A small, rectangular cake lays atop a printer in the corner of the Athletic Trainer’s room, reading, “Thank you 4 keeping us in 1 piece – MVGWP” — an early birthday present from the Girls Water Polo team to show their appreciation for Health Clerk and Athletic Trainer Myesha Taylor. Girls Water Polo is one of the fall sports teams that Taylor currently treats injuries for, and although she has only been at MVHS since April of 2023, many athletes seek out her help. 

While she doesn’t treat cardiovascular or neurological conditions, Taylor helps with broken bones, torn ligaments and dislocations — the injuries that she is certified to treat to help athletes be at their peak performance. Taylor says her favorite part of the job is helping athletes recover and seeing them grow from their injuries and as individuals. 

“When they come in thinking they’re never going to play again, and a couple of weeks later, they’re back on the field — I love that,” Taylor said. “[Also], watching [players] from their freshman year ‘till their senior year is the best because performance-wise, from freshman year to senior year, the change that [some athletes] make is huge. When they don’t realize it, I have to remind them, ‘Do you remember your freshman year?’ and it helps them realize how much better they got.”

While Taylor was studying Kinesiology at San José State University, she pursued a degree with a focus on Athletic Training in Sports Medicine, which allowed her to get into the athletic training field. Taylor previously worked a contract position at Branham High School, and when Athletic Director Nick Bonacorsi asked her if she would be interested in a permanent position at MVHS, she took the job and saw it as an opportunity to further her career. 

In addition to Taylor, several student volunteers are stationed at the athletic trainer’s office to help injured athletes. While Taylor deals with more serious injuries, she has the student helpers help with tasks, such as using the massage gun, preparing ice for the players and passing her supplies when she has to treat on-field injuries. Varsity Boys Volleyball player and junior Charlie Jiang is one of Taylor’s assistants, and says the job is interesting and a great way to volunteer to help others. 

Jiang also finds it easy to work with Taylor, as he says she is open-minded and enthusiastic. Similarly, sophomore Miya Sakurai, who is on the Varsity Girls Water Polo team, injured her knee during a hike and went to see Taylor, who did cupping on her leg and helped ice it as well. 

“She is really friendly and easy to get along with, she’s always wanting to help anyone and she’s really good at what she does,” Sakurai said. “I was in [the athletic trainer’s room] almost every day so that she could fix my knees, [and] because she helped me, it got better faster.”

For Taylor, establishing these connections with student athletes is crucial to her job — it allows her to identify more athletes who need help with injuries, such as strains and sprains, and provide them with the right care. 

“I try to get to know all the athletes because I believe if you actually like somebody, you will come see them, especially when you need help,” Taylor said. “If you don’t like them, it doesn’t even matter whether they help you, you’re not going to go to them, so I try to learn stuff about each athlete and help them feel comfortable coming in.”

Jiang has taken away many important lessons from Taylor’s philosophy that come to use when someone is injured. Along with technical skills, Jiang says it is crucial to develop interpersonal skills and learn to be empathetic when it comes to treating those who are hurt. 

“I’ve learned how to interact with certain types of situations — I didn’t know how to approach injuries before, but after talking to [Myesha], she taught me how to ask questions about how the injury happened or what to do if someone got injured,” Jiang said. “It taught me to be more considerate because it opens a point of view of ‘How would I feel if I got injured and someone was asking me how I was feeling?’ so this shows me compassion.”

Whether it is her helpers or student athletes, Taylor hopes to teach others how to manage injuries. She says that has always had an affinity for working with students, and paired with the supportive coaches she has met, she finds the MVHS athletics program a welcoming environment that has allowed her to smoothly transition into her position.

“A lot of athletic trainers want to work with professional athletes and I was one of those trainers earlier in my career,” Taylor said. “Now I’ve gotten to the point where I want to help create those athletes that every athletic trainer wants to work with.”

This story was originally published on El Estoque on October 18, 2023.