From injury to dream job 

When Caitlin Crump injured an ankle during her junior year of high school basketball at George Rogers Clark High School (GRC) in 2010, it was a blessing in disguise for her and the school. In the trainer’s room that season, she watched the relationships her trainer built with student athletes. A seed was planted and, eventually, Crump transformed that injury into a career as an athletic trainer.

“I love helping people,” said Caitlin, who also teaches sports medicine at the school. “I love sports. This kind of feels like the best of both worlds and I could see myself doing it for the rest of my life.”

When a student goes down on the field, Caitlin is the first one there to help. For those battling nagging injuries, she is also their first resource for care.

“If it’s something that I feel that they need to get further evaluation on, then I can send them on to a doctor,” she said. “I think that’s the best part of my job… being able to have such close relationships with the athletes, the coaches and the doctors.”

When strong safety Johnnie Stanley received a concussion in a game against Bryan Station High School in Lexington two weeks ago, she helped manage his care. “She’s just making sure I’m right and I’m not rushing too fast into” returning to play, Johnnie said. “She’s doing everything she needs to do to get me back on the right track.”

Senior linebacker Walker Overton said Caitlin does more than keep her athletes’ bodies healthy. “She’s been a role model for us,” he said.

Caitlin grew up in Winchester, where her pastor taught her to shoot free throws. By the time high school came, she had found a home on the GRC girls’ basketball team, with that pastor as her assistant coach.

Basketball is her favorite sport, but if a student asks, she reframes their question, “I’m more familiar with basketball.” Caitlin prefers her role as high school athletic trainer because she can be involved with a variety of sports. 

“Something as trivial as a minor ankle sprain to a concussion and they trust us to work them back in,” she said. “We know the signs, we know what to look for — how hard to push, how hard not to push. They know that we’ll be the one because we want them back. That’s our goal and that’s what the coaches want.”