Day in the life of OSU Sports Medicine and FC Tulsa athletic trainer

Monday, March 24, 2025

Media Contact: Sara Plummer | Senior Communications Coordinator | 918-561-1282 | sara.plummer@okstate.edu

Game days, especially the first home game of the season, start early for Destiny Lalaguna, an Oklahoma State University Sports Medicine athletic trainer who works exclusively with Tulsa’s professional soccer club, FC Tulsa.

“I grew up playing soccer. I have a passion for it,” said Lalaguna, who has been an athletic trainer for five years and worked with other professional and collegiate soccer teams before coming to FC Tulsa in January. 

First home game of the season, March 15, 9:45 a.m.

Lalaguna started her morning at Titan Sports Complex in Jenks, FC Tulsa’s headquarters and primary practice and training site, where some of the players came in for treatment.

The athletic training room at Titan is large, with various tables and spaces where she and other medical team members can treat multiple players at a time.

“I walked into this space and was like, ‘Whoa, this is all mine?’” she said. 

Before coming to Tulsa, Lalaguna was an assistant athletic trainer at Phoenix Rising FC. She’s also worked with clubs and teams in Salt Lake City and New Hampshire. 

“I was ready to be challenged a little bit more, and I was looking for a new environment,” she said.

She moved to Tulsa on Jan. 15, around the same time as the players, and hit the ground running, getting herself and the team ready for the season.

Johan Penaranda, who started his second season as a goalkeeper with FC Tulsa, said a team’s athletic trainer can make a big difference in performance.

“It’s almost like a mechanic and what they do to a car — you have to do routine maintenance and repairs to keep that car going,” Penaranda said. “Without a good athletic trainer, it does hold a team back from being the best it can be.”

1:30 p.m. 

After lunch, Lalaguna and Dacie Sanders, an OSU Center for Health Sciences athletic training student on rotation with OSU Sports Medicine, arrived at ONEOK Field, the team’s home stadium. They got locker rooms and hydration supplies ready and the athletic training room set up for game day, which took about two hours.

Preparation in all aspects of her job is key, Lalaguna said. 

Being a soccer player as well as an athletic trainer who specializes in the sport, she knows what to expect.

“Ankle injuries, turf toe, which are toe injuries, muscle injuries, concussions,” she said. “I can watch them on the field and I can see an injury before it happens.”

As the athletic trainer, Lalaguna is the first responder to injuries that happen at games and practices, but a great day is when she doesn’t have to respond at all. 

“Right now, at this stage of the season, 70% of my job is injury prevention. I’m the person creating the protocols to prevent injury,” she said, but it’s a fact of the sport that players will get hurt.

“If an injury does come up, part of my job is keeping their mental health, their emotional health, their spiritual health in good condition and their well-being in place,” she said. 

5 p.m.

About two hours before kick-off, Lalaguna did pre-game prep and treatment on players who came into the athletic training room. Then, she and Sanders joined the team on the field to oversee warm-up exercises.

When Lalaguna got to FC Tulsa in January, she had to build trust and a rapport with the team almost immediately. 

“You set expectations and limits quickly and say ‘these are the rules’ and once those are set, building that respect and trust is easier,” she said, but that doesn’t mean the athletic training room is a serious place all the time. “You have to be able to banter. You have to be able to take a joke.”

Penaranda said the atmosphere in the athletic training room sets up players for the rest of the day.

“It’s a space to come and talk and get their day going,” he said. “Destiny has been a great addition to the team. Her mindset, her openness to feedback, her consistency and attitude has been great. You work with the same person every day, so you want consistency.” 

And because soccer is such a global sport, Lalaguna also takes into account players’ cultures when working with them. 

FC Tulsa has a truly international roster with nearly half of the players coming from different countries including Australia, Brazil, Colombia, England, France, Jamaica, Senegal and Serbia.

“We have some players who are Muslim and we’re in Ramadan right now. Some are more strict and don’t eat or drink anything during the day, so I know to not even offer them water or food during practice. Some get permission to eat and drink on game days. It’s just being aware of their culture and religion,” she said.

6:10 p.m.

As the home team’s athletic trainer, Lalaguna also led the pre-game medical meeting with the visiting team’s athletic trainer, team physicians from OSU Sports Medicine, the on-site emergency medical personnel, and the four-person stretcher crew, which was primarily made up of OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine students. 

“We go over the emergency plan, who will respond when and the hand signals we use. Hand signals are important; they relay what I or the team physician need to the rest of the medical team,” she said.

Communication is a vital skill to have as an athletic trainer, Lalaguna said, because you have to communicate with players, coaches and other health care professionals.

Luckily, the OSU Sports Medicine team has made that aspect of her job easy.

“They’ve made me feel very welcome to Tulsa. When my boyfriend and I got here, they took us to dinner and drove us around, showing us places to go. OSU really reached a hand out to me so that I would feel comfortable here,” she said.

There’s even a group chat with other OSU Sports Medicine athletic trainers.

“We bounce ideas off each other and ask for advice. It’s like a community. Everyone is so friendly,” she said.

FC Tulsa assistant coach Alexis Vizarelis said Lalaguna and the medical team are a cornerstone to the club’s success.

“The exceptional care delivered by Destiny and her team instills confidence throughout our staff and roster as we approach each match,” Vizarelis said. “FC Tulsa is fortunate to have a professional of Destiny’s caliber whose personal qualities and professional excellence strengthen our entire organization.”

Kick off, 7 p.m.

The home opener was a success for FC Tulsa and for Lalaguna — the team won, and she only had to go out onto the field once near the end of the game.

“Our keeper had taken a hit to the hand while saving a strike. I knew he would be OK; the hit wasn’t that hard. My focus was on slowing things down, allowing the players to take a moment to grab a drink of water and letting their emotions settle,” she said.

The players aren’t the only ones who must work to keep their emotions in check. 

“I’m pretty collected on the sidelines. Over time, I’ve learned to tune out the crowd so I can maintain my focus on the athletes and stay calm and attentive during the game,” she said, but she’s not completely immune. “After we score a goal, it’s impossible not to get caught up in the excitement and celebrate with the fans. The atmosphere is absolutely contagious.”

9 p.m.

Immediately after the first home game, Lalaguna and Sanders had only minutes to move all the hydration and medical supplies off the field.

“When the match ended, and FC Tulsa had secured the win, I felt a mix of relief and excitement. It’s always rewarding to see the team succeed, especially after the hard work everyone puts in leading up to the game,” Lalaguna said. “It’s a great moment for both the team and the support staff.”

Then, the two joined the rest of the team to meet fans and greet family and friends.

“Within about 15 minutes, we were in the locker room conducting assessments, discussing minor injuries with the doctors, and attending to any immediate needs. It was especially important to focus on immediate recovery and things like nutrition replenishment and ice tub treatments,” she said, because the team had only two days until their next match.

Lalaguna’s 14-hour workday ended after 11:30 p.m. when she left the stadium and got home around midnight. But the long days are worth it.

“I get to work in my favorite sport every day and get paid for it,” she said. “It’s the best.”