Shane Fricke is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Coronado High School for AZPreps365.com.

For the past two years, Rachael Grapevine has been spending almost as much time at Coronado as she does at home. Grapevine’s extensive time commitment comes from her love of sports. She is a senior varsity player and captain on both the volleyball and basketball teams. 

But her involvement with sports doesn’t stop there. Grapevine is also pursuing a career in sports medicine and spends a lot of time with the trainers.  

Grapevine’s interest in sports medicine began freshman year when she took Intro to Sports Medicine. This “very intense” course teaches students about the human body and how to recover from and prevent injuries. Intro to Sports Medicine also requires field hours where students are able to work on the sidelines passing out water, taping up players and helping the trainer with injuries. 

For as long as she can remember, Grapevine has wanted to be a veterinarian or a coach so this class gave her the best of both worlds. Grapevine plans to continue studying it in college and is looking at Northern Arizona University, which is acclaimed for its Sports Medicine program. The goal for Grapevine is to work as a trainer for a professional team, or as the head trainer at a high school. 

“I really want to help players not get injured, and help with physical rehabilitation from an injury,” Grapevine said. 

Ironically, Grapevine’s admiration for preventing injuries came when she suffered an ankle injury during her sophomore season. After the injury Grapevine began the rehabilitation process which cemented her love. 

“After going through my physical therapy with my trainer I fell in love with [sports medicine],” Grapevine said. 

The injury kept her off the court for a couple of weeks, but those weeks is where volleyball coach Shannan McClure got to see what kind of person Grapevine was.

“She had a very positive attitude, showed up to practice every day, and engaged in what we were doing,” McClure said. 

While her final volleyball season has had its share of ups and downs -- the Dons are 1-9 -- Grapevine, the team’s starting setter, hasn’t let her infectious energy dissipate. 

Along with playing on both the volleyball and basketball teams, and helping the trainers, Grapevine is a member of both the school’s Hall of Fame committee and Letterman’s club. The Hall of Fame committee is a very exclusive committee with only two members despite having over 40 applicants. The committee is run by Athletic Director Anthony Miller, who knew Rachael was the right person for the role. 

“She had proven herself to me over the course of last year. She had proven that she can handle a big responsibility like that,” Miller said. 

Grapevine was able to prove herself to Miller while working on the Letterman’s club during her junior year. The Letterman’s Club is a group of four athletes who help with special events and vote on athletic decisions, along with many other responsibilities. Grapevine’s dedication to her leadership positions, her teams, and helping the trainer isn’t common for many students. 

“It’s unique that you have a student that’s so highly engaged in so many different aspects of the athletic department,” Miller said. 

This engagement can only happen if the students are truly in love with it because it is tough to balance all of these extracurricular activities. Before COVID-19, Grapevine was at school until 8:30 almost every night, first practicing with her team, then going to football practice, and helping with any problems the players had. 

Grapevine’s leadership skills and patience balancing all of her extracurricular activities have set her apart from her classmates. Whether it’s dominating on the court, helping other athletes, or making important decisions regarding the athletic department, Grapevine is highly involved in Coronado athletics and loves every second of it.