Eric Griffin was a typical mixed martial arts athlete until he received unexpected news from his doctor.
The diagnosis of degenerative disk disease didn’t have to be the end of his MMA career. But after learning more from his doctor, he ended up quitting the sport he grew up loving.
Chris Walsh | Courtesy
Griffin, now a first-year graduate assistant athletic trainer, said he began athletic training in college with the goal of preventing athletes from quitting a sport they loved.
“I don’t want injuries to be the reason why (athletes) have to stop playing the sport that they love,” Griffin said.
Logan Floyd, sophomore football player, values a close relationship with the athletic trainers as much as the trainers value the relationship with the players.
“With Eric (Griffin), I can just come in here and joke around,” Floyd said. “You just talk to these people about anything. Whether its sports related, how you are feeling. They are always open and willing to talk to you about stuff.”
That willingness to talk comes from players, trainers and even directors all coming from similar walks of life and their love for one thing — sports.
Chris Walsh, director of Athletic Training Services, grew up loving sports, though he didn’t expect to end up in athletic training. After serving nine years on active duty in the United States Coast Guard, he went back to school and sort of “fell” into it.
He was encouraged by the program director for his love for sports and ability to easily communicate with people, Walsh said.
While his dream may have been to become a collegiate athlete, becoming an athletic trainer was the next best thing.
“The biggest recognition I get is from the student athletes,” Walsh said. “Gaining their trust and having them come to you in vulnerable situations and seek help. And I think that’s very rewarding in itself.”
This same sentiment is felt by Griffin, who doesn’t feel that being in the spotlight is important. He even enjoys not being in it. Instead, he now finds fulfillment from seeing athletes who he first watched get hurt, work though rehab and get back onto the field.
Watching athletes grow both physically and mentally has made the job easy for Griffin, he said. While the hours can be long and grueling, he said he loves working with the student athletes.
An average day consists of him coming into the training room around 8 or 9 a.m. where he works with athletes from daily rehab or athletes who have a more serious injury.
Though he tends to work with football and has always loved the game — a huge Tennessee Titans fan — he has worked with women and men’s tennis as well.
Eric Griffen | Alex Brizee
But football is where he wants to end up.
While Walsh would not consider himself a fan of any of the sports — he enjoys whatever team he is with.
Although when he first started, he had his eyes on football, but after an internship and eventually ending up at Idaho, he was placed with women’s soccer. But he didn’t mind and was just excited to be with the Vandals.
“It actually opened my eyes to really what it is to be an athletic trainer,” Walsh said. “I enjoy watching them really invest their lives in that sport.”
But the trainers are investing their lives in the sport just as much, he said, working long hours while treating and managing a multitude of injuries.
There is a difference in how to manage these injuries, from the more chronic ones that will stay with the athlete for life to more traumatic injuries, Walsh said.
While track and field athletes may not be able to push through certain injuries, football players may be able to because of the demand of the sport. And for a sport like football, it is imperative the trainers are out on the field during those practices.
“Yes, we’re behind the scenes, but we’re right out in the front a lot of the times,” Walsh said. “We open at 6 in the morning and we close when the last practice is out and that can sometimes be 9, 10 o’clock at night.”
Alex Brizee can be reached [email protected]