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West Texas A&M (WT) and Texas A&M International (TAMIU) have been recognized by their colleagues as the 2023-24 Lone Star Conference (LSC) Athletic Training Staffs of the Year, the conference announced earlier this week.
This marks the 20th year the LSC awards have been presented, with WT winning for a football-playing institution and TAMIU taking the honor for a non-football institution. Notably, both athletic training staffs are first-time recipients of the prestigious conference recognition.
WT's athletic training services are led by Director of Sports Medicine Luke Kasper. During the 2023-24 academic year, Kasper was assisted by a dedicated team comprising Jaclyn Wood, Dr. Erin Anderson, Ronald Ting, Austin Feltner, and Jacob Dotseth. Together, they provided exceptional care to the Buffs' 14 varsity athletic programs.
TAMIU's athletic training operations are spearheaded by Head Athletic Trainer Kayla Zambanini. Zambanini, along with her assistant Sarai Costa, managed the health and wellness of athletes across the Dustdevils' 11 varsity sport programs.
Reflecting on their accomplishment, Zambanini expressed pride in her team's efforts:
"Sarai and I have dedicated everything we have to making our training room a great place for our athletes to be taken care of. We talked over the last two years about having a goal to not only make sure our athletes got everything they needed, but that athletic trainers coming from other schools had what they needed, as well as teams that were unable to bring an Athletic Trainer were able to get taken care of as well."
Despite a small staff, Zambanini highlighted the contributions of their student Athletic Trainers:
"Even though we have a small staff, we have extremely hardworking and dedicated students that assist us. Sarai and I are both proud of how far our Student Athletic Trainers have come over the last year with being our right hands."
Zambanini acknowledged the hard work of students like Cassandra Pena, who graduated in the fall, and new recruits Isabella Camarillo, Estevan Barrientos, and Raquel Flores.
The LSC Athletic Training Staff of the Year awards aim to raise awareness of the athletic training profession.
The criteria for the award include hospitality toward visiting athletic trainers and teams, preparedness with supplies, equipment, and services, emergency situation readiness, and care for injured athletes from visiting teams.
The awards are determined by votes from the head Athletic Trainers of each member school.
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