“I just kind of ran into it unintentionally and realized it was more along the lines of what I wanted.”
Noah Graves, Union University’s head athletic trainer, did not know his job existed until his first year at Union as a student. Growing up as a missionary overseas, he said his schools did not have athletic trainers like schools in America do. When he came to Union as a health sciences major, however, he quickly realized that he would enjoy athletic training more.
“It’s one of those degrees where there’s an immediate need when you graduate, whereas exercise science usually requires more school,” Graves said. “It’s also a hands-on job, which is more what I wanted to do.”
Graves has worked at Union since graduating from here in 2021, and he has enjoyed the relatively easy transition he had going from a student to an employee.
“I knew a lot of the athletes already and knew all the coaches already,” Graves said. “It made the transition really easy because I was familiar with most people and most people were familiar with me. Sometimes the hardest part of a new job is learning the place and the people, and I got to skip over that.”
His transition was also helped by the reputation he earned as a student. Jonathan Allen, Union’s clinical coordinator and an assistant professor of athletic training, had Graves as a student. While he does not work with him clinically, he reflected fondly on his former pupil.
“Noah was a dedicated and hard-working student who always wanted to learn and better himself,” Allen said. “He is caring, hardworking and knowledge-seeking.”
A few years later, and Graves is still caring, hardworking and knowledge-seeking. His commitment to his busy job, however, does not leave much room for a work-home balance. Graves says the only way to not get quickly burned out is to make sure you love your job, something important in our ever-faster, all-consuming world.
“If you love what you do, and you love your athletes and the coaches you get to work with, then it does make it worth it,” Graves said. “You work to find that balance because, if this is where the Lord is calling me to be, this is where I’m going to be. I think that’s what makes it worth it. If you don’t love it and you’re not sold on it, you will be burned out.”
As seen by the smile on his face, Graves does love his coworkers, athletes and coaches, but he says it is time for a change. Afterall, he spends at least 60 hours a week at work, plus the time spent traveling for games most weekends. Being the head athletic trainer and having four teams (men’s basketball, volleyball, softball and cross county) to take care of are jobs that are not exactly conducive to having a family life or spending time with his wife.
“I’ve always told my wife that, no matter how much I might love and enjoy my job, if it’s taking so many hours away from my family, it’s not a job I’m going to work,” Graves said. “It doesn’t matter how great it is. Especially if we start having kids, a job with this many hours isn’t in the cards for me. That’s not where my priorities are.”
Unfortunately for us, this change is taking him away from Union. This fall, he will begin a 3-year journey to earn his doctor of chiropractic at Logan University.
“I’m not bummed about leaving the hours,” Graves said. “I’m not upset about leaving the traveling every weekend. I’m not upset about leaving the early practices. The hardest part about leaving Union is the people. That’s what made the decision tough. There are not many places out there that are like Union, so leaving it behind is going to be hard. It’s just a special place.”
