation and what people are struggling with.”

With all sports going on at once, Dakota can’t be everywhere. That’s where Muller comes in.. He can be on the opposite end of the school helping the football players while Dakota is up at soccer. If anything happens, Muller texts Dakota and she’s there as soon as possible. 

“It’s good he’s out there on the football field because there’s 100 kids out there and we only have 10 coaches who are moving around,” Dakota said. “They may not be able to notice when a kid is sitting on the sidelines because they just need a little longer break and if that’s the case, then Michael can come get me.”

Muller is able to connect with players on a more personal level than Dakota because of the closer age. He’ll talk to them on the sidelines or bench about how they’are feeling or if there’s anything going on in their life that might be impacting their playing. He’s able to be a good friend to the players.

“The kids feel more comfortable coming to him than they do to me,” Dakota said. “There are some junior boys that do not talk to me until senior year and are really terrified to talk to me. They have the mentality of ‘I’m gonna rip you off the field,’ but that’s why it’s good Michael can calm them down and encourage them to come talk to me.”

Muller has had players come to him with things like a hurt hip or ankle and although he’s not trained to fix it himself, he reassures them that Dakota can help them get it fixed properly and quickly so they can get back into the game. 

Since Muller wants to go into sports medicine for his profession, Dakota has been a great mentor  by answering sports medical questions as well as helping him with things like spotting the difference between “injured” and “hurt,” which in turn helps her when she’s checking out athletes. She’s taught him about the components of taping an injury and what makes up a treatment team — admin, nurses, SROs, parents, players and the coaching staff.

Muller and Dakota have been able to connect on and off the field while working countless hours before and after school helping players and coaches with their practices, games and other sports events. 

Muller plans on continuing to work alongside Dakota and learn as much as he can this year and his senior year.

“In the future I plan on going to medical school for sports medicine and Dakota has helped a lot in deciding what path I wanna take because there are a ton of different ways to use it,” Muller said. “She has helped narrow down my options and mentor me.”

Muller is looking into some southern schools for college but hasn’t found the right fit for him yet. In the meantime, Muller continues to learn and observe as much as he can from Dakota.

“Since working with Dakota, I’ve learned so much and had such an amazing time,” Muller said. “I cannot wait to learn more from somebody like her.”