CJ Strawser has always been the athletes’ go-to man, but this year, that has changed since athletes were introduced to a new trainer: Alex Coon.

The new face around the training room is GVSU graduate, Alex Coon. Prior to working at FHC, he was a trainer at several different colleges with varying sports such as Western Michigan University’s soccer team, Cornerstone University’s volleyball team, GVSU’s volleyball team, and Grandville High School.

Alex Coon chose to provide his services at FHC because he is from the area, likes the Forest Hills school system, and was offered a position by a company he trusts. To get to know your new trainer a little better, the reason why he decided to become an athletic trainer is that, “[he] loves the world of athletics and admires seeing athletes achieve their dreams and successes through sports.”

Although Alex is extremely talented in his specialty, he has a few enemies: MCL taping and smelly football players. Alex quoted on the taping stating, “MCL taping is my least favorite thing to tape because it is annoying.” Although it’s not his favorite thing to do in the training room, he will gladly still tape your MCL with a bright smile on his face. In addition to that, to put his experience in athletic training into perspective, the worst injury he has ever dealt with was an elbow dislocation from a pole vaulter. He said, “It looked like she had a softball in her elbow. She missed the mat and landed wrong on the turf. It was absolutely disgusting.”

Alex and CJ were not friends prior to working at FHC; however, since they have been with each other for a large chunk of time in the training room, they now are. CJ stated, “We have a lot of mutual friends so I knew of him. Along with that, I knew him because I played [soccer] against him in high school. Despite all of that, I consider us friends now.”

Alex and CJ work side-by-side to get athletes in and out of the training room twice as fast compared to last year. Their top-tier teamwork makes the training room environment welcoming and well-structured. There is an ongoing debate on who’s the better trainer, but in reality, they are both equally gifted (unless Alex consumes his daily dose of four cups of coffee and then he is quicker and more attentive). In addition to Alex serving as a helping hand, there is another aspect of the athletic training room that seems to be beneficial to all the fall sports: lunchtime treatments.

Lunchtime treatments were introduced this year to all athletes no matter which season their sport is in. This has proven to be a great addition since it allows the trainers to help athletes that need more one-on-one time.

Alex particularly enjoys lunchtime treatments because he believes that, “…it’s a good opportunity to spend a little more time with kids that have lingering injuries and/or need more attention than we [Alex and CJ] aren’t able to provide in the short amount of time we have after school, before practice.” CJ commented on the same question as he said, “I like lunchtime treatments because it means that I am able to do things that I was taught in school and help people feel better over a longer period of time.”

Lunchtime treatments have proven to be successful and useful to all athletes. The trainers love it and the athletes do too. FHC’s sports medicine realm had two major upgrades, and those two new additions made our athletics program a million times more efficient than it was before. With that being said, if you haven’t met Alex, he’s a pretty awesome person, so make sure to stop by during your lunch or after school to meet him before your season starts.