In the small training room near the pool, athletic trainer Liz Gilmore Alves tends to numerous athletes a day, caring for immediate injuries and placating and speeding recovery for long-term injuries.

Alves has been working as the school’s athletic trainer for the past four years every weekday from 2:15 p.m. to the end of the last competitive event of the day, which can range from 6:15 to 10:30 p.m. given the game schedules.

“I never worry about whether or not Liz is around,” senior Brandon Pak said. “She’s always here for us, and it’s comforting to know that.”

When Pak pulled his groin muscle during basketball season in winter, Liz gave him advice and helped him do stretches until he recovered. Then when volleyball season came in spring, Pak injured his shoulder and Liz taped him every practice.

“Without Liz’s help, I would not have recovered as soon as I did,” Pak said.

A typical day for Alves starts with preventive activities such as taping, stretching or rolling the students. Then, Alves directs rehabilitation activities while most players are at practice. She finishes the day off with treatments.

When any students from the marching band or the drama department are injured, Alves treats them with the same methods she uses with any student athlete.

“Sometimes students sprain their ankles or trip and fall,” Alves said. “Last year, a drama student cut his eyebrow open on a prop two hours before curtain time; we had to Steri-Strip it up so he could be on the stage instead of in the ER.”

Aside from being the athletic trainer, Alves used to work as a physical therapist in the morning, but now she is a substitute teacher for local schools. She studied sports science for her undergraduate degree and kinesiology for her master’s degree.

Her favorite part of her job is being around the students since they keep the atmosphere lighthearted and friendly.

“I like the kids,” Alves said. “You hear a lot of weird things in my room; the inside jokes told by the students are extremely funny and entertaining.”