With all the sports offered at Spring Lake High School—soccer, lacrosse, basketball, tennis, field hockey, and many more—athletes find themselves in the trainers’ room before their sporting events.
Spring Lake High School has one athletic trainer, Jasmine Rose, who is responsible for helping any athletes who may step into her room.
Stark has been an athletic trainer for 13 years, and has provided care at Spring Lake for nine of them. Working with high school athletes, Stark’s day is never dull. She has many unique experiences and stories from being the athletic trainer at the school.
Injuries, minor or major, are common in every sport. This means many trips to the trainers’ rooms with these concerns. Starkshared that one of her favorite parts of her job is “watching kids overcome injuries and then being able to celebrate in their wins,” when they are allowed to return to full sports activity.
Each day looks different as an athletic trainer. Stark pointed out, “You will never have two days that are the same in this position.” Sometimes, if it’s a chaotic day, she will find herself outside of her room constantly, running to different sporting events. Other times, she has slow days of just practices.
She highlighted that a favorite memory of hers was when Spring Lake Girls Soccer and Spring Lake Boys Baseball both went to state finals at the same time in 2024, where she ran back and forth between the two fields to care for the athletes competing.
Stark is adored by many students. Those who will simply hang out in her room to talk, athletes grabbing a protein bar, and others who actually need treatment.
Just so students know, Stark stresses one message: “Breaks and fractures are the same thing!”
