Career Paths: Keanaaina Finds Her Niche With Football Team
Being around athletes has senior wanting to help others
Savvy Rafkin
RamWire Outreach and Education Content is Powered by Woodward
Behind the bright lights of Canvas Stadium is a staff of athletic trainers waiting in the wings to attend to the football players. One of these members bleeds green and gold as the daughter of a CSU alum.
Skye Keanaaina, a senior Health and Exercise Science major at CSU, has found her passion lying within the athletic training department, after watching several brothers go down the path of collegiate football.
The Keanaaina family has no shortage of athletic talent. Both of Skye’s parents were athletes, with her mom excelling at tennis and running track. Her dad is a CSU football alum and also played basketball. That athletic talent obviously carried down into their kids, Skye grew up playing soccer, and one brother, Aidan, is playing at Notre Dame.
“My mom grew up playing tennis and running track,” said Keanaaina. “My dad was also an athlete growing up, he played basketball and football and he played football here at CSU in the early 90s or late 80s. He played for coach Tom Ehlers (who is now the director of Ram Life Programs). My dad also studied sports medicine, so of course his kids are going to be athletic. When I was 3, I played soccer and I played soccer all throughout my high school career, and I was planning on playing college until I tore my ACL twice.”
Not only did Skye inherit a passion for athletics, she found her interest in athletic training while touring schools with her brother. She then further fell in love with athletic training in high school and that interest carried her through college.
“[My brothers] are a lot,” Keanaaina said. “One of them is on a mission for his religion in New Zealand but the other three of them are at college in Idaho and my blood brother is in college in Indiana. They’re all over the place. Until the pandemic came, all six of us hadn’t been together since 2016. It was really fun having everyone together because that hadn’t happened in a while. Aidan is playing football at Notre Dame. It’s super fun, he loves it out there. I was really happy that he chose that place.”
Before committing to Notre Dame, Skye’s brother toured CSU as a hopeful recruit. Even though Aidan didn’t find his home as a Ram, Skye knew that Fort Collins and athletic training was her calling.
“I showed her around the new stadium and I took her to the athletic training room and took her to the equipment room and showed her what they do, and long story short, she wanted to do athletic training,” Ehlers said. “She did that for a year and then the next year she did recruiting with us.”
Keanaaina’s interest in sports medicine stems from a career ending soccer injury toward the end of her high school soccer career. After spending a lot of time with the athletic trainers in high school, it sealed the deal for the rest of Keanaaina’s future. She now works within CSU’s athletic training department as an athletic training tech for the football team and she works closely with certified athletic trainers.
“My plan is to solidify an athletic training job, and if I really like it, then I’ll stay, but I would like to do physical therapy but mix it with athletic training but like in one football team,” Keanaaina said, “I want to be able to be an athletic trainer for the football team but also be able to do rehab for their injuries. A few teams have started to do that, but that’s what I want to do.”
I want to be able to be an athletic trainer for the football team but also be able to do rehab for their injuries. A few teams have started to do that, but that’s what I want to do.Skye Keanaaina, Student Athletic Training Tech
Her interest in physical therapy and athletic training is what brought her to the football team. Additionally Keanaaina loves the football team because they remind her of her brothers. She has spent a lot of time in the sports scene, so working within the recruiting department was an easy and fun way to get further involved.
“It’s so much fun and I love doing it,” Keanaaina said. “I work in the recruiting department but usually we’ll go in for the games and show the boys around and keep them company while we’re watching the game.”
The athletic training techs have many responsibilities, from setting up practices to cleaning coolers, this position is absolutely essential within a sports program, especially one as large as football.
“They help us by taking stuff off of our plate that needs to get done but isn’t direct patient care,” said Lee Land, a certified athletic trainer at CSU. “Facilities maintenance, which a lot of times is wiping down tables and cleaning coolers. Sometimes it’s setting up for practices and games, which is a big part of what they do.”
Keanaaina’s hunger for success doesn’t go unnoticed by the athletic trainers.
She has a zest for learning, which makes her an excellent student and intern. She’s reliable, which is why she’s been chosen to accompany the team to road games the past two seasons.
“Skye is very motivated,” Land said. “She’s a hard worker and is not afraid to step in and get stuff done. It’s really easy for us to show her how to do things once and what needs to get done once and she’ll get those things done. She’s the type of person that is like ‘hey let’s get this done’ or ‘let’s get this done.’ She’s also not afraid to ask questions. She knows what she doesn’t know, and she’ll ask those questions to get things done.”
Keanaaina’s plan isn’t to stop at a bachelor’s degree. After graduating from CSU in the spring, she has her eyes set on getting a Master’s degree and eventually pursue a physical therapy job.
“Right now, I’m planning on applying to graduate school at UNC,” Keanaaina said. “Their program is transitioning to a bachelor’s degree to a master’s degree. I’d like to stay in Colorado and get my Master’s degree, but it depends on how everything goes with the pandemic and schooling because it’s hard to do athletic training online. It’s a hands-on job.”
About Woodward: Woodward is an independent designer, manufacturer and service provider of energy control and optimization solutions for aerospace and industrial markets. For 150 years, Woodward has focused its resources and expertise on delivering proven systems that perform under incredible demands.