Category: Amateur Sports

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Athletic Trainer Who Worked Alongside Larry Nassar For Years Is No Longer Working For USA Gymnastics

Article reposted from Deadspin
Author: Dvora Meyers

Yesterday, 2010 world championships silver medalist Mattie Larson read her victim impact statement at Larry Nassar’s sentencing. Larson related a litany of horrors from her time as a member of the national team—the coaching staff shunning her at the 2010 world championships after she made a mistake, how she harmed herself in order to avoid going to the national team training center, and the years of sexual abuse she was subjected to at the hands of Nassar.

Larson also mentioned that at times there was a female athletic trainer in the room while she was being sexually abused under the guise of medical treatment, a woman named Debbie Van Horn. Larson noted that this woman still works for USA Gymnastics. Victim 178, who wished to remain anonymous, also invoked Van Horn’s name in her statement that was read in court. She said that Van Horn often would leave the room when gymnasts were being treated or would turn a blind eye to what was happening.

Last spring, I reached out to USA Gymnastics to request an interview with Van Horn. Nassar mentioned her by name to me when I interviewed him in 2014. Not that I needed him to make me aware of Van Horn’s existence; the fact that they worked together with the gymnasts on the national team was well-known. Nassar also mentioned Van Horn when he posted his “retirement” message to Facebook in September 2015. (He actually been fired by USA Gymnastics and reported to the FBI but had been allowed to say publicly that he was leaving the organization.)

At the time, USA Gymnastics said I could send questions to Van Horn and they’d see if she would be able to answer them. I sent a fairly lengthy list of question to USA Gymnastics to be directed toward Van Horn. Some of the questions were quite general and not specific to Nassar, things like “What is the most common type of medical treatment performed at the Ranch?” and what kind of medical forms do parents have to sign before their kids go there? I also sent more Nassar-centric questions, such as “Were there any rules regarding girls being alone with members of the medical staff?” and “Do you recall any red flags or suspicious behavior [from Nassar]?” I was told that due to pending litigation, Van Horn would be unable to respond to any of my questions.

Later in the summer of 2017, I wrote to USA Gymnastics again, asking if Van Horn was still employed by the organization because I couldn’t seem to find her name listed on the website, as it had been previously. I was told by a spokeswoman that she was still employed by USA Gymnastics.

It seems that this is no longer case. When Larson said that Van Horn was still working, it seems that she might’ve been off by just one day. Van Horn, who had worked for USA Gymnastics since 1988 and whose last job title was “director of sports medicine services,” was no longer with the organization. In an email sent to USA Today, Mark McCreary, the chief administrative officer at USA Gymnastics, wrote: “Effective, January 22, 2018, Debbie Van Horn is no longer employed with USA Gymnastics.”

This news comes on the heels of three members USA Gymnastics’ board of directors resigning and the USOC’s demands that the rest of the board members go, too.

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Central Ohio athletic trainer to travel to winter Olympics

Article reposted from NBC4i.com
Author: 

Local athletic trainer, Chris Mizer will be heading to Pyeongchang, South Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympics with the U.S. Men’s Ice Hockey team.

Mizer is a graduate of the Ohio State University where, as a student athletic trainer, he was assigned to the men’s hockey team. From there he eventually became the Head Athletic Trainer for the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2000-2008, but Pyeongchang will be his first Olympic games.

“It’s a dream come true. It’s one of those opportunities if you’re lucky to have one in your life, it’s a pretty neat thing,” said Mizer.

He currently serves in a management role at The Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center.

“But I’m an athletic trainer at heart, it’s what I love to do, so I keep my hand in it doing various events throughout the course of the year,” added Mizer.

In 2016, he served as the athletic trainer for Team USA at the Youth Olympic Games, and this past summer, he was very excited when he learned he will go to Pyeongchang.

“A lot of excitement then as you can imagine then, and now, there’s excitement but there’s also the preparation of making sure you have everything you need before you go over,” said Mizer.

During his time training with the Blue Jackets, Mizer grew to love training the top hockey players.

“It’s a sport that demands so much from the athlete, you’re dealing with acute injuries and chronic injuries, so it really tests your skills as a medical professional,” said Mizer.

This past November, he had the chance to meet the rest of the medical staff for Team USA at the Deutschland Cup Tournament in Germany.

“So, that was kind of our version of getting together ahead of the Olympic games, and then when we hit Korea we’ll hit the ground running, getting to know each other, the final team per say, the staff already knows each other so we’re comfortable there,” Mizer said with a smile.

