Boom! Snap! Stars flash before your eyes. One wrong step, and your world flips upside down. That’s exactly what happened to Great Neck South alumna Paige Louie when she tore her ACL. “I honestly felt overwhelmed. I didn’t know how I was going to get through months of this,” she recalled. Surgery, recovery, physical therapy—they weren’t just challenges. When Paige realized her final season of field hockey had ended, a mountain seemingly without a summit appeared.
Enter Emily.
South High’s athletic trainer, Emily Chadwick, helps all injured athletes, from first-time JV athletes to varsity captains headed for collegiate teams. Some days, she tends to a rolled ankle or a jammed thumb. On others, she treats injuries as serious as a torn ACL. For every athlete, Emily is a steady presence from day one, guiding student-athletes through each step of the healing process. “Bigger injuries, like an ACL, can take months to recover, and I take those athletes really close to heart,” Emily said.
Before student athletes undergo surgery, Emily focuses on building strength to prevent muscle loss and prepare for rehab. Even with a busy schedule, she makes time to check in on her student-athletes. “She’s really good at just telling you what you need to do and being strict so that you don’t re-injure yourself, which I appreciate a lot,” junior basketball player Insiya Virani said. Emily was the first person to actually explain her knee condition in a way she could understand. Emily also adjusted her taping and exercise plan whenever the pain flared again. Now, Insiya interns with Emily, helping teach exercises and keeping the training room organized while learning about injuries herself.
From gentle angle rotations to walking again, Emily makes sure her student-athletes progress safely, gradually increasing their mobility and safeguarding against reinjury. She uses cryo-cuffs, a medical device that combines cold therapy and compression, to manage swelling. She also monitors each step of the physical therapy process.
But for Emily, the job is never just about physical therapy. “A huge component is mental health,” she said. Last summer, she underwent pediatric mental health first aid training—a highly recommended program for school athletic trainers. That training now influences how she approaches her job everyday. Rather than asking direct, potentially intimidating questions, Emily builds wellness check-ins into her regular routines. “Usually they’re distracted with the exercises, so they don’t know that I’m prying into their heads about how they are,” she laughed.
Paige felt Emily’s influence immediately. “ I was scared about surgery and recovery, but Emily made me feel like I wasn’t alone,” she said. What surprised Paige wasn’t just all the different methods of athletic training, it was the way Emily checked in without making it a big deal.
By the time Paige finished physical training, her progress was visible, and more than that, her confidence had returned. She learned to trust her body again and understand her limits. For Paige, Emily was more than an athletic trainer. She was a mentor, coach, and a steady presence through one of the toughest challenges anyone could go through.
Paige’s experience is just one example of Emily’s impact. Extending beyond individual recoveries, she reaches both the athletes she supports and the interns she guides, helping them learn what meaningful care looks like. Today, you might see her on the field waving or greeting everybody, in her office training with athletes from cheer to wrestling, or even just having a conversation with a stressed person. “My favorite part is when a kid comes in hurt, and after I help, they say they feel 100% and get right back in the game,” Emily said. “I’ve been through injuries too, so I really understand how they feel.”
