Jan 29, 2015ATCs in the News: Spring Happenings
From the launch of new programs to fresh faces in new positions and recent honorees, this installment of Athletic Trainers in the News has a little bit of everything. Check out what your colleagues are up to this spring with these headlines we found from across the country.
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The University of Notre Dame recently named Rob Hunt its Head Football Athletic Trainer. Previously, Hunt had been Head Athletic Trainer at Oklahoma State University since 2007.
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The Kansas Athletic Trainers’ Society recently selected Mark Stutz as its Athletic Trainer of the Year. An assistant professor and chair of the department of health, sport, and human performance at Baker University, Stutz serves as chair of the Kansas Athletic Trainers’ Society’s College/University Athletic Training Student Committee, is a member of the MidAmerica Athletic Trainers’ Association’s CUATSC, and serves on the MAATA annual meeting planning committee. The annual award is given to the athletic trainer who has positively impacted athletic training in Kansas throughout the year.
“While I am grateful for this honor, my greatest reward comes from interacting with students in athletic training throughout Kansas,” Stutz told the Baldwin City Signal. “I enjoy working with them to develop student programming at conferences as well as introducing them to leadership opportunities on the state, regional and national levels. Most of all, I enjoy seeing their passion for athletic training ignited by the activities and opportunities they are provided.”
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Check out this profile of Mike Bowling, Athletic Trainer and Physical Therapist at the St. Elizabeth Diagnostic Center in Florence, Kentucky. Bowling, who is also Athletic Trainer at St. Henry District High School in Erlanger, KY, is currently at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado working with athletes from the men’s gymnastics, fencing and Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling teams. Previously, he worked with the U.S. diving team from 1991 to 1999, and accompanied the team to the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
Bowling says working with world-class athletes is a whole different ballgame than his high school athletic training duties.
“They are a whole lot more demanding than the high school kids when they are in training and they are used to being waited on hand and foot,” Bowling told theMarion Star. “There is also the psychological part if they have a bad competition or an injury.”
Despite loving the excitement that comes from working with elite athletes, Bowling says his heart remains at the high school level.
“Of all the things I’ve done, the best part is working with the high school kids, no question,” Bowling said. “I just love doing it.”
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Congratulations to Hub Waldrop, Athletic Trainer at Auburn University from 1960-2005, who was recently honored with a plaque as part of the Tiger Trail program, which is known informally as the Auburn Walk of Fame. Waldrop is one of 102 athletes, coaches and athletic administrators who have been honored with a granite plaque placed into the sidewalks along Auburn’s College Street and Magnolia Avenue.
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Wilmington College has selected Corey J. Wingen as its new Head Athletic Trainer effective July 1. Wingen, who had been the Head Athletic Trainer at Bethany College, will provide coverage for the school’s 21 intercollegiate sports in this non-teaching position.
“Corey is young and will bring a lot of energy to the position,” Larry Howard, WC’s athletic training program director, said in a statement. “We believe he will take the AT service area for our students to the next level.”
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Pete Chacalos, in his 26th year as Athletic Trainer at Wheeling Park (WV) High School, was named Athletic Trainer of the Year by the West Virginia Athletic Trainers Association.
”It’s nice to be recognized by your peers,” Chacalos told the Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Registerr. ”I know there were a lot of people who deserved it. The WVATA encompasses high schools, colleges, etc. That really makes it special.”
Chacalos is also a full-time teacher at Park, specializing in human anatomy, physiology, and biology and oversees a staff of student-athletic trainers consisting of about 12 students a year, many of whom go on to study student athletic training in college.
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Mike Terrill, Head Athletic Trainer at Howard Payne University has been named Director of the school’s new athletic training education program. Offered through HPU’s School of Education, the program will begin this summer and is part of HPU’s plans to pursue national accreditation in athletic training education from the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE). It is an important first step in the process of national accreditation and allowing HPU students to sit for the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) Board of Certification exam. According to WKTX.com, the current HPU athletic training program has been a state license program since the State of Texas licensing process began in the early 1970’s.
“I am very excited about this opportunity to lead our athletic training education program toward national certification,” said Terrill. “Howard Payne has had an outstanding athletic training education program that has produced many professional athletic trainers working in all aspects of the field, as well as many who have gone on to graduate school, or to be physicians and other medical professionals. Obtaining national accreditation will allow our students to work beyond the borders of Texas and, for that matter, beyond the borders of the United States.”
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High Point University recently launched a new athletic training page on its Web site, www.highpointpanthers.com, which will provide readers with a more in-depth look at the HPU Athletic Training program, including videos and articles educating viewers on various aspects of athletic training as well as conditions commonly found among student-athletes. The site will also serve as a place for people to read about the area doctors that work with the HPU athletic training staff, view its facilities and learn its policies on insurance, drug testing, and nutrition and supplements.
“We are very excited about our new Athletic Training site,” head athletic trainer Matt Schooler said in a statement. “It is more informative for people in the general population to educate them about athletic training. We also will be including monthly videos about various subjects that the entire athletic training staff and physicians will take part in to help educate the readers and general population.”
Have a link to a story you’d like to see included in a future blog? E-mail us at: [email protected].
R.J. Anderson is the Online Editor at Training & Conditioning.
