Liberty Trupke

Athletic trainer Sheri Hoffpauir works hard to keep student athletes safe.

Sheri Hoffpauir has been the force behind keeping LCM student athletes safe, healthy and ready to perform for many years now. Her love for sports and medicine led her to start a career in athletic training and with this career her days are a whirlwind of treatments, rehab, and game coverage. 

Hoffpauir has been working at the high school for 19 years. Her job entails providing student athletes with prevention, emergency care, paperwork management, parent or doctor communication, rehabilitation, emergency care, and game and practice coverage. 

“I have always loved sports and medicine so I looked for a career that would allow me to be involved in both daily,” Hoffpauir said. 

To become an athletic trainer, Hoffpauir underwent years of college to earn multiple degrees and obtained her license through the state of Texas. 

“I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Science and Fitness management with Sports medicine emphasis classes, and 1800 clinical hours in a certified athletic training facility,” Hoffpauir said. “I also have a Master of Science in Kinesiology, both are from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.” 

On a typical day, Hoffpauir shows her devotion by arriving at school before 7 a.m. to set up the training room for rehab. Her early mornings consist of treatments, followed by athletic classes, paperwork, and even leaving the high school campus to travel to LCJH and MMS to care for injured student athletes.  

“After school, I will do rehab treatments on out of season student athletes, get in-season student athletes ready for practices or games with taping and therapy,” Hoffpauir said. “I will then head out to football practice or volleyball games. I also cover home games for LCJH and MMS football teams. The days schedule depends on what day of the week it is.” 

As the school trainer, Hoffpauir does everything from prevention and emergency care to rehab sessions, juggling paperwork, phone calls or emails in between.  

“The most rewarding part of my job is seeing an injured athlete return to full participation in their sport,” Hoffpauir said. “The most challenging is acute injuries and weather monitoring. I also deal with emergency situations which can be very stressful depending on the emergency.” 

The advice that Hoffpauir would give to any student interested in sports medicine or athletic training is to really investigate what sports medicine has to offer and discover what role they would like to play in the field. 

“Athletic trainers have a unique set of skills that are widely used in the athletic environment and are crossing over into the industrial and medical environments,” Hoffpauir said.

Through all the chaos of being an athletic trainer, she still finds time to do the little things that bring her joy. 

“Outside of the training room, I enjoy gardening, crafting and spending time with my family and grandkids,” Hoffpauir said. 

Hoffpauir said she hopes that with her guidance her student athletes will learn to think independently, handle stressful situations, become leaders, and have the confidence to do difficult jobs. 

“I build trust and relationships with students by learning their personality and being as professional and knowledgeable as I can about their current situation,” Hoffpauir said.