FORT MYERS, Fla. – Athletic trainers are an often overlooked and underrated part of a sports program, but their work is critical to success. For Kenna Olsen, it's no different with her work treating FGCU student-athletes.

Training & Conditioning's Most Valuable Athletic Trainer of the Year Awards have recognized the efforts of outstanding athletic trainers for more than a decade and highlight the work they do to ensure the health and safety of athletes every.
In 2026, Training & Conditioning recognized FGCU's Olsen as its Most Valuable College Athletic Trainer.

Olsen uses her own experience as a college athlete to inform her approach in the training room, finding joy and purpose in the creativity that comes with developing successful rehab plans while promoting a "student-athlete-first culture" that views athletes as well-rounded individuals rather than simply college athletes.

Most Valuable College Athletic Trainer: Kenna Olsen, FGCU

Kenna Olsen knew from a relatively young age that she wanted to pursue a career in sports.

"I was always an athlete and so I knew I wanted to do something in sports and I knew that I wanted to help people," she said. "Whether it was teaching or something else, I wanted to help people."

Olsen's high school offered sports medicine classes that allowed students to attend competitions and function as student athletic trainers, and it was there she fell in love with the profession.

"I'm probably one of a few who went to college and knew exactly what I wanted to do," she said.

Olsen attended the University of North Dakota where she played softball. She earned a bachelor's degree in athletic training and a second degree in kinesiology. When she entered the athletic training program her senior year, it only affirmed what she'd always known – this was the career for her.

Olsen joined the Florida Gulf Coast University Department of Athletics in January 2021 and was promoted to head athletic trainer in 2024. She primarily works with the softball and men's and women's golf teams as well as oversees the FGCU sports medicine staff.

"Prior to [coming to FGCU], I worked in baseball … but I've worked pretty much anything across the board," she said.

For Olsen, her experience as a college athlete has informed her approach as a college athletic trainer, particularly her experience with injury and rehab. She had two surgeries during her playing days and said that experience allows her to relate to college athletes on a different level.

"To see and experience all the things you feel if you're an athlete that's injured and what it's like to sit and watch your teammates play and do the things you want to do and the things you love doing … it allows me to have that basis of understanding," Olsen said.

Her experience also led her to adopt and promote a "student-athlete-first culture."

Athletic trainers often have difficult conversations with coaches and athletes, sometimes delivering news that won't likely be well-received, but Olsen's student-athlete-first culture means prioritizing student-athletes and their long-term health and safety.

"Our job innately at our core is to protect the student-athlete," she said. "That means not being afraid to be the person that says, 'No, they're not doing that. No, we're not pushing that timeline.'

"As a former student-athlete, obviously I'm competitive in my core and … I know they want to compete and win. (But) Whatever you're going to be as Joe Schmo the individual, the human being, matters just as much if not more than what you do as Joe Schmo the athlete. We have to care about them down the road. … No matter what, it's always the student-athlete first."

One of the areas of athletic training Olsen loves the most is rehab. It's of course rewarding to see athletes return to their sport after an injury, but she said there's a creativity to the rehab process that makes it an underrated part of the profession.
"I think the real beauty in athletic training is being able to do rehab and be creative… and do things that are maybe a little outside the box and still work," Olsen said. "You can really take a rehab plan or a return-to-play plan and make it individual to that person.

"Nobody really wants to be in the athletic training room, so whatever we can do to make it still competitive and fun and cater to them is really what we want. … Because a lot of times when you're (doing) rehab you don't realize how hard it is. You don't feel like you're ever going to get out."

When they do get out, however, the reward is seeing the growth as an athlete but also as a person.

"To get them to see them be people and grow up when they're here for four years, even when they're here for two years, you really get to see that transition of growth and I think that's really special that you don't necessarily get that other places or in other settings," Olsen said. "But the biggest reward is to be able to see them get back on the field or court and do what they love to do."
 
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This story originally ran in Training & Conditioning and is a condensed version.