Cedarville University was the recipient of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference 2014-15 Athletic Training Staff of the Year Award as presented on Friday in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Cedarville Head Athletic Trainer Wes Stephens was on hand to receive the award in conjunction with the annual G-MAC Sports Information Director, Compliance Coordinator and Athletic Training committee meetings last week.
G-MAC sponsor Borden Perlman also had representatives in attendance to help present the award.
“We’ve had a program that has been well-established and a lot of it is keeping everything consistent from year-to-year,” Stephens said. “The administration has provided a lot of support for our program. That has really helped us be successful to provide care for our teams and visiting teams.”
“We are trying to integrate and grow our student-athlete training program more,” he added. “A lot of students take care of the small facility things and there are a lot of helping hands at Cedarville.”
In 2014-15, Stephens completed his first year with the Yellow Jackets after serving as the head athletic trainer for Shawnee High School in Springfield.
He oversees four assistant athletic trainers on his staff: Hannah Stedge, Kurt Beachy, Amanda Meade and Becca Stokes.
Stephens also mentioned his staff increased by one member this past year, allowing additional traveling coverage with Cedarville’s teams and having everyone’s workload lightened at the same time.
The G-MAC Athletic Training Staff of the Year award is presented to the top institution as voted on by the head athletic trainer from each member institution. The purpose for the award is to raise awareness of the athletic training profession and the incredible job training staff departments do throughout the conference for not only their own student-athletes, but visiting student-athletes as well.
Criteria for the award included host athletic training staff hospitality toward visiting athletic training staffs; host athletic training staff preparedness with supplies, equipment and services for visiting athletic training staff and athletic teams; host athletic training staff preparedness for emergency situations; and host athletic training staff’s care for injured athletes from visiting athletic teams.