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Steamboat athletic trainer hopes her efforts will lead to success for American Olympians

Article reposted from Steamboat Today
Author: John Russell

When the 2018 Winter Olympic Games kick off in February, Steamboat Springs’ Frederica Manning will be watching the events unfold with a vested interest in the success of the American Nordic skiers in PyeongChang, South Korea.

“It’s an important year because of the Olympics,” said Manning, who works with the U.S. Nordic Team as an athletic trainer and physical therapist assistant. “All of these athletes are vying for a  spot on the Olympic team. These guys are all working very hard.”

Manning spent two weeks with the team in December at World Cup races in Davos, Switzerland, and Toblach, Italy.

She is one of six trainers who take turns traveling with the mens and womens teams during the winter. The trainers job is to provide the athletes with the care and treatments they need to keep them at the top of their game, or to help them as they recover from injuries. 

It’s something that Manning has been doing for 15 years — the last eight with the mens and womens U.S. Nordic teams.

“I knew nothing about Nordic when I was asked to do it,” Manning said. “So my first year with them, the poor coach, I was asking him what does that mean, what is that. I had to be a quick learner.”

But while Manning had to learn about the sport, she had plenty of knowledge when it came to the athletes’ care before, during and after the international-level events. She has worked at UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center’s SportsMed Clinic for 21 years. In that role she acted as the athletic trainer at the high school for years and has been a fixture at the rodeo and many other summer events in Steamboat Springs.

“I’ve always had that crossover working with athletes and patients that come into the clinic, as well,” Manning said, “There is something still that is really nice about working with the athletic population. It’s different because you are pushing them harder and training them harder. It’s a little bit different in the sense of how you are working with them.”

As a  member of the national Nordic team’s staff, she works with 15 elite level athletes during her two-week tour including Olympic hopefuls like Andy Newell and Simi Hamilton on the mens side and Jessie Diggins, Sadie Bjornsen and Kikkan Randall on the womens side. Her efforts keep them in tip-top shape for races, and she is also there when they are injured and looking for a quick recovery.

“I typically try to see all 15 each day,” Manning said. “The day is stacked from beginning to end.”

She is also there on race days performing tasks that help the racers get the most out of their bodies during sprint and distance races.

“We normally have a treatment room in the hotel where we are,” Manning said. “I do treatments all day long and kind of give them stuff to do independently.”

On race days, she can normally be found in a tent near the race course.

“On sprint days, I’m working on the guys when the women are going, and when the women are done, they are in the tent, and I’m working on them,” Manning said. “On the distance days, I work on a few before they go out, and I meet them back at the hotel to work on them when they get back.”

Manning said there’s a definite upside to being with the team. She gets a jacket, the team pays for her travel and meals, and of course, she gets to go to places all around the world.

“It’s just fun. You get to travel to places that you never thought that you would be able to go,” she said. “I still love Switzerland because it’s really beautiful, and it’s really nice. The people are super nice,  although Austria is really good too.”

Manning is a veteran trainer with the U.S. Team. She spent seven years working with the Alpine snowboard team before budget cuts ended that program. Then Manning was quickly picked up by the Nordic team and has been with them ever since.

She will not travel to PyeongChang, South Korea, in February and will watch the Winter Olympic Games play out on television.

Most of the teams have a primary trainer that will take charge at the games, but Manning still considers herself a part of a team.

To reach John F. Russell, call 970-871-4209, email jrussell@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @Framp1966.

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A joyful job

Article reposted from Park Bugle
Author: 

Emily Kidd was in the right place at the right time when the Harlem Globetrotters called the University of Minnesota in 2015 looking for an athletic trainer to work a game when their tour came to Minneapolis.

A graduate student in the U’s applied kinesiology program at the time, Kidd was in her office when the call came.

“I was by myself and the phone rang, and it was somebody from the Globetrotters,” Kidd said. “I thought it was really weird because I didn’t work in the main athletic training facility. I worked at the pool with the swimmers, but somehow they got my number and I answered the phone.

The legendary exhibition basketball team was coming to town the next week and needed an athletic trainer. They asked if she knew someone, she said, “and I said, ‘I’ll do it.’ ”

And she did. “And I had a blast,” she said.

Kidd kept in touch with the organization by sending emails every few months and asking about long-term positions. “It was always nothing, nothing, nothing, and then earlier this year, I sent another email and said, ‘I’d worked a game [in Minneapolis], I had a great time, and I think I’d be a good fit. Do you have anything available?’ I got an answer within an hour.”

