Thank You, First Responders: St. Charles North’s Zach Zinzer finds passion in athletic training

Zach Zinzer entered Aurora University not really having an idea of what athletic training was.

Zinzer, who graduated from West Aurora High School in 2016, was in the middle of a transition when he met with his college counselor for the first time to discuss his future plans. After doing football, wrestling and track for the Blackhawks, he decided to transition out of playing, but still wanted to do something that was related to sports.

That’s when his counselor mentioned athletic training.

“When they said that, I was like, ‘I don’t know what any of this is,’ ” Zinzer said. “So I met with them in person a bit more and got a bit of a background and it sounded pretty much perfect to me.”

Almost eight years later, Zinzer is an important part of St. Charles North’s athletic staff as the head trainer. He takes pride in working with the athletes and ensuring they get the best care possible to get back on the field.

Zinzer grew up the youngest of four brothers. He spent most of his childhood chasing what they left behind, especially when it came to sports. By the time he was out of high school, his brothers were in three separate fields of study and Zinzer didn’t know where he would fit in the puzzle.

“It was always should I be doing this to follow what this brother did or should I be doing that,” Zinzer said. “It got to a point where it was honestly kind of frustrating and I felt like I didn’t know what I wanted to do and I kind of got tired of following that norm.”

After deciding to follow his counselor’s advice, he went through with athletic training, but hit a bump in the road early. Zinzer took part in clinical rotations during his sophomore year, but after his first one at Oswego High School, he almost considered backing out of athletic training.

“I don’t know if I wasn’t prepared for the hours those guys were putting in and kind of the craziness of a fall season at a high school, but I just thought, ‘This is crazy. I don’t know how these people can do this,’ ” Zinzer said. “I feel like at the time we weren’t learning a ton of knowledge that we could apply yet at those rotations, so it was very tough to try and convince myself that this was something that I wanted to do.”

Zinzer said things didn’t really click for him until the next semester, when he worked with Aurora University’s women’s lacrosse and men’s hockey teams. After working with the teams and learning the proper evaluation skills, he was hooked.

“I was such a fan of anatomy,” he said. “And being able to evaluate someone from start to finish with an injury and have a fairly strong idea of what’s going on and then walking them through that process of how you’re going to take care of it, that just opened up so many doors for me.”

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in athletic training in 2020, Zinzer got a job at ATI Physical Training. From there, he applied for a position at Sandwich High School before his manager convinced him to apply for an opening at St. Charles North, which he decided to take.

“He cares about every single student athlete a tremendous amount and it shows in the work that he does and the care he provides.”

—  Joe Benoit, St. Charles North athletic director

In his four years at St. Charles North, Zinzer has worked with a multitude of athletes – from future Division I players to freshmen joining a sports team for the first time. He said St. Charles North is one of the best places he has seen in his athletic training career.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen this level of professionalism with kids these ages and how they act and hold themselves. It’s impressive,” he said. “And the cool thing is that I would say 90% of the time that athletes are coming into the training room, they actively want to get better instead of just wanting to get out of practice.”

Of the athletes that Zinzer sees, he said track and field athletes spend the most amount of time in his room mostly because of general aches and pains. While it’s usually a spot of concern for coaches, first-year girls track and field coach Anthony Enright feels good knowing he can rely on a trusted trainer in Zinzer.

“A lot of students confide in him and what the trainer has to say because they provide confidence for the kids to know that they can come back healthy,” Enright said. “For me to oversee a big group of kids, the trainers are like having another coach and it’s just another set of ears for me, which is very valuable.”

One person who interacts with Zinzer the most on campus is Joe Benoit, who was named St. Charles North’s athletic director in 2022. Benoit spent the previous five years as the athletic director at Jacobs.

Benoit said that of all the people he’s worked with over the past 17 years, Zinzer is definitely one of the best.

“He cares about every single student-athlete a tremendous amount and it shows in the work that he does and the care he provides,” Benoit said. “Not only does he do it with our student-athletes, but he also believes strongly in the partnership we have with the parents to provide the best possible experience for our athletes.”

Benoit and Zinzer are in constant communication throughout the day. While their talks usually focus on general topics such as the well-being of the student-athletes, Benoit said he also relies on Zinzer’s opinion on the weather and field conditions when considering if a game should be held or rescheduled.

“Ultimately, I have to make the decision on whether or not our field conditions are appropriate and safe for us to hold a game or contest, but also in deciding what is going to be safest for our spectators,” Benoit said. “Zach is a very significant voice in those difficult decisions that I have to make in those moments and he is a fantastic resource to me and amazing support in that sense.”

Zinzer said he would love to continue working at North to keep pushing the boundaries and opening the doors for more success there, but he also could see himself in a leadership role to push success to more areas around Illinois.

At the end of the day, there’s one thing that’s the most important to Zinzer.

“If I can change one kid’s perspective on an injury and make them feel better that means the world to me,” he said.