Athletic trainer Hannah Oyedeji began her part-time job at Urban in 2022, working after school to help student-athletes recover from injuries to ensure that they can safely resume sports.
Oyedeji mainly works with injured student-athletes on Urban sports teams, so many students may not have had a reason to interact with her. As Urban’s athletic trainer, she supports all students participating in sports. “I manage and evaluate injuries that occur off the field or during a game,” Oyedeji said.
Oyedeji also attends high-risk contact sports games — like lacrosse, soccer and basketball — in case of injury. “I just stand [at sports games] and anticipate all the wrong things that could happen and hope they don’t happen,” she said.
Oyedeji has a background in orthopedics and treating sports-specific injuries. She treats many athletes in-house with ice and physical therapy and prescribes strength and mobility exercises for them to do at home. However, if she finds that an injury is particularly severe, she refers the athlete to a physician.
Among the students who frequently interact with her, Oyedeji provides clear explanations of what causes an injury and why it hurts, guiding them to recovery. “She [is] very nice and taught me a lot,” Lucy Fraga ’27 said. “She gave me a good plan on how to continue.”
While assisting students in recovery, she also provides them with emotional support. “She’s very warm, welcoming and comforting,” Talula Rogers ’26 said. “She knows how hard it is mentally to be an athlete who’s injured, and how frustrating that is.”
Oyedeji does not only work with individual athletes; she has tailored warm-up routines and exercises for Urban’s volleyball, basketball and soccer teams to help prevent common injuries in each sport. “Hannah’s job as an athletic trainer is to get students back on the field, [but] ideally, she won’t have to do that very much,” said Kali Heys, associate director of athletics. “The more we can prevent injuries by warming up properly … the easier [Hannah’s] job will be.”
Beyond helping athletes recover and assisting coaches with exercise design, Oyedeji wants to work on teaching best practices to student-athletes to prevent injuries before their sports seasons begin. “I would love to have a little [athletic trainer] club … [where] people teach other people how to use a foam roller,” she said.
Oyedeji has turned the back corner of the Blues Lounge into a sports medicine clinic complete with an exam table and an exercise bike. Because the clinic is located in an often crowded area, students have a direct view of her workspace. The lack of privacy can be uncomfortable for some athletes Oyedeji treats. “It’s kind of awkward if you’re getting your ankle checked out in front of everyone,” Fraga said.
Although Oyedeji tries her best to maintain patient confidentiality, her role and reputation for checking for and treating injuries make it challenging. “As soon as you’re seen next to me, people automatically think something’s wrong. … It’s already hard enough to be injured, and now all your teammates are like, ‘Be stronger!’” Oyedeji said.
With so many students relying on Oyedeji for treatment, the lack of space and privacy is not the only challenge. “There’s 420 students here, and there’s only one Hannah,” Heys said. “I would love to have her here full time [instead of part-time].”
Limited time and space mean that Oyedeji typically prioritizes treating more serious injuries with greater consequences. However, she tries to be available to all Urban students. She said, “It’s worth seeing me if whatever you’re doing or whatever your injury is is stopping you from doing your day-to-day life.”