Jun 8, 2018Most Valuable Athletic Trainer Award
There’s a quote from the late radio broadcaster Paul Harvey that Jim Berry, EdD, ATC, SCAT, NREMT, keeps on his desk so he can be reminded of it daily. “It reads, ‘The highest compliment anyone can have in their life is when the girl of their dreams says, “I do.” The second highest compliment is when your peers recognize you,'” recites Berry, who currently serves as Head Athletic Trainer at Conway (S.C.) High School, where he also teaches sports medicine and social studies.
Berry has collected both compliments — and more. In 1995, he wed the girl of his dreams. And for nearly 30 years, he has been a leader among athletic trainers, both regionally and nationally. He was chosen as National Chairman of the NATA Committee on Professional Ethics from 2013 to 2015 and followed that by serving as the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Trainers’ Association (MAATA) District 3 Secretary for the next two years. In addition, he was selected to be a Convention Program Reviewer for the NATA Clinical Symposia & AT Expo in 2009, a position he continues to hold.
For these and his many other accomplishments in sports medicine, Berry has received a litany of awards, including the 2006 NATA Athletic Trainer Service Award, the 2011 South Carolina Athletic Trainers’ Association (SCATA) Founders’ Award, the 2013 MAATA Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award, and the 2016 NATA Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award. Now, Berry adds to his long list of accolades, as he has been named the recipient of Training and Conditioning’s 2018 Most Valuable Athletic Trainer Award, sponsored by School Health.
The greatest thing that athletic trainers can do for our profession is to give back to it. We know the needs of schools more than anyone
