After facing an injury and going through the rehabilitation process, junior Aria Shaw is dedicated to helping others through similar experiences. Shaw joined the student sports medicine staff in May 2025 at the end of her sophomore year and resumed her position at the beginning of this school year.
“I was inspired by the athletes themselves because I’m personally not an athlete,” Shaw said. “I’m always kind of athlete adjacent. I swam for about a year and then got injured and quit. My own experience with being injured and having to go through physical therapy and how sometimes it can be frustrating inspired me to want to help people through that process and remind them that it’s okay to be injured.”
Shaw said the program has given her exposure to sports medicine and continues to inspire her future career.
“I want to go into medicine, and I’ve wanted to do that for a really long time,” Shaw said. “When I realized that [Midtown] has a sports medicine program, I was like why not.”
Athletic trainer Josh Henderson believes the program provides students with fundamental skills that can be applied in an occupational setting.
“I think in today’s society specifically, it is very computer and [artificial intelligence] driven and the beauty of [sports medicine] is that all of that goes out the window,” Henderson said. “You have to think critically on the spot, with something that is happening in front of you and that is important today more than ever before to help [students] take those skills and apply it to whatever else they prefer to go into. Even if they don’t go into sports medicine, the stuff that they learn out here will help them at whatever they pursue in life.”
Student sports medicine staff are expected to be at practices two or more days per week. They tend to players on the field and are given responsibilities such as hydration management, low level first aid, and recording the heat index.
“They are very pivotal in helping to complete all of the tasks that we have to for daily practices, for game day events, for managing rehabilitation protocols, for corrective exercise plans, as well as performance plans to help students get better and to help them rehabilitate and be better athletes out on the field,” Henderson said.
Shaw said the experience has been a large adjustment, but a fulfilling process.
“My personal philosophy is that you can’t have a fixed mindset in times of change,” Shaw said. “When I came onto the program we were coming off of a really tumultuous year. It was very disorganized. So, it was a lot of restructuring the program and figuring out how to make it better and more streamline. It’s been an adjustment, but I’ve transitioned really well and it’s been really great.”
In total there are six students that are a part of the sports medicine program. Fellow staff member and junior, Aiyana Bagwell, said the students and staff members have regulations set in place to help insure the program’s success.
“Students and sports medicine staff genuinely have a known relationship,” Bagwell said. “We have boundaries and rules set up, [and] it’s for our protection and the student’s protection. We also genuinely care about other people and we are learning things about sports medicine every day.”
Shaw said she has learned from other students and staff members, and described the program as community oriented.
“It is kind of like a conveyor belt, we work as one, it’s like we move as one,” Shaw said. We are all chains in one link and so if one person’s doing something the other person is helping that person.”
Bagwell said Shaw has continued to be receptive to new information and mindful of her peers.
“[Shaw] is hard-working,” Bagwell said. “She’ll do the work that other people won’t do and she thinks about people that she works with. She also thinks about the staff, she thinks about what’s best for the players, she takes everybody into consideration before doing something and always is thinking about new ways to help and be useful.”
Shaw believes the program is impactful and hopes to continue in the future. She said the program allows her to explore connections and gain experience in the medical field.
“Personally, just helping others and being able to take care of people is something I’ve always been passionate about,” Shaw said. “So it’s a really fulfilling and wonderful experience, and it makes me feel really great. I love my other [staff], [Henderson] is wonderful, the coaches are wonderful, everyone is great. It is a place that you want to be and want to keep coming to.”
