The athletic training staff and faculty are an essential component of the athletic community. The staff and faculty are comprised of five members: Assistant Athletic Director of Sports Medicine Larry Starr, along with Head Athletic Trainers Jason Palmateer, Zevon Stubblefield, Dustin Gatens and Amy Reckard. Each member is equipped with the experience and qualifications to provide evaluation, treatment, rehabilitation and injury prevention techniques to NSU’s student-athletes.
“The purpose of the athletic training staff and the entire sports medicine team at NSU is to give the student-athletes the gold standard in terms of total healthcare,” said Gatens.
The focus of each athletic trainer is to keep the student-athletes in competition and out of the state-of-the-art athletic training facility.
“A lot of athletes think our job is to keep them off the field, but it’s the exact opposite, it’s to keep them on the field and playing as often and as well as they possibly can,” said Gatens.
The Athletic Training facility is located in the Don Taft University Center. It is fully equipped with amenities such as 2,500 square-foot athletic training suite, state of the art electrical modalities for rehabilitation and treatment, a physical examination room and the only hydrotherapy area with a HydroWorx 2000 aquatic rehabilitation pool in South Florida.
However, it is not just the state of the art facility that makes the athletic training room an ideal working environment.
“It’s the people, it’s the staff and the athletes here that are the reason why I am going on my fifth year at NSU,” said Stubblefield.
As head athletic trainer of both men’s soccer and women’s rowing, Stubblefield looks back on his time at NSU with the fondest of memories.
“It has been really enjoyable working here for the last four years,” said Stubblefield. “Working with people I really enjoy working with is what makes my job fun.”
