If Patrick Mahomes’ ankle still looks good on Super Bowl Sunday, we’ll be able to thank a trainer who is also a part-time mentor for a local Johnson County student.
Julie Frymyer, the Kansas City Chiefs team trainer credited with helping quarterback Patrick Mahomes heal from an ankle injury before last month’s AFC Championship Game, also helps mentor a student and aspiring athletic trainer at Shawnee Mission West High School.
Julie WAS the reason i was the guy i was on the field today! It takes everyone but she lead the charge all week!!! Now let’s get Super Bowl ready!! https://t.co/glPKlL9Qz3
— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) January 30, 2023
Frymyer, an assistant athletic trainer and physical therapist with the Chiefs, has also been participating this year in SM West’s Women in Leadership program, which pairs students with professional mentors in various fields.
Kelley Capper, the SM West associate principal who founded the program, said she loved that Mahomes gave Frymyer public recognition after the Chiefs beat the Cincinnati Bengals to advance to Super Bowl LVII — and she’s excited for Frymyer’s mentee, who also has dreams to be an NFL trainer one day, too.
Capper had a student interested in being a trainer
- Capper said she’s tried to get in touch with the Chiefs for a mentor for a couple of years now and finally connected with Frymyer through the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society.
- The goal was to find a professional trainer to pair with Brooklyn Morrissey, a SM West student who has sights on one day becoming an NFL trainer, Capper said.
- In November, Capper said she received a response from the PFATS that Frymyer was “really interested in participating.”
- Frymyer holds three degrees, including a doctorate in physical therapy and is the “single best clinician I’ve ever been around,” according to Chiefs head trainer Rick Burkholder, who made that statement in this video released last month.
Morrissey says Frymyer is an example of what’s possible
- Capper said so far communication between Frymyer and Morrissey has been via email but that has still helped the student quite a bit.
- “She [Frymyer] has opened up to me about her path to becoming a NFL athletic trainer, which has impacted me by knowing the steps that you need to take to get where she is today,” Morrissey told the Post. “It is really cool to see a female NFL athletic trainer be so successful.”
- The program includes emails and optional in-person meetings between the student and mentor before a large breakfast event on March 9, a day after International Women’s Day.
- “All of these women are giving their time and effort to really impact the future generation of young ladies who are going to go into very male-dominated fields,” Capper said. “They’re getting this guidance so early, it’s so powerful.”
We are so lucky to have Julie serve as one of our Mentors for our Women in Leadership Program! She is amazing all around! #Womenwholead @SMWestOffice @theSMSD @Chiefs https://t.co/smywtiKndT
— Kelley Capper (@KelleyRCapper) January 31, 2023
SM West’s program is expanding across SMSD
- Capper said all of the other high schools, including Horizons, are set to start their own Women in Leadership programs next school year.
- Capper started SM West’s program during the 2019-2020 school year.
- Instilling confidence in students and their dreams is the biggest impact the program makes, Capper said.
- “Our mission is to encourage students that they are capable of achieving their goals, obtaining leadership positions through discussions and mentorship opportunities,” Capper said.
