By Judy Richter:
Although she’s new to the Stanford women’s basketball staff, athletic trainer Katelin Knox is no stranger to the campus.
Before recently succeeding Marcella Shorty, who went to the South Carolina women’s basketball team, Katelin had been associated with Stanford for three years.
She started as an intern with the football and men’s volleyball teams from October 2012 to June 2013. She then received an athletic training fellowship that kept her on campus until moving onto the WBB staff this season.
Happy to stay at Stanford
She welcomed “the opportunity to stay at Stanford.” Its first-rate medical facilities are a big draw, she said in an interview.
Besides working with women’s basketball, she serves the women’s golf team, but doesn’t travel with it. She had worked with the field hockey team during its offseason earlier this year.
Her varied experiences have helped to “broaden my horizon on different types of injuries,” she said.
Athletic trainers “do a lot of preventive” work, she said. In particular, she works with Brittany Keil, the team’s strength and conditioning coach, to help the players with proper movement and mechanics and, if necessary, their physical therapy.
Along those lines, she coordinates with the medical staff to help players with injuries.
Communication plays a big role
If a player feels ill or thinks she might be injured, she first contacts Katelin, who decides where to go from there. She stressed that she and Brittany work in concert with the medical staff. “All of us work together,” she said. “There’s a lot of communication.”
Part of that communication, of course, involves the coaches. “The coaches always know what’s going on,” she said. Therefore, they know what an ill or injured player’s practice plan should be.
Nutrition is another important aspect, so a sports nutritionist is on staff. “We have a lot of resources,” she said.
Other resources include the human performance lab and Stanford sports medicine. Both boast of state-of-the-art technology and conduct all kinds of sports-related research.
Katelin involved in ACL research
Right now she’s working with Dr. Jason Dragoo, a Stanford orthopedist and sports medicine doctor, on a research project aimed at preventing ACL injuries in girls. He’s trying to see how the biomechanics of younger girls and high school soccer players change after an exercise program.
The researchers first use motion-capture technology to watch the girls in drills in the lab. Next they go to the girls’ practices and put them through drills.
After three or four months, the girls return to the lab where the motion-capture technology records their jumping and cutting maneuvers, specifically how they land.
The research is “still in the process,” so there are no conclusions for now, Katelin said.
Her job at practices and games
Her day-to-day work when the WBB team practices starts early in the morning for meetings and any needed rehab work. She helps the players get ready for practice by taping their ankles if they don’t use a brace.
During practice, she helps injured players and keeps an eye on the court to make sure everyone’s OK. For example, when a player hit the floor hard during the recent open practice, Katelin rushed over to check on her – no harm done.
Sometimes she stays after practice if someone needs additional help.
During games, she’ll be at the end of the bench with a supply bag loaded with such necessities as first aid items, cleansing supplies, tape for ankles, splints, ice bags and wraps, compression wraps and hand sanitizer.
Any player who wears contact lenses is asked to give Katelin an extra set in case a lens comes out during the game. She has lens solution.
Visiting teams bring their own trainers, but she e-mails them ahead of time with her contact information. She also supplies them with ice and Gatorade. There’s always a doctor at the games to serve either team if needed.
Academic background
Katelin earned her BS in combined sciences at Santa Clara University in 2009 and went on to earn an MS in athletic training at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2012. Both schools are on the WBB schedule this year.
Besides being familiar with Stanford before moving into her present position, Katelin was familiar with the area.
She grew up in San Mateo and graduated from Aragon High School, where she played basketball for four years and ran track for two years.
She became interested in becoming an athletic trainer while working at a physical therapy clinic and in the athletic training room at Santa Clara U.
“I really enjoyed being able to help athletes get back to what they love doing after an injury. The dedication to getting back to sports and being able to help others really drew me to athletic training,” she said by e-mail.
She “was first introduced to Stanford sports medicine while working basketball camps during summer breaks,” her official bio says.
There’s more where Stanford is concerned. Her father works in its IT department.
“Nothing compares to Stanford,” and “it’s nice to be close to home,” she concluded.
