Manatees Profile - Danielle Henry

Athletic Trainer

By Mark Fischel

Among the first group of women athletic trainers working in professional hockey, Manatees trainer Danielle Henry had to have those admirable qualities to land where she did.

Henry came to the Manatees via the University of Miami athletic program and the WNBA Miami SOL.

�For me, this is a dream come true because I never thought that I would have the chance to work for a professional hockey team in South Florida.� Henry said. �I have a lot of vision for the team, and I am willing to sacrifice whatever it costs to struggle for a few years because this is a dream of mine.�

As the team athletic trainer, Henry has many roles. She will focus on being the first to respond to an injury on the ice, serve as the liaison between the doctors and the coach and players, work with injury prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, education and counseling.

Henry has come full circle with the Manatees. It might have been for a pivotal choice she made a long time ago. Immersed in the winter sports atmosphere of Massena, NY, the young Henry was just like a lot of the kids her age. She spent a lot of her time at the local ice rink, happily partaking in as many sporting activities as she could.

�I started playing hockey when I was nine years old, and I was also a figure skater. It took my parents two years before they let me drop figure skating and just play hockey.�

�I started on the guys� team and played until the Pee-wee level where they started to check each other. So then they made me go to the girls team where I played until my senior year of high school.�

�My senior year I went on two interviews for women�s ice hockey. I went to Providence College and Northeastern. But they didn�t give full scholarships for women�s hockey, only quarter scholarships. The tuition was so high, my parents couldn�t afford it.�

Her college hockey dreams on the back-burner, Henry decided to attend SUNY-Brockport. Never one to sit still, Henry threw herself into the athletic community by trying to start a woman�s hockey team, as well as playing four years of Division II collegiate soccer.

After her first collegiate injury, Henry was introduced to the world of athletic training, and from that experience she was able to get some clarity on the direction she wanted for her post-collegiate ambitions.

�I think being an athlete myself, in high school I always wanted to be a physical therapist. I didn�t know what an athletic trainer was. In college I realized that an athletic trainer did similar things with prevention, rehab, and educating athletes on their injuries.�

After completing her Masters in Exercise Science and Biomechanics from Michigan State University, Henry found her burgeoning career heading into a warmer direction of sunny South Florida. In 1994, she took a job with the University of Miami Athletic Department.

Henry started working with the Women�s Basketball and Tennis teams. After one year, her professionalism and knowledge caught the eye of Miami Hurricanes Football Coach Butch Davis, current Head Coach of the Cleveland Browns.

Named to the training staff for the football team, Henry was surprised to learn that she became the first woman athletic trainer in the Big East Conference for football. It was a very common occurrence in the Big Ten football programs, but not at the University of Miami.

�Coach Davis had no problem with it, and I was very fortunate that he gave me the respect and the opportunity to be the Rehab Coordinator there.� Henry said.

But just like the athletes who use college as a springboard to move into the professional world, athletic trainers also get the same opportunities to advance their careers.

Since the time Henry was looking to attend college to play hockey, women�s athletics has come a long way. There were very few team sports that allowed a young girl to earn a scholarship, but with the changing attitudes and the �take charge� approach of women athletes, major college programs over the years started offering more scholarships for women�s team sports.

Throughout the early 90�s, women�s soccer and more particularly, women�s basketball exploded in popularity and entered into what some could consider a �Golden Age� for women�s sports. It was around this time that the WNBA was formed, giving women a chance to prolong their college careers and enter into the world of professional athletics.

The same chances for the women athletes also created new jobs for many others, and Henry accepted the position as Head Athletic trainer for the Miami SOL.

�I didn�t want to leave the University of Miami, but it was an opportunity for me to be the head athletic trainer. I never felt as much respect as I did when I started with the SOL, but Coach Ron Rothstein really valued my input and opinion.�

�She puts the welfare of her players well before her own and I was very comfortable knowing that she was on the job every day.� Pacers Asst. Coach Ron Rothstein said.

�I had no concern whatsoever about our players not being well taken care of, their injuries treated, and most importantly, the diagnosis of an injury. She was always right on the money.�

A common theme with professional athletes is their tendency to get comfortable in a set pattern. Whether it is eating the same meal before games, putting on equipment exactly the same way each time, or carrying around lucky charms, it is the repetition and familiarity that gives the athletes a calming presence to their hectic lives.

With that same mentality, athletes sometimes form a bond with their athletic trainers. Henry to this day still maintains an active exclusive client list among athletes that have come up through the University of Miami program, or from athletes that make South Florida their off-season home.

Baseball�s Alex Rodriguez of the Texas Rangers, retired Bills quarterback Jim Kelly, �96 Olympic Track Athlete Jillian Russell, Tennis pro Andy Roddick's Rock 'N Racquets, several Miami Heat players and many others.

�I have been dealing with Danielle for years.� Colts running back Edgerrin James said. �She is the only person I trust and would let work on me during my rehabilitation.�

With this type of professionalism, comfort, and respect that Henry instills in her clients, there is little worry among the Manatee players and coaching staff that their special needs are going to be neglected.

�Her resume speaks for itself with the teams she worked with, and she can stand on that resume alone.� Manatees Coach Zac Boyer said. �I also think that it is a great honor for her to be among the first female trainers in hockey. With her attention to detail, and we couldn�t have asked for a better person.�

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