HORNELL, N.Y. (WETM) – In celebration of Women’s History Month, 18 News is highlighting four local women who inspire, lead and forge the way for other women.

This week we meet Lyndsey McCoy. She’s a Certified Athletic Trainer for Hornell High School and helps coach a boxing class for students with Parkinson’s disease. She also coaches Alfred State’s Women’s Basketball Team. She’s devoted to supporting young athletes and being a mentor they can connect to, despite the odds of working in a male-dominant field at a young age.”

“We’re there to provide first aid, or I’m there to treat, triage and get athletes the help that they need. I work with rehab,” said Lyndsey. So, if an athlete comes in with a known injury, I can do the rehab and get them on their way or I have to diagnose it and refer out to another provider to make sure this is what’s actually going on,” Lindsey continues.

The 23-year-old graduated from Alfred University in 2021. Lindsey played sports in high school and college. She says she got injured and often spent time in physical therapy. However, she didn’t like the population and always planned on making an impression on her athletes.

After graduating, she left her parent’s house in Albany, New York, to pursue her career in Hornell.

Lindsey works hand-and-hand with students from modified to varsity sports. She covers competitions, games, meets, and matches and provides first aid. She also works with rehab, where she may have to diagnose or refer an athlete to another provider to get them back into the sport.

She says women often don’t do the job because it’s a lot of time and takes a lot of physical and mental strength, and adversity.

“A lot of people don’t really recognize what we do. They’re always like, oh, they’re just a water girl or here’s a band aid. now we do so much more than that,” said Lyndsey.

She enjoys working in the healthcare field. In addition, she volunteers for the IRONMAN 70.3 Musselman, a race for athletes where you’ll start your race with a swim in Seneca Lake, followed by a bike course that takes you into the Finger Lakes Region and a run course.

“I’ve been the medical personnel with a couple of my coworkers and it’s really fun to volunteer because we see triathletes. They’re in phenomenal shape and then you get to see the really young fans that are super ambitious, Lyndsey said.”

Lindsey says she sees herself a lot in her students. “It’s cool being in the health care profession because you can cover so many things and have such an impact on everybody,” she said.

She takes her job very seriously and wants her students to feel heard and play to the best of their abilities.

“I like to be that role model closer to their age. So it’s easier for them to connect to me and also was pretty cool, said Lyndsey.”

Remarkable Women is a nationwide Nexstar Media initiative to honor the influence women have had on public policy, social progress, and quality of life.

One local winner will be selected to receive a $1,000 donation to a charity of her choice. They will then be considered for Nexstar’s nationwide 2023 Woman of the Year Award.

Our third local finalist will be announced on March 22nd. You can check out the Remarkable Women revealed so far at Remarkable Women of the Twin Tiers 2023.