PEYTON JACKSON-MHS

A chance conversation at a troubled time has brightened the future for Muskogee senior Peyton Jackson.

The story starts last year when Peyton, who played softball for the Roughers, was injured leaving her with a decision to make.

“Before I was injured, I was considering going into the military after high school so after the injury I didn’t want to take a chance on getting hurt again and jeopardize that, and I decided to not play softball my senior year and maybe even transfer schools. It was a pretty rough time for me.”

That’s when Muskogee High head athletic trainer Justin Laird stepped in.

“I knew that she had expressed an interest in studying sports medicine or physical therapy and so I asked her if she would consider being a student trainer for me this year. We talked some more, and she talked with her mom, and she decided to stay at Muskogee and be a student trainer,” said Laird. “She picked up stuff pretty good for just having done this for a year. She’s a hard worker who got everything done before the football games and was the first to arrive and last to leave.”

“This experience has been better than I expected it to be,” said Peyton. “I was concerned about whether I would be any good at it, but Justin helped me get over a lot of that by being a really good teacher. I learned a lot of taping techniques working with the football players and really enjoyed it. Justin also taught me a lot about the importance of staying hydrated for athletes and how they deal with concussion protocols. I also saw some of the customized helmets that football players wear now a days that help minimize the risk of concussions.” 

Armed with this experience, Peyton still plans to join the Air Force after graduation but now with maybe a little different mission in mind.

“My ultimate goal is to become a physical therapist in the Air Force to help people when they get hurt,” said Peyton.