MUSC athletic trainer keeps pro players in top shape

Bobby Weisenberger is living a soccer fan’s dream. “I love it. I mean, this is my office – it’s a stadium. I’m around professional sports all day long. It’s all I do.”

He’s head athletic trainer for the Charleston Battery, which has a contract with the Medical University of South Carolina, Weisenberger’s employer. “I go everywhere with the team,” he said. “These guys don’t go for a walk without me. It’s flights, it’s buses, it’s everything.”

Weisenberger grew up playing soccer and decided to make his passion his profession, studying athletic training in college and joining MUSC as an outreach athletic trainer. In that role, he worked with high school sports teams and hockey leagues, and then joined the Battery in 2010. Now, six years later, Weisenberger has watched wave after wave of young men join the team, which is in the entry-level division for professional soccer, the United Soccer League.

“These guys want to play every game,” he said. “I think ultimately, everybody wants to be at the top level.” That means his players want every bit of help they can get to keep them on the field. The better they play, the better their chance of rising to the next level.

Soccer practices are fast, loud and sweaty, and Weisenberger keeps close watch. The play rarely stops for more than a few seconds, players yell both encouragement and curses and they perspire so much that they have to be weighed before and after practice. If they’ve lost weight, he requires them to drink water on the spot to avoid dehydration.

Twenty-four-year-old Kevin Corby, goalkeeper for the Battery, said the MUSC trainer goes beyond the expected. “I’ve been on a lot of teams, and Bobby does way more. Everybody has a good relationship with him. He doesn’t make you wait, and all the equipment is in great shape. It’s better than any place I’ve ever been, medically.”

Weisenberger said everything involving the players’ health is either approved or done by him and his assistants. “We do physicals, we do therapies, we do pregame warm ups, we do sports performance and we do strengthening. That’s all part of it.”

He also makes sure players who suffer concussions fully recover before they go back on the field, treats a lot of ankle and hamstring injuries, and when needed, helps players dealing with more serious problems. “We’ve only had one ACL since I’ve been here.” ACL injuries involve the anterior cruciate ligament in the knee and sometimes require surgery.

Corby said Weisenberger is ready for just about anything. “Most guys have something they’re dealing with. You’re tight, or you have to get an ice pack. Ninety percent of the guys are in the training room every day for something. Tape, anything. Even the little things, like you forgot to eat breakfast? Bobby has a bunch of bars.”

The Battery includes several players from other countries, and Weisenberger hangs the flags of their home countries in the training area of MUSC Health Stadium, where the team practices and plays when it’s at home. 

He loves the sport, the camaraderie and his ability to stay with the program long after he’d have aged out if he were a player. “These guys’ birthdays, I’m starting to see that they’re after the year I graduated high school. They’re getting younger and I’m getting older, and I’m still out here with them.”

Weisenberger also said he’s proud to have the MUSC name associated with the team.

“For MUSC, it’s great for them to be in the community. It shows the value that the MUSC administration has put on the sports medicine program. It’s a worthwhile investment.”