“Everyone wants to go see Dylan!” says first-year athletic training major and softball player Nicole Goggin.
At first glance, this seems like an odd thing to say about the head athletic trainer, someone athletes typically only go see when they are injured, out of their sport or in rehabilitation.
However, with Dylan Parrish, it’s a different story. As the head athletic trainer at Union University, Parrish’s goal is to foster relationships and be intentional with each and every athlete he works with. He is known for doing this and doing it well, which is evident in how the entire athletic department loves and cherishes him, despite him only having been at Union since 2019.
Goggin describes Parrish as the “safe space” where athletes can go and someone that will make them feel better if they’re having a bad day.
“He’s really personable, so it’s not like you’re going to just go in and he’ll give you your exercises and then you leave,” Goggin says. “He’ll ask how you’re doing, he’ll joke around…he really just, like, pours into you and you can see it with anyone you ask.”
Parrish attended the University of Alabama for his undergrad, earning degrees in both athletic training and general health studies. He then attended the University of West Alabama (UWA) as a graduate assistant, getting his masters degree in physical education with a sports management concentration. It was during his time as a graduate assistant at UWA that he first heard of Union.
Parrish worked with the women’s basketball team at UWA. When they came to Union to play, the gym, and specifically the brightly-painted gym floor, really stood out to him, and he took an interest in Union.
“I was like, ‘Hey, I kind of want to come here!'” Parrish says.
Luckily, one year later, in September of 2019, Parrish got to do just that. After reaching out to the athletics department at Union, he was hired as the assistant athletic trainer, along with an entire new staff. He calls it a “refresh” and “God’s timing,” as the new team worked to write their own culture and take a different perspective. Shortly after, Dylan was hired as the head athletic trainer in July of 2021.
Both of Dylan’s parents played and coached basketball, and he fell in love with sports himself, so he has been immersed in the athletic world for as long as he can remember. He specifically loves the competition that athletics bring about.
“I’m a very competitive kid — I still like to call myself a kid sometimes,” says Parrish, laughing. “I like to throw competitions sometimes to some of the athletes, to make things fun for rehab.”
Fun competitions to encourage the athletes in their healing is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Parrish fostering relationships with the athletes. He works to create an open environment where they can come to him with anything that they’re dealing with.
“It doesn’t even have to be athletic training related. I’m just trying to be there for them in a professional manner and trying to help them in the best way that I possibly can…because sometimes, you just need someone,” Parrish says.
However, relationship-building was not something Parrish always realized would be such a big part of his job.
“You don’t really think about certain things like that when you’re going through a program or your undergrad,” says Parrish, noting that it has grown in him over time, having to practice and learn the best way to get through to the students he works with.
“When you get into the workforce,” Parrish continues, “that’s when you realize that it’s really good to have a good relationship with your athletes, because you can develop trust. If you don’t develop trust, you can have this wall, so to speak, between you and your athlete, so it can be really difficult to get to them.”
Parrish came to see that if he could open up and be authentic, they could break down barriers and dig deeper.
Along with rehabilitating students, Parrish is also a preceptor for athletic training majors. This gives him even more opportunity to work closely with students and help them in their journey throughout undergrad.
“He has given me a very good foundation to go out and one day work in the same field. He’s taught me a lot of things that I don’t know that I would’ve learned if I hadn’t worked under him,” says Goggin, who has worked under Parrish in clinical training and through rehabilitation after her hip surgery. “I’ve worked with him pretty much every day, learning basic rehab stuff with athletes…and he’s taken an interest in my rehab, and worked with me every day trying to get me ready to go back and play.”
Unfortunately, Parrish is in his last year at Union, as he is moving back to Alabama at the end of this semester to get married. He is still job searching, but he says he would be interested in another position like he has currently.
Parrish notes that being a preceptor helped him fall in love with the education side of athletic training, which has broadened his job interest to something that would allow him give back in specifically education, such as teaching athletic training at the high school level. He is excited for another chance to be able to pour into students, give them opportunities and show them what athletic training and sports medicine looks like in the real world. Put simply, Parrish just wants to help others.
“I just want what’s best for people and to help them succeed in life,” Parrish says.
The athletic training world is lucky to have people like Parrish who are so intentional with those that they work with, and he is sure to make an impact wherever he ends up next.
“Going forward, we’re really going to miss him a lot,” says Goggin, “but I’m sure he’ll always just be one phone call away.”
It is obvious that Parrish will be missed deeply by the athletic community here at Union, and that they are sad to see him go. He reflects fondly on the time he has had here, sad to leave a community that he knows cares about him as much as he cares about them.
“All the sports here, all the athletes…the memories and the moments and the fun times, the coming back from injuries — those are the things that I’ll remember,” Parrish says. “Watching people come back to the field, the gym, the court — it doesn’t matter what they come back to. Just watching that happen, and knowing that hopefully, I made some sort of positive impact when I was here for three years.”
