2017 Drug Free Sport Continuing Education Award (Certified Athletic Trainers)

By Gene Willis, Director of Marketing

As a part of our overall service of the student-athlete communities, we work daily with certified athletic trainers from around the country. We hear about the challenges that they face with their around-the-clock schedules, putting their athletes first and working to grow in their chosen professions. They’re trusted with the most intimate details of a student-athlete’s life, along with their overall health and recovery. It’s far more than the taping and health care management. These men and women are on the front lines of sharing information about drug abuse, dietary supplement information and overall well-being.

It’s for these reasons that Drug Free Sport created a Continuing Education Award,  specific to certified athletic trainers working in high schools and collegiate communities. In the past five years, Drug Free Sport has awarded more than $23,000 to talented health care professionals. Here’s a few of our recent winners:

To apply for the Drug Free Sport Continuing Education Award,visit the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation’s application site. 

All applications must be completed by Friday, March 31, 2017. Awards, at a minimum of $1,000 each, will be announced by the week of May 1, made payable to the employing educational institution or non-for-profit entity and the certified athletic trainer.

If you have questions, please contact Gene Willis, Director of Marketing, at Drug Free Sport (gwillis@drugfreesport.com). 

Drug Free Sport's Continuing Education Awards Celebrate Athletic Trainers in National Athletic Training Month!

March brings about many things in the athletics world – spring, “Madness” in college basketball, the start of baseball – but it is also important for the unsung heroes behind these feats. This month is National Athletic Training Month, a time where many athletes across America have taken to showing appreciation for the men and women that keep them on the fields and courts of the sports world.

Drug Free Sport is proud to acknowledge these valuable contributors. Along with their day-to-day duties that often make for long hours, they are also on the front lines of drug abuse prevention and drug education for student-athletes. Frankly, their contributions go relatively unnoticed to many when the winning shot or touchdown is scored or when an athlete is being interviewed for recovering from an injury beyond expectations. They spend most days devoted to the greater good of others. We would like to devote a special honor upon them, to better their careers and experience.

Since 2013, Drug Free Sport has awarded more than $20,000 to high school and college athletic trainers who are working in drug use deterrence. This year, in honor of National Athletic Training Month, we have extended our submission deadline for the 2016 Drug Free Sport Fund Continuing Education Awards to May 1. Awards can be used toward continuing education opportunities, including the “Sport Exchange Summit, Powered by Drug Free Sport” in July. If you would like to be considered or know of an AT that is deserving of one of these awards, please review our qualifications and the application process on the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation website. Multiple awards (at a minimum of $1,000 per non-renewable award) will be granted, depending on the number and quality of applicants.

Thanks to all athletic trainers for the important work that is being done to educate athletes on the perils of drug abuse.

For additional questions about the award or application process, please feel free to contact Gene Willis, Director of Marketing, at gwillis@drugfreesport.com.