As a natural helper and sports enthusiast, Hanna-Elk Mountain-Medicine Bow graduate and athletic trainer Sonnie (Palm) Neiman is making sure injured high school student athletes get back on the field right away.
Neiman, who graduated from HEM High School in 2003, is now a certified athletic trainer for the three high schools in Hulett, Sundance and Upton. She moved to Hulett three years ago to work around student athletes, with hopes of getting the injured back to their healthy, physically active states.
“I am a certified athletic trainer, and I work through a medical clinic in Spearfish, S. D.,” Neiman said. “They’re the ones who employ me, and I’m essentially contracted out to the three high schools in Wyoming. This is my third year working in a real job out of grad school.”
Neiman said she spent three years at the University of Wyoming for graduate school, and also worked as a certified athletic trainer there. She received a Master’s in Human Nutrition from UW, and a Bachelor’s in Sports and Exercise Science from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo.
As small-town kid who grew up on a ranch 20 miles north of Hanna, Neiman said she had always enjoyed helping sick or injured people get back to their normal, healthy self again. That combined with her love of playing sports in high school helped her decide her future profession.
“I guess I always enjoyed doctoring up people and being the nurse, so if someone got hurt on the ranch or something, I was the one that always wanted to doctor them up,” Neiman said. “If we had pets or anything that got injured, I was always the one to wrap and bandage them. That’s kind of what I always wanted to do, but I also like to play sports like volleyball, basketball and track. Being an athletic trainer kind of meshed both of them together.”
Neiman now lives on a ranch five miles north of Hulett, and married Ryan Neiman, Hulett High School’s football coach, in September. In addition to working alongside her husband, Neiman enjoys watching kids succeed or progress back to their playing state after a hard injury.
“I’ve seen that working with high school kids I think is a little different than working with college kids, and I’ve spent a couple years at both places,” she said. “High school kids think they’re pretty indestructible and don’t think anyone knows better than they do. However, after you say ‘Hey this is gonna help you, or decrease your pain or get you back on the field,’ they end up saying ‘You’re actually right.’ The look on their face when they’re like ‘Hey, it actually worked’ is priceless, and that’s a pretty good feeling for me too.”
Neiman said she mostly works with high school students at her three schools, but will, every now and again, works with junior high students during practices or games.
“I’ll help if something happens at junior high practice, and I happen to be there and coaches want me to take a look at it,” she said. “My communities are so small and pretty tight-knit, so people know who I am and know if they need me they can come get me. Though I don’t fully cover junior high, every now and then I will if they need me.”
The sports injuries Neiman focuses are primarily from football, volleyball, basketball, wrestling and track, but she will work with others if the opportunity arises.
“We do have golf and cross country, but I don’t necessarily go to all of their events,” she said. “When they get injured throughout the season, they can come see me. I have seen it all with all the sports, from major dislocations or breaks, to minor cuts and bruises.”
Although sports is mostly physical, Neiman said dealing with mental coping and preparation is a major part of the job. She said many might think sports is entirely physical, until watching what the students deal with during the healing process.
“I think people going into athletic training should get a minor or another bachelor’s in psychology, because sports is very mental,” Nieman said. “With some kids you can just say ‘I’ll take your ankle and do this to it’ and have them do rehab for couple of weeks, but with some kids you have to say ‘We need to set a goal this week to get you through this week.’ For some reason that can help with the healing process, because sports is a lot of mental stuff that kids have to go through. You really have to do some psychological stuff just to get them back.”
Neiman said she enjoys helping the students cope mentally and get back on their feet. She said when a student goes through with a bad injury, it can take longer than people think for them to get their head back in the game.
“They’re scared and just don’t know how to overcome that injury, so you put them in controlled situations where they don’t know they’re testing or maxing out their limits and say ‘well, this is what we did this for,’ Neiman said. “That kind of stuff helps their brain, but the hardest part is trying to figure out how to help each athlete because everyone is so different. A kid may come back from an ACL injury and be so scared and timid, because they’re afraid they’re going to get hurt again.”
Aside from working with high school students and her husband, Neiman said she enjoys living and working in a small-town environment similar to the one she grew up around.
“Hulett because is a very tight knit, supportive community, and it’s kind of like how I grew up,” she said. “I loved growing up in a small town, because I got to do everything and be involved in everything. The camaraderie of the community and being in sports that you’re involved with is great. It’s nice to back in a community like that.”
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