When discussing Hill sports performance, it’s clear that many campus athletes see the trainers as the backbone of Hill athletics. The team brings a unique blend of effort and charisma to the training room. They care about the students they’re helping to heal.
Stephanie Schaldonat, Director of Athletic Training, along with athletic trainers Jess Lydon and Gregory Macionsky work hard to understand what a student needs to do physically to succeed later on in their sport when they recover, taking into consideration positions as well as the level of injury to formulate a program for the student.
This year, the training program welcomes Jamie Horton, a West Chester University student originally from New Jersey. When asked about his so far experience at Hill, Horton said, “I am lucky enough to have three professional athletic trainers with me. They all provide me with different learning opportunities.”
The Hill School offers these interns proactive learning opportunities that are hard to find elsewhere. “It’s been beneficial to work hands-on compared to learning all my information in class,” Horton explained. Despite attending classes Monday through Friday, Horton comes to Hill around 3 p.m. and leaves at 7 p.m. unless a game runs longer than expected.
Schaldonat emphasized how knowing the students personally helps in their recovery process. “We want to know about them and what makes them them. So that when they get hurt or are recovering from an injury how we can push them, know what motivates them, what frustrates them, and what their goals are. This makes us able to return them back to their sport the best that we can.”
She also mentioned her desire to expand the athletic training room to accommodate more students comfortably, as having a bigger room would provide a better flow, have more students fit comfortably, and an opportunity to do more with the space.
“My goal is to improve the athletic training room.” Shaldonat said. “I would love to see it a bit bigger so we could fit all the people comfortably we see now.”
The athletic trainers left their mark on many students as they help them recover from a full range of injuries.
“They’re incredibly helpful and are eager for me to try new things,” says Mary Kate Barnhart ’24.
Barnhart, who tore her ACL in 2022, worked with Stephanie Schaldonat, Director of Athletic Training, and the rest of the training staff until she fully recovered for lacrosse.
“They’re incredibly helpful and are eager for me to try new things,” Barnhart said. “When I come in and am hurting, they’re great, and I leave feeling 100 percent.”
Furthermore, Barnhard remarked that the athletic training team is “super creative.”
“We eventually did stuff with my lacrosse stick, dodging and pivoting,” Barnhart explained.
Schaldonat, Lydon, and Macionsky are truly dedicated to understanding each student’s unique needs for their sport, crafting personalized recovery programs. Their unwavering commitment to student-athlete health and performance is a testament to Hill’s ideals of care and excellence.
“We really care about the students, and we want to know about them and what makes them.” Schaldonat said. “So that when they get hurt or are recovering from an injury, we can know how we can push them, know what motivates them, what frustrates them, and what their goals are. This makes us able to return them back to their sport the best that we can.”