Fin-tastic Healing

By Caroline Barber | Staff Writer

October 23, 2024

Aquariums and sports medicine appear to have nothing in common; one deals with walking around leisurely and watching aquatic animals swim around, while the other deals with diagnosing and treating athletic injuries. Here at Anderson, we have both. Our sports medicine team has its very own fish tank, which brings smiles to everyone even if they are working through a tough injury.

The fish tank wasn’t expected nor was it planned out. It originally started as just a summer babysitting job—with a frog. 

Ms. Olson’s Journalism class had a frog named Felipe Funk-Bergman during the school year; but once summer hit, he needed a new place to stay. Our gracious sports medicine team, April Gutbier and Annie Haley, agreed to watch the frog for a few months and kept it in their training room. 

“We felt like the frog was lonely… Then we found out that if we put fish in the tank with the frog, it would still be safe for the frog and the fish. Then, we started slowly getting [more] fish,” AHS student-intern Anna Thon (11) said.

The number of fish did indeed increase. The tank now consists of eight total fish, each owned by either one of our trainers or student interns, who attend Anderson. Gutbier owns The Three Amigos and Squeaky; Haley owns Cheryl. Then there are three other fish owned by the students: Swim Shady, owned by Thon; Charlie, owned by Brady Dorko (10); and last but not least, Mark, owned by Connor Bergman (12).

Later, after some mysterious events, the original frog was gone, and they were left with just fish. Nevertheless, the fish still bring positivity and help improve the mood in the training room.

“I think [the fish] make it more happy in the training room. People like to come see [them]. It brings a smile to people's faces,” Haley adds. 

The fish tank isn’t an easy attraction to maintain, however. It requires a good amount of maintenance in order to keep it in pristine condition. 

“The fish tank has to be cleaned. I have to do it once every two weeks just to get some dirt out and change the water. You also have to put softener in it to make sure that it’s okay for the fish,” Gutbier said.

While it is another task the training team has to tackle, they care for the fish as if they are their patients. This additional care goes to show the dedication of the athletic training department; they decided to take on something extra when they already cared greatly for all of Anderson’s athletes. 

If you’re ever feeling down and need something to cheer you up, stop by the athletic training room for a smile!