Mike Vukovcan If you’re at any Hopewell High School athletic event, you’ve likely seen her but not sure who she is or what’s she’s doing.
We’re here to change that because she’s a vital member of the Hopewell athletic department.
Her name is Lauren Linn and she’s the athletic trainer for Hopewell High School Athletics.
Prior to last school year, Don Short held that position since 1989 but after retiring, Linn was hired to replace him.
Linn had approximately 14 years of athletic training experience combined at California University (PA), Wheeling Jesuit University, and most recently at Robert Morris University (men’s basketball program). While at Wheeling, Linn worked with all of its athletic programs but at RMU, she was the head trainer of Andy Toole’s men’s basketball team.
A native of Clinton, PA, Linn earned a bachelor’s degree in athletic training from the University of Charleston (West Virginia) and a graduate degree from California University (PA).
Vikings Sports Now recently spent some time with Linn to find out more about her, her profession and what led her to Hopewell High School.
“As a high school student, I had no idea what I wanted to do but I knew I liked sports,” Linn told Vikings Sports Now. “I played basketball and ran track myself.”
Being unsure about her future profession, I asked Linn what led her to this field.
“I’ve always liked helping people. My mom always made us do this career test to see what we were better at. I liked math and science and like I said, I liked helping people and helping people pointed towards the heath field.”
“Also, the athletic trainers that I had at South Side kind of made me interested in this field. As I was doing my own research and looking for colleges who had credited programs with athletic training, and while filling out the survey for Charleston, they asked about sports you participated in. Their track coach ended up calling me and I ended up running track and cross country while I was there for 4 years.”
Regardless of what it is, no job is a dream job and everything has its challenges. I asked Linn about this and the challenges and pressure that goes with this profession.
“An athletic trainer is kind of an overlooked, under appreciated profession,” said Linn. “It isn’t a very glamorized profession and I believe it’s overlooked. Unless you are an athlete or have a kid or knew someone that was helped by somebody, most people really don’t have an idea of what we do or how we help. Hours are never great ever, same goes with pay.”
That being said, Linn is doing what she loves and something she’s really good at. But for Linn, it goes well beyond what she does from Monday to Friday.
“So many people get into this do it for a little time and then get out. Obviously, the success stories whether that be a team win, an athlete win, seeing your team and athletes succeed,” said Linn.
“One of my favorite stories at Wheeling was I was with the girls’ volleyball team that won the national championship. Went through that entire season, obviously you deal with injuries, day by day, week by week. But to get to that point and to get to celebrate with them in the end was amazing. I’ve had kids at Robert Morris that went on to play professionally and to see some of these players now still playing and succeeding is so awesome.”
While Linn might feel her job gets overlooked and under appreciated at times, the coaches in the school understand her importance to their programs. VSN was able to ask a few of the varsity coaches about Linn and the praise was unanimous.
“Lauren has been a nice addition to Hopewell High School”, said Hopewell Head Football Coach Matt Mottes. “She very knowledgeable and takes care of our kids. She adds that motherly instinct that really adds a great dynamic.”
“I’ve been a head basketball coach for 19 years now and I’ve always had an excellent trainer,” said Hopewell Boys Basketball HC Doug Biega. “My Beaver Falls trainers were tremendous and Lauren is at the same level that they are. Super reliable, super knowledgeable, and puts in tons of time. She wears a lot of hats and does a good job with all of them.”
”It’s her 2nd year. Having come from a college setting, and working with the men’s basketball program, she is able to connect with our players in the sport,” said Hopewell Girls Basketball HC Jeff Homziak. “Just as our former trainers, our athletes are not coddled and she’ll let me know if they can either perform or sit down and not participate. Also, the girls are comfortable approaching Lauren about a variety of things.”
As Homziak referenced, Linn came to Hopewell after serving as head trainer of the Robert Morris men’s basketball program. While she’s essentially doing the same job, there’s a huge difference between the two jobs.
“At the college level, the pressure was really high,” said Linn. “But here, honestly, sometimes I feel as though I’m not doing enough because I did so much at where I came from. You were 24/7 on call. Andy bugging and texting you, trying to make doctors’ appointments, get them to the appointments, and then rehab, physical therapy, treatment, how can we make them feel better, can we get you through this game.”
“So much went into it at the D-1 level. From October to March, I put in 80+ hours a week, not to mention traveling with the team. Here I’m always asking myself, ‘am I doing enough’. It’s definitely been a huge change and trying to get used to all of that and the big differences.”
As she’s in year two with Hopewell athletics, Linn is enjoying the move from collegiate to high school life and believes it’s what she needed to do both personally and professionally.
“I loved Robert Morris and I still miss it. But here at Hopewell, I have a better work/life balance. In the end, the opportunity here at Hopewell was just too good to pass up, between pay, benefits and work/life balance. Do I miss the glamor side of D1 basketball, sure. Some of those places were so cool to go and watch your team play in. But in the end, Hopewell was more of a long-term venture for me and my future.”
