Seattle Storm athletic trainer says WNBA is her ‘end goal’

Seattle Storm athletic trainer Britannie Vaughn took FOX 13 News through a few common ankle, knee and hip rehab exercises while showing off the perks of the Storm Center for Basketball Performance.

SEATTLE - "I knew women’s basketball was the end goal for me," says Seattle Storm athletic trainer Britannie Vaughn. "They’ve always been my favorite sport to work. Women’s basketball athletes are tough, so I’ve just fallen in love with that, and this is where I need to be."

"And then it’s just the excitement of the game itself, the possibilities of injuries. You don’t see the same thing every single day. Every day I come to work, I’m like, ‘What’s it going to be today?’"

With previous stops at Texas State and Virginia, Britannie Vaughn made a very important impression before joining the Storm.

"My former head coach at University of Virginia is Tina Thompson, who’s actually a very good friend of Noelle. She said, ‘Are you interested in this?’ and I said, ‘Absolutely."

Thompson is WNBA Hall-of-Famer who ended her career with the Storm, on the same roster as current Storm head coach Noelle Quinn.

Now, beyond nursing sprained ankles and rehabbing knees, Vaughn also provides a sort of sanctuary.

"You definitely play therapist, giving your athletes a safe space where they feel like they can be themselves, they can vent. They know that you’re a neutral party, and you’re not anyone who controls how many minutes they play. They can feel comfortable, be themselves, they can release — it’s a win for both of us, I think."

Not everyone gets to see the true personalities of professional athletes. But they often shine in the training room.

"You have this preconceived notion they’re the quietest person you’ve ever met and then in here, I’m like, ‘Hmm… I think you have people fooled, so you’re not actually not the quietest person.’ Or the people that you think are the loud, outspoken outgoing people on court, that’s not who they are behind the scenes, too. Even someone like Skylar, people see who she is on the court, but behind the scenes, she’s pretty quiet."

As an organization, the Storm are anything but quiet. Tied for a league-record four WNBA Championships, they also raise the bar when it comes to facilities.

"Where we started, even practicing at a D2 school to having this amazing facility that athletes have 24-hour access to and being one of the first organizations to realize how important that is, you can’t match that. Players can come in whenever they’re in town and know that they have somewhere they can get into, and somewhere they can work out, get treatment, get everything they need and not have any questions."

Vaughn’s favorite part of the job is seeing athletes get back on the court after injury. She took FOX 13 Sports reporter Alyssa Charlston-Smith through a few common ankle, knee and hip rehab exercises while showing off the perks of the Storm Center for Basketball Performance.

"Our own training room step one, but even having the lap pool, a cold tub we don’t have to drain and fill every day; hot tub, having the sauna and steam room has been so helpful. The hyperbaric chamber: amazing. We love it, we use it consistently," said Vaughn. "I write out our recovery lists for every day after practice and who is doing what. So we use these a lot for after practice, I’ll say a couple of players are getting into one or the other depending on what injuries they have, how their bodies are feeling."

And she’s had a front-row seat to watch the rest of the WNBA grow.

"Oh, it’s been massive. I think when I first started my first season, majority of WNBA teams had one athletic trainer, that was it. Which can be a lot for one person to handle all the day-to-day ins and outs of a team. So, I think over the course of the seasons, we’ve seen multiple teams now have added an assistant athletic trainer, we’ve added more sports performance staff, mental health professionals."

Vaughn’s dream job in the WNBA is seeing more investment each year, making her home with the Storm a home with a high ceiling.

"It’s great to just be able to come in and have your own space. To just feel comfortable in knowing I don’t have to pack up an entire training room at the end of a season. Having that pride that this is ours."

That pairs nicely with a 170% increase in TV viewership last year, a 601% increase in merchandise sales, according to the WNBA’s website, and the best attendance numbers in 22 years.

The Source: Information comes from original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle sports reporter Alyssa Charlston-Smith.