When Jasyn Chidester became Carlmont’s certified athletic trainer in 2019, he set out to provide the best possible program and ensure athletes remain healthy.
A San Mateo native, Chidester grew up near Carlmont, going to high school at Hillsdale before moving onto the College of San Mateo (CSM). One of his favorite places to grab a bite was Lorenzo’s, a sandwich shop right outside the Carlmont Shopping Center.
“I’m a peninsula kid at heart, I grew up in this area, and I’ve been going to Lorenzo’s for around 20 years,” Chidester said.
From a young age, Chidester was very involved with sports, partially due to his family.
“I come from a large sporting family, and I have three brothers, and we’re highly competitive. Once you could walk in my family, you had a ball put in your hand, and basketball is the sport I’ve played the longest. It’s something that I love to play,” Chidester said.
Baseball is also a big family sport for Chidester’s family, and he played little league baseball in San Carlos as a kid. Chidester’s great-grandfather played for the San Francisco Seals, the professional baseball team in San Francisco, before the Giants’ arrival.
Although basketball has been the sport Chidester has played the longest, his best sport was football, which he played at CSM. While playing, he suffered an injury and felt that the athletic trainers didn’t explain his injury well.
“This was one of the main reasons I became an athletic trainer in the first place,” Chidester said. “I wanted to do the opposite of what happened to me. I wanted to be a positive influence on people and help them understand what they’re dealing with when they get injured, and that it’s something that they’ll get through and get better.”
Using this motivation, Chidester graduated from San Jose State University (SJSU) with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology with an emphasis in athletic training. Currently, he is working on acquiring his masters in sports rehab through the University of Melbourne in Australia, online.
At SJSU, Chidester worked with some of the college teams while studying and later worked as the athletic trainer for Santa Clara University’s collegiate rugby team. Eventually, he worked for a professional rugby team in San Francisco before settling at Carlmont.
Before Chidester considered a career in athletic training and sports rehab, he wanted to be a firefighter. At CSM, he enrolled in their fire science program and became an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), graduating near the top of his class from the fire academy.
“Through working for a local ambulance company, I realized I wanted to do more education-wise and be the first person in my family to get a bachelor’s degree. I chose to advance my studies, and sports makes me happy, so I tried to find a way that I could use the skills I had as an EMT,” Chidester said. “I found athletic training, and I fell in love with it.”
Outside of work, Chidester has many hobbies, including rock climbing, juggling, and playing the guitar. With guitar, he plays the bass and even used to play in a band.
“I used to be in a band around eight years ago with all my best friends from high school,” he said.
Chidester also loves to travel with his wife, going to places like the Sierra Nevada for backpacking and camping, and visiting international destinations like Greece, Portugal, and Mexico.
“What I love about getting to go to new places is not just going to tourist destinations but also learning about the culture and how people function there. My wife and I try to learn as much of the language as possible to communicate and immerse ourselves. By far, Portugal has been my favorite place I’ve ever been to,” Chidester said.
Another aspect of traveling that is enjoyable to Chidester is the opportunity to try new foods and cuisines.
A memorable instance of this was when he was in France and decided to try escargot, a French dish consisting of cooked snails. Chidester was worried about tasting this dish at first, but he found it to be delicious after trying it.
“I support being adventurous with foods and trying new things,” he said.
Many of Chidester’s favorite activities involve being outdoors or having an adventure, but he also enjoys some quieter things, like reading and playing videogames.
“I like to read fantasy novels like ‘Lord of the Rings,’ and I read the whole ‘Game of Thrones’ series before the show came out. I do play videogames, but not right now because I’m in school,” he said.
Even with all of his hobbies, Chidester considers his work to be one of his main passions. He encourages student-athletes not to be afraid of him, as his only goal is to make sure that kids stay healthy.
