Photos: Robert Colletta
In Playing the Field, we profile women who are making an impact in the world of sports, either in competition or behind the scenes. For this installment, we spoke with Leah Jankowski, an assistant athletic trainer at Carroll University.
In 2005, 47.6 percent of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association members were women. By 2011 that number was 50.9 percent. Student membership was 60 percent female. An influx of female athletic training students in the past decade flooded the profession and helped to even out the gender numbers. Despite that, only a handful of women hold athletic training jobs with professional teams.
But Leah Jankowski, assistant athletic trainer at Division III Carroll University in Waukesha, believes that trend can and should change in the coming years. It’s a generalization, of course, but she doesn’t doubt that things are changing in her field.
“It’s definitely an area, an occupation, that’s growing,” she said. “You see women in lower levels, so eventually you’ll see us up there one day.”
Though she doesn’t want to imply that there haven’t been qualified female trainers in the past, she pointed out that all athletic trainers have to work their way up through high school and college ranks, gaining experience and recommendations, before being considered for the most lucrative and high-profile jobs. Since the influx of female students has been a fairly recent development, many of those students merely don’t have the pedigree to ascend to those positions yet.
“They’re so used to that male-dominant (landscape) and if they were to hire a woman, she’d need to prove she can work at that same level. I’m sure that there are many woman athletic trainers that are more than capable of doing that, but it’s just a matter of giving them a chance,” said Jankowski.
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A dancer, gymnast and cheerleader when she was growing up, Jankowski was no stranger to the toll sports can take on the body. An injury early in high school landed her in the training room and ultimately inspired her to follow her current path. She’d been considering medicine, but the experience of rehabbing gave her a glimpse at the relationship between athletic trainer and athlete and helped her narrow her focus.
Jankowski has both a Bachelor’s of Science in Athletic Training and a Master’s of Education from Carroll. She didn’t have any clue as an undergrad that she’d end up back at Carroll, but it’s exactly the sort of situation she’s happiest in—working with student athletes and helping them be safe and healthy.
“I worked two years as a grad assistant athletic trainer at UW-Parkside,” she said. “I gained a lot of experience, but my superiors were all male. But that actually prepared me for where I am now. I’m very strong-willed. I don’t let things get to me and especially in this field ... It doesn’t bother me that much. I knew at the beginning that this was a tough field to get into. They don’t hire women athletic trainers in the pros. You don’t see any in the major leagues. I knew in the beginning that it was going to be hard. I’m ok with it. I have no problem proving myself. I know that I’m a great athletic trainer and if I have to prove it, I will.”
One of the hardest parts of the job is how little non-athletes understand about the position. Often, she finds people assuming she spends all her time taping ankles.
“That’s not even what I do. It’s way more past that. It’s injury-prevention. It’s first aid emergency care. It’s post-rehab after a surgery. It’s way more than just handing out a water bottle and taping ankles,” she said.
Additionally, parents, particularly those with high-school age athletes, don’t understand the way sports and injury-prevention have changed, she said. She’s been yelled at in the middle of a packed arena and accused of all kinds of nefarious plots by parents who didn’t grow up with the same concussion protocol as are in place now. The parents, she said, think she’s jeopardizing their child’s chance at a scholarship or future shot at going pro.
“Ultimately, every athletic trainer’s goal is to look out for the well-being of the student-athlete or the athlete in general. We don’t want to pull your kid out from a game or practice, just because we can. We look out for their health, their safety and the safety of others, as well,” she said. “We just want to make sure our student-athletes are 100% healthy and that they’re safe, no matter what they’re doing.”
Jankowski’s office is in the middle of the training room and the couch inside has been privy to countless conversations where she counsels students in every manner imaginable. Her role is part trainer, part teacher and part psychologist. But it’s the bond that she forms with her athletes that Jankowski finds most rewarding. “I just love being able to work with the athletes,” she said. “Working one-on-one with the athletes to get them back to 100% is the best thing.”
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While the job appears on the surface to be solitary between her and the student or the athlete, Jankowski said it’s not one she thinks anyone can do on their own. It’s never a 40-hour-a-week job and in months where the sports seasons overlap as they transition, she said she’s lucky if she works less than 60 hours.
She relies on the other trainers as well as the students she went through school with. At Carroll, she estimates there were less than 10 people in her classes. They became like family. Now they’re spread across the country, but they all keep in contact for advice or someone to lean on. Jankowski says she’d been unable to do her job without that teamwork.
Having worked with club athletes as young as eight, Jankowski said she’s noticed little girls take note of her and her position. She said they’re not afraid to ask questions and find out what they have to do to be able to be like her.
And that’s where she sees the field changing. When she goes to state and national-level conferences, she’s far from the only female in attendance. Her classes are flooded with women and high school training rooms are full of female athletic trainers. A handful of women have worked in the MLB, NBA and NFL. There’s a glass ceiling, but the room below it is starting to fill beyond capacity.
“(Breaking through) is something we’re more than capable of doing,” she said.