She was hired to join the last two months of a tour last spring. In November, she’ll join the team at its training camp near Atlanta, Ga., and then head out on a six-month U.S. tour in December.

Working as an athletic trainer for the iconic 90-year-old exposition team is “just about as fun as it sounds,” Kidd said. “It combines everything that I like: sports, comedy and traveling.”

Kidd, 28, grew up in St. Anthony Park and played soccer through high school at Como Park Senior High and in college at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. But she also played recreation basketball at Langford Park as a kid.

“I was average at best,” she said, “but I do know the game. I can appreciate the things [the Globetrotters] are doing.” That includes playing a game almost every day—sometimes two in one day.

Her work is “to keep them healthy the whole time they are out on tour,” she said. “They are playing roughly a game every day for six months. There is a lot of over-use stuff that I have to help them manage: muscle strains, tendonitis—and you do get some acute injuries, because in spite of what people think, they are actually playing.”

Emily Kidd’s family and a friend pose with some Globetrotters: father Bill Kidd, far left; friend Katie Myster; brother Will Kidd, Emily and mom Cari Kidd.

The Globetrotters began as a competitive team in 1927, but now are known for their on-court antics and highly skilled tricks during exposition games with their regular opponent, the Washington Generals. The Generals are owned by the same company that owns the Globetrotters, Herschend Family Entertainment.

“They are great showmen and they are so funny,” Kidd said. “That’s a big part of being a Harlem Globetrotter, but they never actually get enough credit for being phenomenal athletes. They can really play.”

Kidd enjoys the comedic part of each show and has a few small roles to play during each game, including helping with props and preparing the team jersey that is given away to a child in the audience during each half-time. “If I could be a bigger part of the show, I would,” she said.

Kidd was working at an orthopedic urgent care clinic in Asheville, N.C., before she accepted the contract job with the Globetrotters last spring. She keeps a contract with the clinic to work there when she’s not traveling with the team, and she’s hoping to stay with the Globetrotters for some off-season games.

“I’d love to be year-round, full time,” she said. “It’s really fun to be a part of something so iconic. They just have the greatest mission: to spread joy and be happy and be positive.”

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University of Arkansas Recreation Employs an Athletic Trainer

Article reposted from University of Arkansas
Author: Damon Akin

This fall, University Recreation is once again expanding its services with the introduction of the UREC Sports Injury Clinic. Featuring a certified athletic trainer, the new service will offer open clinic hours to University Recreation members, as well as provide services to Club Sports teams and other student affiliated sports programs.

The UREC Sports Injury Clinic will offer free injury examinations, as well as opportunities for injury prevention, emergency care, and rehabilitation. No appointment will be necessary for the UREC Sports Injury Clinic. Individuals may simply drop in during the clinic’s operating hours, which will be held in HPER 320 from 5 to 8 p.m. on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

Avery Rotenberry, a licensed athletic trainer with athletic training certification, is University Recreation’s new graduate assistant for athletic training. Roteberry will oversee the day-to-day operations of the UREC Sports Injury Clinic. Rotenberry joins UREC following a one-year internship at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, where she was an athletic trainer for the men’s and women’s tennis teams.

“It is my belief that the clinic will serve as a valuable resource to the patrons of both UREC and the Club and Intramural Sports teams,” said Rotenberry. “The clinic will serve to educate people on the common injuries that they might sustain while recreating, and the proper steps and preemptive measures needed to prevent injury in the future.”

Prior to her time in Louisiana, Rotenberry attended the University of Southern Mississippi, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training in 2016. While at Southern Miss, Rotenberry participated in clinic rotations with varsity teams, physical therapists, an orthopedic office, and an emergency medical care service.

Rotenberry feels that the UREC Sports Injury Clinic highlights UREC’s desire to emphasize proper treatment of physical ailments while ensuring the health and safety of its patrons. Raised in Madison, Mississippi, Rotenberry became exposed to athletic training and its importance as a high school student. While playing high school volleyball, she sustained many different injuries, which required visiting the athletic trainer’s clinic to be taped before games and practices.

During these visits, athletic training piqued her interest and she soon began to spend her afternoons and weekends during the summer learning directly from the trainer. As an athletic trainer, it is Rotenberry’s passion to see people rehabilitated, and she enjoys helping people return to the activities that they love.

