May 11, 2016

SEATA Backbone Award and Sue Gunter Award

Congratulations to Micki Collins for receiving the SEATA Backbone Award and the Sue Gunter Award! Micki Collins is currently the Athletic Trainer for the LSU Women's Basketball team. She is a very hardworking Athletic Trainer and has put forth great effort as an Athletic Trainer at LSU. The SEATA Backbone Award is designed to reward the assistant athletic trainer that has played a major role as backbone to the Head Athletic Trainer, doing everything that is needed in the athletic training room to keep things running smoothly. The Sue Gunter Award was awarded by the LSU Women's Basketball team to recognize Micki for her hard work she has done in the past, especially this year with all the injuries they had. When asking Micki how she felt about receiving the awards she said, "It was a definite honor to receive both the SEATA Backbone Award and the Sue Gunter Award. Nobody gets into athletic training for accolades, but it sure feels nice to be appreciated. It was a very nice honor to be awarded these from my colleagues, peers, and athletes." Again, congratulations Micki we are lucky to have you as part of our team!

Be The Match Drive

The Be the Match program is the national marrow donor registry for the United States. The goal is to find matches for patients who have been diagnosed with any type of blood cancer or disease with no other chance of survival. Most of the time if someone is matched it will be a stem cell donation which is done by a blood donation. The only time it is a bone marrow donation is if a person matches with a baby or young child. Alpha Tau Sigma, the LSU Athletic Training Student organization, worked with Be the Match in a four day drive on LSU's campus to try to find people to be part of this registry. This drive was for a competition against other SEC Athletic Training programs to see who could get the most new members on the registry by the end of the semester. Georgia Dewey, a 2nd year LSU Athletic Training Student said, "Through Alpha Tau Sigma's efforts, 488 people were added to the national bone marrow registry this semester. Everyone really came together for the 4 day drive in Free Speech Alley. Almost every member came out and worked for at least one shift. We were thrilled at the success that we had." In the end, LSU tied with South Carolina for 1st in the drive. Congratulations to the LSU Athletic Training Program!

2016 Spring Football Game

The annual LSU Football Spring Game was held on April 16, 2016. This year the Purple team defeated the White team holding them to only 24 points. Although earlier in the day the weather was a little dark and rainy, it cleared up and the rain held off for the duration of the game. There was a great turn out as fans gathered to watch the Tigers take the field for the last time until the fall season that they are long awaiting. Without a doubt the preparation and maintenance of keeping these athletes healthy through this season was no small task. We would like to commend the Athletic Training Staff and Students on their hard work and dedication throughout the 2015 football season and their continued work throughout the spring. With only a few short months left until the arrival of the fall season, the anticipation of Saturday Nights in Tiger Stadium are right around the corner! We appreciate all of the time and hard work that the staff and athletes have put in to making this upcoming season something you won't want to miss!

March Student of the Month

Congratulations to Elizabeth Knowles on being awarded as the March 2016 Athletic Training Student of the Month! Elizabeth is a first year in the athletic training program and is currently working with Track and Field. She has shown growth and excellence inside of the athletic training room and has an extremely bright future ahead of her. Head Track and Field Athletic Trainer and Preceptor, Derek Calvert said, "Elizabeth has done a great job this year. She has been a hard worker and shows great initiative to learn. She has shown great promise as she finishes up her first year and the sky is the limit for her potential." We would like to extend our best wishes and encouragement for her as she continues through the athletic training program. Once again, congratulations Elizabeth, keep up the good work!