New Athletic Trainer, Nicholas Lawrence Sanchez

Adriana Flores, Reporter

From baseball to football, Nicholas Lawrence Sanchez is the new Athletic Trainer for all sports at Colton High School.

As the 25 year-old is in all Nike gear, he sits to think in the trainer’s room with his head placed in his hand. With a history of suffering injuries during his high school years, he had to get treated and go to therapy by former school Athletic Trainer, Maria Castro. He explained why he became an athletic trainer saying, “I wanted to help others, I wanted to help athletes.”

Sanchez, known to peers as Nic, grew up in Colton while he made lots of fun memories with his friendly sarcasm. However, Nic is not like any young adult who is in their twenties wasting time with friends and partying. Actually he is quite the opposite–he spends his free time with his best friend and his family because they were the ones that believed in him and urged him to become a better person. As he sits there patiently waiting, he smiles a little laugh and goes on the explain that whenever he was down, his mom was there for him saying, “Look up, pick yourself up, and keep moving forward; to trust in God.”

As a  19 year old, Sanchez got into a car accident which left him with a punctured lung and almost all of his ribs broken. “I felt like dying,” he said as he grabbed his ribs with a look of pain. The look of pain soon changed into a look of fear as he added on, “I fear failure [and] letting people down because I can’t come through for them.”

So let’s face it, not only is Sanchez fun and filled with sarcasm but, he is also a caring and loving guy.

Maria Castro was the person who introduced the middle child of three into athletic training: “it built a passion in me,” he noted. “The reason behind helping teenagers is because, I do the best that I can to help others with their work related injuries, with some who can not afford healthcare, and ones that need the help,” he explained, “to get the experience I need.”

So Nicholas Sanchez being “Nic,” he had a funny final comment, said with a serious face: “So nothing more, no quote of the day!?” He went on and ended the conversation to state, “Don’t let people change what you know is perfect in your life.”