About the UREC Sports Injury Clinic: The UREC Sports Injury Clinic will offer open hours on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 5-8 p.m., in HPER 320, and is available at no cost to all students and UREC Members. Questions regarding the Sports Injury Clinic may be directed toward karotenb@uark.edu.

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Jeff Kawaguchi Serves as Athletic Trainer for USA Women’s National Basketball Team

Article reposted from Pacific University Oregon
Author: Tamarra Mellick

Dr. Jeff Kawaguchi spent the month of July as the athletic trainer with the U-19 USA Women’s National Basketball team, as they competed in the 2017 FIBA Women’s World Cup.  The journey began with 2 weeks of training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.  The actual event took place in Udine, Italy.  After going undefeated in the pre-tournament and pool play, the team qualified for the medal rounds.  Following hard fought wins over Puerto Rico, France and Japan, the US team competed in the gold medal game.  However, the team fell short of its ultimate goal – losing to Russia 86-84.  For their efforts, the team was awarded the silver medal.  This was the fourth such event that Dr. Kawaguchi has been a part of.  Previously Dr. Kawaguchi served as the athletic trainer for the USA Women’s National Team for the 2001 World University Games (Beijing, China), the 2007 U-19 World Championships (Bratislava, Slovakia) and the 2012 U-17 World Championships (Amsterdam, Netherlands).

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Athletic Therapist Jeff Thorburn is off to Olympics

Article reposted from castanet
Author: Wayne Moore

Kelowna’s Jeff Thorburn has been given the opportunity of a lifetime.

Thorburn, the head athletic therapist at UBC Okanagan, has been named one of two athletic therapists who will accompany the Canadian men’s hockey team at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

“It’s incredibly exciting,” said Thorburn, in a recent interview with Castanet News.

“I was a little surprised when I got the initial phone call.”

Thorburn did not apply for the job. He believes the contacts he made with Hockey Canada through events while he worked with the Kelowna Rockets helped him get noticed.

Hockey Canada called Thorburn about a month ago expressing interest in using his expertise at the Olympics.

He said they had to work out some details, including getting the necessary time off from UBCO for not only the Olympics themselves but pre-tournament evaluation camps and training camps.

With the NHL’s decision not to participate, players mainly playing in Europe will be asked to make up this year’s squad.

Those hopefuls, along with Thorburn, will be in Sochi and St. Petersburg, Russia for club tournaments later this month.

“That’s the first segment of the evaluation process for the players, and obviously it gets us working and gets our hands dirty right off the bat.”

Thorburn will be responsible for all aspects of injury care and prevention as well as physical preparations for practice and games.

“We do our best work trying to keep the players in the best shape possible.”

This will be Thorburn’s first trip to an Olympics in any capacity.

He’ll have a busy schedule but will try and make a point of taking in as much as possible.

“I hope to be able to take in some of the grandeur of the Olympics. It’s an amazing spectacle.”

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Athletic Trainer Samantha Carter Sees the World with USA Softball

Article reposted from Times Record
Author: Buck Ringgold 

A switch in majors during her college days has afforded Samantha Carter the chance to see the world.

Literally.

Carter, who hails from Monroe and attended high school at Howe, works as an assistant athletic trainer for Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. She’s also an athletic trainer for USA Softball, primarily working with the Junior Women’s National Training Team.

In her sports medicine duties, Carter has been to places like California, Florida and Massachusetts. Not to mention going overseas to Japan with USA Softball last summer.

Plus, it gives Carter the chance to continue to stay involved in sports, which has been a lifelong passion for her.

“Not being able to be an athlete (hurt) really bad, but it’s the same type of atmosphere because you really are part of the team,” Carter said. “Once you get a job, you’ve got (numerous) athletes to take care of. You work with them every day, you work with the coaches every day, you’re at every practice. … It was where I could still be a part of the team and have perks, and I felt like I could help people, so that’s kind of one of the main things I like about it.

“If someone is struggling or got injured or fell behind, my duty is to be there to help them get back. There’s a lot of physical stuff but also I’ve learned a lot of mental stuff.”

Part of Carter’s inspiration for working with athletes stems from back surgery she had while attending Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, which kept her from doing anything active for 18 months.

“That’s kind of where I based it off of,” she said. “I was out for 18 months and I felt like that was so long. … It helped me feel what they (injured athletes) are feeling, I can get on the same level, like I understand what they’re going through, what they’re thinking, what they’re afraid to hear, when they expect to return.”

