Ivkovich Finds Niche at Fairfield

BY EMILY STEWART
Nov. 20, 20007

It’s the Monday before Thanksgiving, and at Fairfield High School, the halls are vacant, the classroom doors are locked and the building lights are dim. Tucked away on the bottom floor in a corner of the building though, there is one light is on, one door ajar and one woman working through the first day of the official holiday break.

Diana Ivkovich is Fairfield’s District Athletic Trainer, and her work never stops, not even for the Thanksgiving holiday. She’s used to that, though, after working in the Fairfield district for more than 15 years. In that time, she has grown even more attached to the district and her work, thanks in part to the students she treats on a day-to-day basis.

While the standard school week is five days long, Ivkovich works with student-athletes six days a week, with her hours depending on how many athletic events and practices are going on at the high school. She’s not only present at every practice and every home sports event, but she also shows up early to treat student-athletes before practices and games and stays late to treat them afterward. It’s a huge time commitment, especially during the fall sports season.

“Fall is by far the busiest time,” she said. “There are so many teams, athletes and venues compared to winter, so I’m glad that we’re switching into the winter season now because then my schedule won’t be as hectic.”

The Fairfield school system isn’t where Ivkovich originally thought she would end up. While attending Penn State University as an undergraduate, she started out majoring in accounting. She can’t remember whether it was macroeconomics or microeconomics that made her change her career path.

“Once I started to get into economics, that’s when I started to say, ‘I really don’t like this,’” she said with a laugh. “I knew I wanted to transition into sciences, but I wasn’t sure what. My adviser recommended I take introduction to athletic training, and so here I am.”

Becoming a certified athletic trainer in 1991, Ivkovich came to Fairfield the same year after a friend had heard the district was looking to hire a district athletic trainer.

“I saw a lot of potential and room to grow in Fairfield,” she said. “I’ve had some tough times over the years here, and I’ve thought about leaving before, but I don’t know if I would ever want to go to another district. This is my home.”

As the district’s only certified athletic trainer, Ivkovich has gone it alone for the majority of her tenure at Fairfield, having only the help of volunteer student assistants to get through the sports seasons. Volunteer assistants learn the basics of first aid, CPR and injury treatment. Even that help, left too much work, however. Then two years ago, the district hired Amber Gerken, another certified athletic trainer, to lighten the load.

“Before Amber, I was working sometimes up to 72 hours in a week. Two Saturdays in a row I remember I had JV football, boys’ and girls’ soccer in a row, and I ended up working from 10 in the morning to 9 at night,” Ivkovich said. “Amber’s been such a help. Now I work, at most, 50 hours a week.”

Gerken, a 2003 Miami University graduate, came to Fairfield as part of Oxford Physical Therapy’s Outreach Program, where trainers split their time between working at the clinic and an assigned school district. In 2005, Gerken was hired as a full-time assistant to Ivkovich, and believes she couldn’t have been paired with a better mentor.

“Diana and I see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, and that has helped us to build a professional relationship,” Gerken said. “Athletic training is something you really learn hands-on, and Diana’s hands-on experience is so invaluable, not just with the job itself, but with the students she works with also.”

In addition to her training beds stocked with athletic tape and gauze pads, Ivkovich keeps a countless number of picture frames, collages and scrapbooks along her back wall, received as gifts from student-athletes and student assistants year after year. Some of them date more recently, and some of them date back to 1995, shortly after she started at Fairfield.

One of the students featured in those pictures is Carrie Meyer, a 2004 Fairfield graduate and former student assistant to Ivkovich. Meyer worked for two years during high school as an assistant for boys’ basketball. During that time, she formed a close relationship with Ivkovich, one she maintains even now.

“Diana is like a second mom to me,” Meyer said. “It’s funny because I can’t remember if I ever taped one ankle when I was a trainer, but I remember just how fun it was to be around Diana every day after school during basketball practice.”

Meyer recently became engaged to her high school boyfriend, prompting Ivkovich to call a few days after to congratulate her. Meyer believes Ivkovich’s willingness to get to know students on a personal level sets her apart from other employees in the Fairfield district.

“Diana just wants to know everything she can about everyone she works with,” Meyer said. “She has this thing about when she’s in her office in the training room with the door shut, you don’t interrupt her. The only time she would shut her door, though, is if one of her students wanted to talk about something, good or bad. She’s always willing to lend an ear and drop whatever she’s doing to talk about what’s going on in your life. That’s what makes Diana special to a lot of people.”

Ivkovich highlights her relationships with the students as her favorite part of the job by far, which has helped her decide to permanently stay with the school system.

“I’ve thought about going to work at a clinic, but it just wouldn’t be the same,” she said. “The students are what make me want to work here because I get to have daily interaction with them. At the secondary level, you really hope to have an impact on students as they grow up so that you can help shape their lives in one way or another. I would like to think that I’ve impacted someone, somewhere.”