Cassidee Elquist had a busy fall working with athletes at Baker High School, and her work ramped up quickly for the winter sports season.

Elquist is a licensed athletic trainer for Saint Alphonsus Rehabilitation Services, which contracts with the Baker School District. Of her 40-hour week, she spends 10 hours at the clinic, located at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center, and 30 hours at BHS for individual appointments with athletes and attending games so she can respond immediately to an injury.

“I’m the first line of defense for the kiddos with injuries,” she said. “I’m trained in emergency response, concussion diagnosis and treatment, injury rehabilitation and prevention.”

She became acquainted with sports injuries long before her current career.

“When I was just shy of 14, I had my first ACL injury,” she said. “I didn’t have an athletic trainer and would like to think that if I had, things would’ve gone better for me.”

Her sports background includes softball, basketball, gymnastics, track, volleyball, soccer, judo and cross country.

Her interest in physical therapy, and athletic trainers, sparked when she watched an NFL game and asked her physical therapist “Who are the people who run out on the field when people get hurt?”

“I knew I didn’t want to be in a clinic all day — I wanted the full immersion experience, and I wanted it with athletes,” she said.

She grew up in Teton Valley, Idaho. She earned her associates degree at BYU-Hawaii, then her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Southern Utah University. Her studies included rotations through high school and college sports teams — volleyball, softball, football and men’s basketball.

She graduated in April 2023 and started work in Baker City this summer. As the athletic trainer, Elquist leads all athletes through baseline concussion testing once a year, which helps to assess a possible concussion during the sports season.

This fall, she could be found taping injuries before practice or games, and on the sidelines for volleyball, soccer and football games. Now she attends the winter sports events.

Her biggest focus is preventive care.

“I watch someone’s form — ‘let’s fix this. Let’s strengthen these muscles,’” she said. “If kids come to me, we treat it before it becomes a problem.”