Before attending NSU, where she graduated with a degree in kinesiology, Carter – who played basketball and softball at Howe and was a member of the Lady Lions’ 2008 state championship basketball squad – went to Carl Albert State College in Poteau to play basketball. She was also originally a pre-med major.

But while at CASC, Carter got to observe the head athletic trainer there, Kendal Repass, and started to gain an interest in sports medicine.

“I always kind of thought what he did was interesting, but I never knew much about it,” Carter said. “My goal was pre-med and then when I was a sophomore, I wasn’t really interested (in pre-med) after that, and then my junior year, I actually had back surgery and I had to do a ton of rehab.

“It was tough because I couldn’t (play) sports anymore, I couldn’t do anything for 18 months, and so I was looking into how I could still be involved in sports even though I couldn’t play it. Then I started looking at what Kendal did, his job and I decided that’s what I wanted to do.”

After graduating from NSU, Carter began applying for postgraduate master’s degree programs in sports medicine. She sent applications to five different schools.

The second school who called Carter back was the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, which offered her the chance to attend.

It didn’t take Carter long to say yes.

Then at UCO, she caught a couple more good breaks in her goal to work with athletes.

“When I was in grad school at UCO, we had to deal with patients at a (area) high school and a university, and the high school I worked at was Oklahoma Christian School (also in Edmond), and the team doctor that that school uses also happens to be the team doctor for USA (Softball),” Carter said. “While I was there, I followed him for observations.”

After graduating from UCO in 2015, Carter took a job as an athletic trainer at the University of California-San Diego. It wasn’t a full-time position, and she was working on a one-year contract.

“It was tough to leave the weather and the beach (in San Diego), but it is so expensive to live there, and since it wasn’t a full-time position, it was rough,” Carter said. “Budgeting is one of my expertise now. I had not only that job but I also picked up several other jobs along the side just to kind of help, but it was definitely a learning experience for like real life and then for my profession also.”

When Carter worked at Oklahoma Christian School, she became friends with the athletic trainer there. While living in San Diego, she heard from him about a possible job opportunity back in Oklahoma.

“So last spring, he e-mailed me and was like, ‘Hey, are you going to be available this summer?’” Carter said. “I was like, ‘OK, what is the job?’ That’s when he told me it was USA Softball. So I dropped everything and I moved back to Oklahoma.”

Carter came back to Oklahoma in May of 2016 to work with USA Softball. She’s been pretty much on the go ever since.

Last summer, she went with the team to tournaments in Texas and Florida. Carter even spent a week with the team in Japan, and even got to reunite with her younger brother Danny, who was stationed there while with the United States Air Force.

“The week we played, he came up to our games and it was the first time I saw him since he left the States,” Samantha Carter said. “He was able to come watch some games and even stay in the dugout with the team.”

This summer, Carter has taken part in the recent World Cup of Softball in Oklahoma City. She will leave for Florida today in preparation for an international tournament.

″(By traveling) I meet some of the greatest softball players in the country,” Carter said. “On the junior team right now, we have some girls that are 16 years old, they’re sophomores in high school and they’re playing for USA Softball. You just meet some of the best athletes around and then you get to travel all over.”

With softball being reinstated as a sport for the next Summer Olympics, to be held in 2020 at Tokyo, Japan, does that give Carter a chance to possibly go over there with Team USA? Carter said she’s not sure, as currently there’s a trainer who works with the USA Softball national squad.

“We’ve talked about possibly going (to the Olympics),” Carter said. “Nothing’s set in stone, I have no idea what could happen. … I have talked to the team doctor and the directors and how they’re going to need coverage, so between me and the other girl, maybe one of us, maybe both of us. We’re just waiting until it gets closer before we start making decisions, so I really don’t have an answer for that.”

Later this summer, though, Carter will get to leave the country once more. She will go to Argentina as Midwestern State’s volleyball team will be playing in an international competition.

Carter, who started at MSU in August of 2016, primarily works with the volleyball and softball teams at the school, while also teaching two courses in the school’s College of Health Sciences and Human Services.

Although Carter’s duties keep her extremely busy, she said she does find it very rewarding to be able to help injured athletes return to action.

“Whenever you get somebody back to playing after something has happened, it’s just overfilling with joy to watch them get back on the court or on the field and play like they did before they got injured,” Carter said. “A lot of times, you don’t hear ‘thank you’ a lot from athletes or coaches or administrators in our profession, but there’s always that one that really appreciates what you do and then goes out of their way to let you know how much they appreciate how you helped them, how you guided them, how you brought them back safely. … I think literally my favorite part is watching someone come back and playing back to 100 percent after an injury.”

