Lauren Roethlisberger, an athletic trainer for Princeton University, aids women’s hockey players in their training, game-day needs and rehab.

Path to Princeton: Alum Takes Athletic Training Skills to Ivy League

“Say yes and figure out the rest later” is a common saying for Lauren Roethlisberger ’16. It’s also part of the reason she decided to move halfway across the country. Today, she’s about six months into her role as an athletic trainer for Princeton University, supporting the women’s hockey, men’s and women’s golf, and men’s rowing programs.

A position with sports medicine at the collegiate level has always been her goal, but working with Ivy League athletes has made for a surreal start to a new life chapter.

Always moving
Roethlisberger was an athletic kid, searching for ways to be active whether it was sports or just being outside. During her freshman year at Ashwaubenon (Wis.) High School, she knew she wanted to be an athletic trainer. She fulfilled some service hours by assisting the school’s trainer, seeing how they provided teenage athletes with crucial physical care throughout their day-to-day work, including practice and games.

When it came time to choose where to attend college, Roethlisberger searched for a school that not only supplied the eventual prerequisites she’d need for grad school, but also a well-rounded athletics experience.

“St. Norbert was one of a few colleges that really had what I needed,” Roethlisberger says. “I ended up studying organismal biology and playing for women’s hockey and golf while also working as a student aide with the athletic training team.”

Homeward bound
After SNC, Roethlisberger earned her master’s in athletic training at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn., and returned home to work for Prevea Health. Roethlisberger was then assigned as a full-time trainer at Notre Dame de la Baie Academy in Green Bay – technically, a rival of her old high school.

“I joked that I needed to swallow my pride to work there,” she says, grinning. “Everyone needs their first job.”

She loved working with high-school athletes, but kept her prospects open for future collegiate-level opportunities. A far-reaching network of former classmates, teammates and friends from hockey camps were her eyes and ears, sending her tips on possibly vacant positions. Last summer, some friends from a previous USA Hockey camp gave her a heads up on a possible opening at Princeton University. “I gotta try and see what happens,” Roethlisberger told herself at the time.

So, she sent in her résumé and waited.

And, she heard nothing.

She waited some more, but chose to take a more direct approach. She reached out to Princeton’s head athletic trainer to check in on her application, and reiterated why she was a fit for the position. They set up a Zoom interview a day later.

“I actually interviewed for the position in the Mulva Library,” she says. “By the time I drove home, they had already replied inviting me out to campus for a visit.”

There and back again
A week or so later, Roethlisberger packed her bags. “‘I can’t be nervous, I can’t doubt, I got here for a reason,’ I remember telling myself.”

The interview itself went well. The traveling? Not so much. Her flight home got canceled so she ended up driving 15 hours back to Wisconsin. Luckily, there was good news waiting for her.

After Roethlisberger was offered the position and formally accepted, her family and friends were incredibly supportive and told her, “This is something you have to do.”

Fast forward to October and she jumped right into an already underway Ivy League women’s hockey season. Everyone, from the other medical staff to the athletes to the coaches, welcomed her with open arms. While every person, place and thing was new, her job responsibilities remained the same: support student-athletes.

“It’s the same level of care I provide, whether it’s high schoolers or Ivy Leaguers,” Roethlisberger says. “I’m going to give them everything I have.”

Her first five months on the job have been busy, and every day is different, with evaluations, treatments and rehab. But the most rewarding part is knowing she helps her athletes get back to practice or a game after a long-term injury.

Moving to a new area has its challenges, including a bit of East Coast culture shock, but Roethlisberger looks forward to exploring more of the New Jersey area, and New York City or Philadelphia when she has some downtime. She’s settling into her role on campus and stays active with her two dogs, Luna and Elise. They join her at the rink periodically; they love the ice – and the hockey players.

March 7, 2023