Completed Event: Men's Basketball at Boise State on January 7, 2026 , Win , 75, to, 58
M Basketball
at Boise State
W 75-58
Grand Canyon University Athletics
BasketBlog: No Rest for GCU Athletic Trainers on the Road
2/16/2013 12:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, Sports Medicine
No Rest for GCU Athletic Trainers on the Road
SAN BRUNO, Calif. – It's 4:30 p.m., three hours before a game against Academy of Art University on the nearby College of San Mateo campus, and Room 345 of the Courtyard Marriott is coming alive with activity.
Members of the GCU men's basketball team are arriving to receive an array of attention from Geordie Hackett, the Antelopes' head athletic trainer, and his student assistant, sophomore Joelle Grande. The trainers have converted the room into a place where they can work on the athletes, tending to everything from a minor thigh injury (Braylon Pickrel) to a hamstring strain (Killian Larson) to a stiff neck (Blake Davis).
With the two double beds functioning as training tables, Hackett and Grande reach for the tools of their trade as the players idly watch a televised college game.
In short order, Pickrel is hooked up for electrical stimulation of his left thigh from a portable unit; Larson receives deep massage of his left hamstring from a roller-type stick used by Grande; and Davis' neck comes under the assault of a DMS (deep muscle stimulator) wielded by Hackett, one of two such units acquired by GCU last fall.
"I learned about (the DMS) from the Phoenix Suns," says Hackett, who has been with GCU since 2005 and maintains close ties with athletic training staffs for the pro sports teams in Phoenix. "I saw how their athletes responded to it."
Truthfully, there's not much to separate the quality of treatment received by Antelope athletes from what the pros get.
"We can do everything that they do," Hackett says. "We have the facilities, and those are even better than what the Suns have."
For this trip to northern California, involving four games in eight days for the men's and women's teams, Hackett and Grande are with the men and Molly Mattea is with the women. In addition to the games, there are full practices on off-days and morning shootarounds (light practices) on game days. Flexibility in scheduling is key.
An indication of the high-volume work they're doing: Hackett packed 55 pounds of athletic tape for the trip. A gigantic duffel bag carries much of what he needs.
With only a few weeks to go, it's the point in the regular season when players are feeling banged up, several of them nursing various aches and pains. Hackett says neither team has significant injuries right now, and he'd like to keep it that way the rest of the way.
"This is when overuse injuries can come into play," he says. "Controlling those is a big thing for us."
With that in mind, Hackett and Grande have been giving each player on the men's team some form of soft-tissue treatment daily, even after games. The stick is one way of getting that done.
"It's like a flush of the accumulation of lactic acid," Hackett says. "You work on their legs, rolling toward the heart. It involves the calves, the hamstrings and the quads – all major muscle groups."
Grande, making her first trip of the season, says the experience has been invaluable.
"It's different than the training room (on campus)," she says. "You have to improvise. It's interesting to see the interaction, too, with the players and coaches."
Hackett says GCU's athletic program will have to evaluate its needs as it transitions to NCAA Division I. He says most D-I basketball teams travel with two trainers plus a student assistant, and some even bring along a team doctor.
With D-I "comes an even higher standard of care," he says.
Email Doug Carroll at doug.carroll@gcu.edu.
SAN BRUNO, Calif. – It's 4:30 p.m., three hours before a game against Academy of Art University on the nearby College of San Mateo campus, and Room 345 of the Courtyard Marriott is coming alive with activity.
Members of the GCU men's basketball team are arriving to receive an array of attention from Geordie Hackett, the Antelopes' head athletic trainer, and his student assistant, sophomore Joelle Grande. The trainers have converted the room into a place where they can work on the athletes, tending to everything from a minor thigh injury (Braylon Pickrel) to a hamstring strain (Killian Larson) to a stiff neck (Blake Davis).
With the two double beds functioning as training tables, Hackett and Grande reach for the tools of their trade as the players idly watch a televised college game.
In short order, Pickrel is hooked up for electrical stimulation of his left thigh from a portable unit; Larson receives deep massage of his left hamstring from a roller-type stick used by Grande; and Davis' neck comes under the assault of a DMS (deep muscle stimulator) wielded by Hackett, one of two such units acquired by GCU last fall.
"I learned about (the DMS) from the Phoenix Suns," says Hackett, who has been with GCU since 2005 and maintains close ties with athletic training staffs for the pro sports teams in Phoenix. "I saw how their athletes responded to it."
Truthfully, there's not much to separate the quality of treatment received by Antelope athletes from what the pros get.
"We can do everything that they do," Hackett says. "We have the facilities, and those are even better than what the Suns have."
For this trip to northern California, involving four games in eight days for the men's and women's teams, Hackett and Grande are with the men and Molly Mattea is with the women. In addition to the games, there are full practices on off-days and morning shootarounds (light practices) on game days. Flexibility in scheduling is key.
An indication of the high-volume work they're doing: Hackett packed 55 pounds of athletic tape for the trip. A gigantic duffel bag carries much of what he needs.
With only a few weeks to go, it's the point in the regular season when players are feeling banged up, several of them nursing various aches and pains. Hackett says neither team has significant injuries right now, and he'd like to keep it that way the rest of the way.
"This is when overuse injuries can come into play," he says. "Controlling those is a big thing for us."
With that in mind, Hackett and Grande have been giving each player on the men's team some form of soft-tissue treatment daily, even after games. The stick is one way of getting that done.
"It's like a flush of the accumulation of lactic acid," Hackett says. "You work on their legs, rolling toward the heart. It involves the calves, the hamstrings and the quads – all major muscle groups."
Grande, making her first trip of the season, says the experience has been invaluable.
"It's different than the training room (on campus)," she says. "You have to improvise. It's interesting to see the interaction, too, with the players and coaches."
Hackett says GCU's athletic program will have to evaluate its needs as it transitions to NCAA Division I. He says most D-I basketball teams travel with two trainers plus a student assistant, and some even bring along a team doctor.
With D-I "comes an even higher standard of care," he says.
Email Doug Carroll at doug.carroll@gcu.edu.
GCU Men's Basketball vs. San Diego State - Postgame with Bryce Drew
Thursday, January 22
GCU Men's Basketball vs. San Diego State - Postgame with Makaih Williams
Thursday, January 22
GCU Men's Basketball vs. San Diego State - Highlights
Thursday, January 22
GCU Men's Basketball vs. #23 Utah State - Postgame with Brian Moore Jr.
Tuesday, January 20