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Mary Lalancette enjoys time working with Team Canada basketball

Article reposted from Herald Sports
Author: JOSÉ COLORADO

After 11 years of schooling behind her and countless examinations and preparatory sessions, Mary Lalancette was able to find a perfect landing spot for her talenets.

Graduating from Dalhousie University in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science, Kinesiology and Exercise Science, the 29-year-old quickly vaulted into a career as an athletic therapist post-graduation.

In 2011, she caught the eye of Canada Basketball’s brass and started working as an intern. Since then she’s been involved with the senior men’s national team, development team and cadet and junior rosters.

That marriage has allowed Lalancette to travel to the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Spain, Uruguay and the United Arab Emirates for various international events. Most recently Lalancette was in Formosa, Argentina, for the under-16 (U16) FIBA Americas Championships in mid-June.

Canada came away with the silver medal; losing to the U.S. in a surprisingly lopsided 111-60 final. But in the process the team did qualify for the 2018 U17 Basketball World Cup.

For Lalancette, it was her second time gracing Argentinian soil through the organization.

“I was actually just speaking about this with someone the other day. I get the chance to see different countries and often times we’re going to places you usually wouldn’t be travelling to as a tourist,” said Lalancette, speaking from Toronto, Ont., a few days after landing on home soil.

“It’s made for some interesting encounters. I’ve met some very interesting people but having the opportunity to see the world by doing something that I love to do is an added bonus.”

In September, Lalancette starts year four of her five-year program to become an osteopathic manual practitioner at the Canadian College of Osteopathy in Toronto.

As simply put as possible, the Prospect Bay native described her profession as “looking at how everything in the body operates and how it works together to encourage healing and functionality.”

She’s also a certified massage and athletic therapist but she knows her eventual path.

“After my kinesiology degree at Dal, I went to Sheridan College to study athletic therapy. I was introduced to some great (professors) and different people,” she said. “I knew I was going to go towards the osteopathy route when I was done with athletic therapy.”

That time, however, seems far from now.

With seven years and counting of experience with Canada Basketball, Lalancette, who also played competitive soccer and volleyball, has been named the lead therapist for the program’s youth development men’s programs.

Her current education is flexible enough that she is able to attend many of the summer events without a hitch.

“I work with Canada Basketball year-round but most of the international events come in the summertime. It’s no problem. I’m also working another full-time job.”

Joining the former Tiger on the recent Argentina trip was long-time St.F.X. bench boss Steve Konchalski, who has become a regular with the national team program.

The 40-plus year bench boss acted as a mentor coach to the club, and with Lalancette, the duo made up the lone Bluenosers to make the trip.

And with Canada Basketball’s recent upswing in play (currently ranked third in world youth men’s rankings) and seemingly only getting stronger, many more trips could be in the works.

“Normally, we get some time to sight-see but there wasn’t a lot of time this time around,” she said. “It was more back and forth to the gym, which is also fine . . . I’ll continue this until someone tells me not to anymore. I love it.”

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Golden Gopher Selected for US Volleyball Team

Article reposted from University of Minnesota
Author: University of Minnesota

Ronni Beatty-Kollasch has been named the athletic trainer for the United States’ team that is set to compete at the 2017 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U20 World Championships. The event will be held July 14-23, in Boca del Rio and Cordoba, Mexico.

A total of 16 teams will compete at the event, including the United States, which qualified for the tournament after the Women’s U20 Pan American Cup earlier this year. This is the first international event Beatty-Kollasch has been named an athletic trainer for a Team USA championship. Beatty-Kollasch previously volunteered at the USA Women’s Open Tryouts and the Collegiate High Performance team the past two years.

Beatty-Kollasch has been with the University of Minnesota for 13 years and has been a certified athletic trainer for 17 years. She earned her undergraduate degree in 1999 from the University of Minnesota and was a student athletic trainer in an internship program with then the Gopher men’s athletics from 1997 — 1999 prior to her certification. She went on to be a graduate assistant athletic trainer at Auburn University where she worked under the Hughston Clinic/ Kenny Howard Athletic Training Fellowship. Beatty-Kollasch earned her master’s of education degree in 2001 and started her athletic training career working at the University of Wyoming with volleyball, wrestling, and swimming & diving. After her departure from Wyoming in 2004, she worked in Louisville, Ky. for the Kentucky Orthopedic Rehab Team for one year prior to initiating her time at the University of Minnesota.