FGCU basketball alum impacts SWFL through sports medicine

Writer: Sylvie Sparks
Published: Updated:

From the hardwood to health care, Dr. Kelsey Diemer has been making an impact in Southwest Florida for 17 years.

First as an FGCU basketball player from 2008-2012 and now as a sports medicine physician for Lee Health.

“It was a very easy transition to go from being someone that played sports and loving it to being someone that helps people in that same arena, but from the medicine standpoint,” Dr. Diemer said.

Dr. Diemer initially planned to get her degree from FGCU and go back home to Minnesota, but she fell in love with Southwest Florida.

“To look back at those four years I spent at FGCU, the fans in the community, I mean, they get behind you as an FGCU athlete, they become your family.”

To give back to the community that embraced her as a young athlete means everything to her.

“I’m able to recognize that athletes come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, conditions. So everything ranging from a high-level collegiate athlete to more of a weekend warrior or even someone that just wants to go for walks. I love being able to help people do the things that they want to enjoy and love doing.”

It all started on the Eagles’ basketball court for Dr. Diemer, as she and her teammates dealt with their own musculoskeletal ailments.

“Seeing the collaborative effort among the athletic trainers and our sports medicine docs just really made me want to follow in that path so that I could also provide that care back to people.”

Now she uses her own experiences as an athlete to better understand the patients she treats.

Dr. Diemer previously served as a team physician for FGCU athletics and now supports the Eagles as a fan.

She even refers to herself as the “biggest fan” of her former teammate and bridesmaid, Eagles’ Head Coach Chelsea Lyles.

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