Athletic trainer Josh Henderson has joined the Midtown staff after spending years working with professional athletes. Henderson previously worked with Atlanta United FC and the Atlanta Silverbacks, doing both athletic training and strength and conditioning.

“I worked with the development academy through Atlanta United,” Henderson said. “I also worked with the Atlanta Silverbacks FC, in the minor league. I worked primarily with the strength and conditioning, as well as the athletic training side of it, working on preventing injuries, as well as doing corrective exercise things to help get the best athlete
out there.”

In 2018, Henderson made the decision to step away from his job at Atlanta United because its large time commitment
that it carried. After working a couple other jobs, Henderson said he was motivated to transition his sports medicine
expertise to work with high schoolers.

“I discontinued working [with Atlanta United] back in 2018,” Henderson said. “I have had a number of jobs I’ve
worked since then, and having a family and kids kind of led me to work more in high school with high schoolers.”
Henderson focuses on helping each athlete maximize their strength, mobility and stability, so that they can perform at
the highest level while reducing the risk of injury.

“The high school athlete isn’t really any different than professional, minor league or college athletes,” Henderson
said. “It’s just kind of how much skill they have acquired at this age. They still have the same muscle groups, obviously
the same bones, and we’re just trying to help provide the strongest, most mobile and stable athlete at this age with
their skill level. So, no matter if they’re 14 or 20 and they’re pro, they’re still trying to be the best version of themselves.”

One of Henderson’s main beliefs with sports medicine is not only recovery, but focusing on preventing future injuries.

Senior varsity girls soccer captain Ella Gagnon said the injury-prevention Henderson has given her has helped this season.

“I sprained my MCL during winter break,” Gagnon said. “The recovery hasn’t been too bad, and Josh has been super
helpful with not only focusing on my injury, but also helping me work out other muscles to prevent future injuries. We
do a lot of squats with or without weights that have been really helpful.”

Junior basketball player Noel Abraham said Henderson’s commitment and participation since he joined the athletics
program has assisted to speed recovery.

“I injured my ankle during basketball season,” Abraham said. “I had to miss three games, but I went to see Josh
about my injury, and he seems a lot more engaged. He was definitely a big help with getting me back on to the court.
It seems he knows what he’s doing and really cares about not just the injury, but the athlete, themself.”

Henderson said balancing many sports has been one of the biggest challenges at Midtown.

“Time management, trying to be in more than one place at a time [has been difficult],” Henderson said. “Trying
to help every athlete with the amount of time you have, wanting to give as much one on one time as possible, when
there’s multiple people lined up. A very common injury that seems to be occurring over and over, we get a lot of shin
splints and quad atrophies. I see a lot of track, basketball and soccer players.”

Abraham explained Henderson always finds a way to manage everyone that comes to seek help.

“There’s always a lot of people to see him because they are injured,” Abraham said. “We have a big sports program
with lots of great athletes, so there’s higher risk for injury. Somehow, he manages to help everyone.”

Despite these hurdles, Henderson said he enjoys his role at Midtown and getting to know the athletes. He said he
has big plans for the future of Midtown sports medicine and athletic training as well, promoting his philosophy of
injury prevention.

“I really like getting to know the students [and] what each student prefers and likes,” Henderson said. “Over the
summer, we’re going to try to create a more detailed plan to make sure we don’t have as many cases of the preventable
things that we shouldn’t be seeing at the beginning of the season. There are a lot of details wrapped up in that that
we’re going to try to get together by the summertime.”