Sitting in an office in a little-visited corner of the school every day for the past year has been Val Garcia, Parker’s Athletic Trainer.

Garcia was born and raised in Chicago. “I grew up in Chicago near the Bridgeport area,” Garcia said. “For high school, I went to St. Ignatius, and for college I played softball for a year at St. Joe’s College, and then I transferred to Eastern Illinois, played softball there for a year. Then I graduated from there.”

After graduating college, Garcia spent three months studying for the Athletic Training Board of Certification Licensure Exam. After passing the exam, she was hired at Athletico Physical Therapy. At Athletico, she was contracted to work as an athletic trainer for the football team at St. Ignatius, after which she was moved to Parker.

“Parker has a contract with Athletico Physical Therapy,” Garcia said. “I am contracted through Athletico for Parker to be here 40 hours a week.” According to Garcia, many schools in Chicago have contracts with Athletico Physical Therapy.

Garcia says that she has had an interest in working in some sort of medical field from a young age. “When I was younger, I wanted to work in the medical field,” she said. “I have an interest in sports and the medical field, so this was a good mix of both. I work with sports and with injuries.”

She credits her profession to an injury from playing sports in high school. “I had sprained my ankle really bad,” Garcia said, “and I was out for quite a while. I would do all my rehab with the athletic trainer that was at my high school. I grew an interest from that and I would ask questions of what the profession entailed. After that, my interest in athletic training blossomed.”

At school, Garcia’s day ranges from filling out paperwork, to evaluating and helping injured students, to preparing water for a game at Parker.  “I’m here usually during the last half of the day,” Garcia said, “and then I’m here for all the sporting events after school.” Garcia rarely travels with teams, though for big events, such as IHSA state series games, she may attend.

Of course, part of Garcia’s job includes dealing with injuries. “We’ve had a couple of broken bones, a couple of ACL tears, a lot of concussions, the basic athletic injuries,” Garcia said. “Nothing too too major.”

Garcia notes that the majority of injuries happens during the soccer season. “You’re heading a lot of balls, colliding with people, so it’s more of a high-risk,” Garcia said.

Freshman Chelsea Njei has been injured multiple times during the sports season. “During volleyball I had a minor shoulder injury,” said Njei. “I went to Val, she stretched me out, I did PT with her, she gave me stretches to do.” Njei says that she had a good experience with Val, and is very glad to have that kind of support at Parker.

When asked about students faking injuries, Garcia says that she can tell. “Sometimes I do see that,” Garcia said. “I can definitely tell when someone is just not wanting to practice. In the back of my head I might be thinking that they are faking, but regardless I have to treat everyone the same.”

Parker’s Athletic Director Bobby Starks says that the job of athletic trainer is extremely important, and that Parker is fortunate to have a full-time athletic trainer. “She’s there and is walking our student athletes back to the road of recovery from a concussion or pulled muscle,” Starks said. “Val does a great job.”

As for Parker, Garcia says that she likes the community. “It is very close-knit,” Garcia said, “they have a good relationship with faculty and staff, and they put their students first, which I love.” Garcia says she hopes to stay at Parker for a while, but does hope that another door can open for her for a more long-term career, possibly as a physician’s assistant.

But here at Parker, Garcia’s main priority is providing help to anyone who might need it. “I’m always here for anyone, athlete or not.”