University of Wisconsin graduate Sonia Gysland has been an athletic trainer for the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2011. She is one of a few women NFL trainers. Credit: Arron Anastasia

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When the NFL kicks off its season in September, a few female athletic trainers will be on the sidelines.

But for many years, there was just one, and she was from the University of Wisconsin.

Sonia Gysland, hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2011, made sure her gender was not nearly as important to her as how she did her job.

"It's very rewarding work because you're helping these people make a living," said Gysland.

Her duties are wide ranging, from treating injuries on the sideline to unloading equipment at the stadium on the road to taping ankles for the superstitious players who will only go to the same trainer every time.

She's almost impossible to catch up with, and her phone must be sealed in a waterproof case for the work that she does, and all the preparation for this high-energy job began while working with the Badgers.

Gysland earned a chancellor's scholarship at UW and graduated in 2007 with a degree in kinesiology, with a concentration in athletic training.

While working with the football team as a student athletic trainer, going to the Outback Bowl and the Capitol One Bowl, Gysland didn't really stand out for being a woman as much as she stood out for being good.

"Everyone was pretty used to having females around," said Gysland. "Wisconsin has had female students in the athletic training program for as long as the program has been around. The majority of athletic training programs are over 50% female.

"The biggest part of it is, you get respect when you treat everyone else with respect."

After Gysland passed her national certification exam, she got her master's degree at the University of North Carolina and once again worked with the football team as a graduate assistant athletic trainer.

After that, she had an internship at Ohio State, working with other sports teams, and then got her career started at Duke. She was the school's first female athletic trainer for the football program.

But a previous internship with the Pittsburgh Steelers was the big break Gysland needed, opening the door for her to getting hired there four years ago.

She followed in the footsteps of Ariko Iso, the first full-time NFL female athletic trainer, who spent nine years with the Steelers before becoming Oregon State's head athletic trainer.

"I think it's easier for a team to hire a female when they've already done so in the past and it had worked out great," said Gysland.

"The Steelers went to three Super Bowls over the course of those nine years that Ariko worked there, so it obviously didn't hinder the team's success.

"The transition for me was pretty seamless since everyone was used to having a female around. A lot of credit has to be given to the Rooney family and the Steelers organization for trusting John Norwig, the team's head athletic trainer for the past 25 years, and his judgment in hiring the best athletic trainer for the position.

"Which in two cases, happened to be a female."

Since then, said Gysland, more teams have been looking to hire female athletic trainer interns, and a couple of them have.

The San Francisco 49ers hired Laura Schnettgoecke as assistant athletic trainer in May, and in June the San Diego Chargers hired Allison Miner, a female assistant athletic trainer who also is a physical therapist.

The job requires a lot of anyone. Gysland lifts 10-gallon water coolers one minute and the leg of an injured 300-pound player the next. On game days she has to be able to diagnose and treat players alongside a team doctor, but during a practice she could be the first expert to look at an injured Steeler.

"A lot of people don't see the injuries that occur," Gysland said. "They see the big ones. But a lot of times other things happen."

In the flurry of all that activity, she's too busy to think about the fact that her work environment is almost entirely male.

"It really isn't something that I think about much at all," said Gysland. "It is pointed out to me every once in a while."

There was really only one time she felt self-conscious, Gysland said, and that wasn't on the field. When she went to her first NFL combine and met with all the NFL athletic trainers, she was alone among 150 people.

"It was a little intimidating. I definitely felt out of place," said Gysland.

"But there is a big push at our athletic trainers meeting this past year to at least get more female interns. Athletic trainers are, for the most part, just fine with having female trainers on staff. It's more getting the ownership and coaches who are used to things the old way for so long."