Whitefish High School athletes have a powerful force on their side, both on and off the field – the school’s athletic trainer, Josie Windauer. 

Windauer was offered the job with Logan Health before she graduated last May with a master's degree in athletic training. When fall sports began at the high school, she was on duty for all of them. 

“I’m at every single home event,” she said, adding that if there are multiple events at the same time, she attends the higher risk sport. “Then, I'm there pretty much any time there are practices going on at the school, scrimmages, camps, anything like that.” 

In the fall, she travels with the football team.  

There is far more to the job of athletic trainer than people see. She said it is like a lot of different professions smushed together.

There are five domains of athletic training: injury and illness prevention and wellness promotion; examining, assessing and diagnosing athletic injuries and some general medical conditions; immediate emergency response; therapeutic intervention; healthcare administration and professional responsibilities. 

The emergency response portion is the most important part of the job.  

“Responding to acute injuries or emergency scenarios that are happening on the field or even in the stands,” she said. “If someone goes down in the stands or if a referee goes down on the field or even a coach, we’re kind of that first line of response. We’re prepared for anything to happen.” 

Windauer is also available to the kids off the field. Being around them is her favorite part of the job. 

"I would say 90% of the time, I'm helping kids out with things that aren't even health care related,” she said. “They're coming up to me, wanting to just vent about their day, or talk about something happening in their family, or talking about something happening in school.  

“Most of the time, I'm just there to listen to them, and I really enjoy that part of my job,” she said. “It just makes me feel like I'm there contributing to something that's bigger than myself.” 

She said she learns something from the kids every day, including new lingo. 

“They just humble me every single day, and it’s pretty awesome,” she said. 

Working outside in the fall and spring is another big draw for Windauer. 

“A lot of people can’t say, ‘Oh, my office is a football field or the soccer field,’” she said. 

WINDAUER IS FROM Columbia Falls, and was a standout, three-sport Wildkat athlete. She played soccer and basketball and ran for the track team. Soccer was her love. 

She was the Wildkats’ all-time leading goal scorer. In her senior year, she scored 33 goals and tallied 82 in her career, beating the old record by 15 goals. 

Windauer earned a scholarship to the University of Montana where she played for the Griz. Her love of the outdoors led her to study wildlife biology, but she also had a desire to be in the health field and remain around sports. 

She was advised that playing a college sport while being an athletic training student would be very difficult due to the sports schedule.  

“I played soccer for two years and ... right when I gave up soccer, I decided to switch to an athletic training degree,” she said.  

She earned her undergrad degree in integrative physiology and athletic training, followed by a master's degree in athletic training. 

Memories of the support she felt from the Columbia Falls community while she was participating in high school sports, along with the coaches, teachers and mentors who served as role models, strengthened her resolve to become an athletic trainer. 

"I just wanted to give back to the community and I love kids, and so the high school setting is definitely where I belong,” she said.  

Surprisingly, her transition from Wildkat to Bulldog was not difficult. 

"There are great kids wherever you go. I have one Columbia Falls sweatshirt left, hanging on by a string, but I still have it,” she said, adding she has accumulated a few Whitefish sweatshirts this year. “So, definitely a lot more green in my closet than blue.” 

HER PARENTS, Dave and Beth Windauer raised Josie and her two brothers, Justin and Ben, in Columbia Falls, while running a custom bow company for archers. They worked from home and spent loads of time with their family. 

“We were introduced at a very young age to the world of hunting and bow hunting and just the outdoors in general,” she said. “Through all of it, my parents were able to make it to our sporting events, make it to our extracurricular activities. We were able to go on family hunting trips together and family camping trips and so it definitely provided our family a really special childhood and style of life." 

She was lucky enough to grow up with four grandparents, too, one of whom is a testament to the fortitude that runs in the Windauer family. 

“I have a 90-year-old grandpa who, during the summer, bikes probably close to 35 to 40 miles a day and at the end of the summer, he goes on a 100-mile bike ride,” she said. “He goes to the gym every day during the winter, and he volunteers at a hospital.  

“Each and every one of my grandparents played a huge role in my life,” she said. “They were, and still are, my biggest supporters, and they just impress me every single day.”  

Windauer is conscious of the support she received as a youth as she works each day with the high schoolers. 

“If I can send every kid out of my training room feeling better about something in their life, I think that that's probably my biggest goal,” she said.