When football players take a knee under Friday night lights and a hush falls over an exuberant crowd, Courtney Goebel rushes into action.
Goebel has to be prepared for anything as she races onto the field from the sidelines.
“They have be ready for everything,” said Isaiah Mathews, a senior running back at Garfield. “Anything could happen. We really need her.”
From pulled muscles to paralysis, Goebel’s initial assessment and response can mark the difference between a season-ending or life-threatening injury and a return to the field.
Goebel, 29, sees players at their worst moments and their best.
“We’re there for the dog days, the two-a-days,” said Goebel, product of Champion High School and University of Akron. “We see the kids get ready … and see the result of everything we worked towards.”
Like all athletic trainers, Goebel does her best to ensure the triumphs of high school football — touchdowns, interceptions, field goals and first downs — don’t override player safety. She is, after all, by injured football players’ sides moments after they go down.
Goebel has experienced everything from ankle sprains to concussions during her three seasons serving the East Community Learning Center and one season at the Garfield Community Learning Center. Last season alone, she treated 11 joint dislocations.
“She has a knack to be quick in her responses for anything that happens, whether on the field or on the court,” said East coach Marques Hayes.
She has to.
From taping ankles to innovative treatments
Though Goebel must prepare for severe injuries each season, she typically only sees around 20 between the two schools.
That leaves her to spend most of her time performing routine checks, taping athletes and helping players with therapeutic exercises.
Some of her tasks are more specialized.
Each weekday afternoon, she checks outdoor temperatures based on ambient heat and humidity. Her measurements determine heat stress and help coaches decide how to safely run practices.
And on game days, you can find her taping athletes for up to two hours, in the training room and on the field.
Goebel’s previous experience as an athletic trainer at the University of Akron and Akron Children’s Hospital introduced her to innovative techniques that she has brought with her to the high school level. Athletes at East and Garfield now have access to compression pumps and cupping, a suction-based therapy that encourages blood flow.
Both treatments proactively ease potential injuries and improve performance on the field.
In Akron, athletic training ‘truly imperative’
Along the way, Goebel builds critical relationships with teenagers. Trust and stability matter in the athletic training world — without them, players may not feel comfortable seeking help for minor ailments.
Those same injuries, if left untreated, could become sidelining or career-ending.
“When we get injured, she wraps us up, takes care of us, makes sure we don’t need anything,” said Martino Mitchell, a senior linebacker at Garfield. “And she talks to us nice.
“Knowing us, she can tell if we’re hurt.”
Having Goebel’s knowledge on staff has changed the game for the two community learning centers she serves.
“To have a full-time athletic trainer has been truly imperative to the growth of our student-athletes,” Hayes said.
Goebel hopes she will eventually become a veteran presence at both schools.
“In our field, we experience a lot of burnout,” she said. “There’s magic when you get to meet an athletic trainer who’s been in it for 30 years.”
Goebel has found a few outlets to deal with job stress — including music and weightlifting. Cleans are her weightlifting exercise of choice; she also enjoys metal and 2000s country music.
Still, nothing compares to her work under the Friday night lights.
