George McGovern knows how it can come across to others while he’s working with a young athlete who’s suffered a major injury.
“It’s almost to the point where it comes across like I don’t care,” McGovern said. “But I was taught very early that my emotional state is going to drive how that athlete, how those parents watching this transpire are going to handle this.”
McGovern has practiced sports medicine since 2005 and joined Destrehan High School in 2008. He is about to enter his third year as an athletic director at DHS, a job he performs in addition to his duties as a trainer.
Those moments following a serious injury require immediate action, and a cool head to go with it.
“You can’t be overly emotional about it. You’ve got to be under control,” McGovern said. “Everyone I work with keeps that same temperament – we remain calm.”
Helping student-athletes overcome their injuries and return to action is something of a way to pay it forward for McGovern, who had his own athletic career at Archbishop Hannan High School interrupted by an injury.
“Remembering getting brought back as fast as I was after injury, it gives me a lot of joy for me now to be able to help kids get over that hump and back on the field,” McGovern said.
That experience was very much the catalyst for the career path he chose.
“Growing up, there was a friend of mine and his dad had his own physical therapy clinic, so when I got hurt I went to him (and saw) this was a way I could stay involved with sports, and I was interested in the medical side of things too,” he said. “So that was kind of a natural mesh for me.”
It was at Hannan where he began his career as a trainer. Following Hurricane Katrina – and the damage it dealt to Hannan, which was then located in St. Bernard Parish before being relocated to Covington, where it is now – he moved on to St. Charles Catholic until 2008, when he made the jump to Destrehan, where he also teaches classes on sports medicine.
He’s helped numerous athletes get back to form and helped keep them calm in the immediate aftermath of an injury. McGovern is proud to play his part in all of it but he also makes it very clear that a strong team around him makes it possible.
“I have an incredible group of people that I work with, from Dr. Bill Johnson to Christie Frey to Greg Vicknair, and the great relationship that we have with the therapists at PT Solutions. What we do at Destrehan isn’t possible without all of them,” McGovern said.
“And for me personally, with the time commitment, it couldn’t happen without the support from my wife and kids.”
His interest in becoming an athletic director spawned largely from being so involved with each sport at the school already.
“Being on campus all the time in athletic training, that kind of led me to become more involved with the entire program as a whole over time,” he said. “I’ve had some very good mentors like Clarence Dupepe, Kenny Montz and Paul Waguespack, who helped guide me into my current role.”
Destrehan has earned a reputation for having one of the premier athletic programs in the state, and McGovern says his goal is to build upon it.
“What people think of when they think of Destrehan, be it in athletics or the school itself, we’re always trying to improve upon,” McGovern said. “We’re going to build and expand upon that. I firmly believe athletics are the front porch of every school – it’s that first visual people think of.”
The most rewarding part of his work, at the end of the day, is seeing students he’s worked with progress in their lives.
“I’m now fortunate enough to have seen a lot of these kids come up all the way from elementary school,” he said. “Seeing their growth when they come back and hearing the stories about what they’ve done, that is what’s really enjoyable for me.”
