CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The High Point University Sports Medicine staff, along with the other 10 athletic training staffs in the Big South Conference, received the conference’s Dr. Edward M. Singleton Leadership Award for their dedicated work during the challenging 2020-21 school year.
“On behalf of the High Point University Sports Medicine staff, I’d like to thank the Big South Conference for honoring us with the Singleton Leadership Award,” Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Medicine Joshua Geruso said. “Under President Nido Qubein and Athletic Director Dan Hauser‘s leadership, we were able to successfully manage the unprecedented circumstances this year with all the necessary resources to allow our student-athletes to compete in all sports. We are humbled to receive only the second such award in conference history and thank Commissioner Kyler Kallander and his staff for the distinction.”
The Singleton Leadership Award is named for the Big South’s first commissioner and is not given out annually. The purpose of the Singleton Leadership Award is to recognize a former Big South student-athlete or administrator that has exhibited exemplary leadership and character during their career. The Singleton Award Selection Committee waived its normal criteria for this year in light of the extraordinary dedication of Big South athletic trainers during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The Big South Athletic Training Staffs were critical in developing the conference’s return to play policies, COVID-19 procedures and protocols, and decisions in regards to conference championship operations amid the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to their regular sports medicine responsibilities, the athletic trainers administered countless COVID-19 tests to student-athletes and coaches and facilitated health and safety measures that allowed the Big South to conduct nearly all of its regular-season competition and championship events in a safe manner.
Members of the HPU Sports Medicine Staff for the 2020-21 school year included: Joshua Geruso, Steve Dischiavi, Tyler DePew, Shelbie Hackett, Liz Lefever, Cam Linsley, Katie Yakel, Lauren Frye, Chris Mauer, Emily Stein, and Angela Talaganis.
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