May 1, 2025 

Several years ago, Mark Stefanik and his wife were enjoying dinner in Cleveland. A woman started choking on her food. Many people wouldn’t know what to do (Call 911? Heimlich? How is that done again?). Stefanik, however, jumped right into action.

“My training in life-saving techniques and [reacting] in stressful situations allowed me the expertise to save a life that night,” Stefanik said. 

Stefanik, who currently serves as Copley High School’s athletic trainer, developed this expertise as he pursued his career. He graduated from The University of Toledo with a bachelor’s degree in science and a concentration in athletic training, becoming a certified athletic trainer in 2004. During his first year, he lived in Indianapolis and did PRN (part-time) work for three different hospital systems. Stefanik also taught a sports medicine class at Arsenal Tech High School. He spent the next two years as a floating athletic trainer for Cleveland Heights High School, Hawken High School and Regina High School. Following these experiences, Stefanik began working at Copley High School as an athletic trainer and has remained in that role for the last 17 years. 

Stefanik knows that there is more to the role of athletic training than just helping an athlete heal from their injuries. His duties at Copley include prevention, clinical evaluation and diagnosis, immediate care, treatment, rehabilitation and reconditioning, organization, administration and professional responsibility. He works with a variety of athletes and sports. 

“If the sport is offered at our school, I am responsible for the health and well-being of that team and their athletes,” Stefanik said. 

Stefanik acknowledges the reality that seeing an athletic trainer isn’t something that athletes typically hope for. 

“I am, unfortunately, the bearer of bad news,” Stefanik said. “The truth of my profession is that people are seeking my expertise because something is wrong with them and they want to know what it is and how to handle it. Many times I have had to tell seniors that their careers in that sport are finished. Some athletes, as you can imagine, do not take it well. There are always a lot of tears with my job.”

These tears are the result of many types of sports injuries, though Stefanik claims that the most common injury he has seen in his career is ankle sprains. 

“The best treatment for [an ankle sprain] is icing, elevation and an exercise program that includes [techniques] that help strength, range of motion and proprioception, which is your body’s awareness. A typical ankle sprain that causes loss of playing time has a healing time of 2-4 weeks with it extending to 6 weeks [for significant injuries]. 

While Stefanik is well-known and highly valued by Copley athletes, coaches and families, there is one piece of trivia about his life that isn’t widely known. 

“I was one of the athletic trainers at Cleveland Heights when both Jason and Travis Kelce were there,” Stefanik said. “During his sophomore year, Travis Kelce was one of my water boys for the football season.”

Can’t get much cooler than that.