Blazers’ athletic trainer is ‘trailblazing’ her own path

By Nick Krupke

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    PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — In her third season on the Portland Trail Blazers’ bench, Jessica Cohen, the former assistant athletic trainer and physical therapist, is now an NBA ‘trailblazer’ as the first female head athletic trainer in league history.

“The goal was always, what’s the highest level of performance you can be around? Right now, that is the NBA,” Cohen said.

Cohen is one of one. The only female head athletic trainer in the NBA.

“My career path was a little different to get here. I actually started in political science and then I quickly realized I didn’t have thick enough skin for half the country to hate me,” Cohen said.

Cohen has a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt where she competed in swimming for The Commodores. A master’s from Arkansas and doctorate at Northwestern when she was an intern for The Chicago Sky of the WNBA.

“I can actually make a mean Gatorade mix but with COVID, we’re not really mixing Gatorade,” Cohen said.

After becoming head trainer for The Sky and the Atlanta Dream, the dream job came calling three years ago when Cohen was phoned by Portland.

“I always thought, we are going to do this. This is going to happen, but I guess maybe I sounded a little crazy when I said it 10 years ago,” she said.

Internalizing that drive and commitment, Cohen earned the lead role with the scarlet and black back in January.

“When they announced it to the team, I thought the guys were going to tackle me — they were really excited for me,” Cohen said. “That really meant a lot to me.”

Behind her hard work, Cohen said a supportive family cheering on her career has kept the ball rolling.

“I will say, with this [job] you make a lot of sacrifices, whether you are working high school, low level college, high level college or professional — it’s not a short-hours job for sure,” Cohen said. “I am very lucky that my parents and all of my friends and family have been super supportive of it. I mean, I picked up from Atlanta and sold everything I owned and moved to Oregon and here we are with kind of a ‘let’s see what happens and see how this goes.’ Without that support, there is no way this would have been able to happen.”

Now, Cohen is a proof positive case to represent those young dreamers who envision a powerful place in pro sports and beyond.

“I have had quite a few people reach out to me as a it relates to, ‘my granddaughter watches the games with me’ or ‘my daughter watches the games’ or ‘I know someone who is a female athletic training student.’ I guess I just didn’t recognize how much it would impact those people and motivate them to think, really the opportunities are endless.”

Cohen said with her new role, she’s now taking the time to appreciate the influence and inspiration she can have on young woman.

“I have never felt super limited by my gender but I do have to recognize that’s not how everyone sees the world and how it works,” Cohen said. “If I have the ability to inspire and motivate young women to do anything, even if it’s not in athletic training, but to say ‘oh, this female is an athletic trainer in the NBA so I want to go be a CEO somewhere or I want to work with another sport,’ in any way that I can help motivate or mentor, then I am all for it.”

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