RICHARDSON, Texas – Bestowing a great honor as the top American Southwest Conference Athletic Training Staff of the Year, East Texas Baptist University was selected as the winners for the 2022-23 season. It is the fourth time that ETBU has won the award since 2004-05 and the third time under head athletic trainer Marcus Holliday. The Athletic Training Staff of the Year Award recognizes league member staffs that are judged by their peers to provide a high level of service and professionalism to the student-athletes, their school and the conference.
 
ETBU received the honor in 2018-19, 2015-16, and 2005-06 (East Division). Holiday's staff is made up of six staff members: Marcus Holliday, Ashley Grogan, Michael VanGilder, Kerri Bieschke, Rebecca Wilson, and Katie Buhnerkempe.
 
Holliday is in his eighth year as the head athletic trainer and spent 13 years in the ETBU athletic training department. He is a veteran of the profession that has had the chance to cover all levels of athletic training and spent this past year being the full-time trainer for football and baseball. He has his degree from Presbyterian College and earned a graduate degree from Furman University. Organizations he has worked with/volunteered for have been the US Soccer Federation, IMG International Performance Institute, NFL Combine, NBA Draft, and MLB Spring Training being able to travel all over the world covering soccer and for the US Soccer Federation and the 2008 US Men's Olympic Soccer Team.
 
Grogan is an assistant athletic trainer that has completed six years at ETBU and was helping cover volleyball, acrobatics and tumbling. She has earned both of her degrees from ETBU and worked in the high school setting Beaumont, Texas.
 
VanGilder is an associate athletic trainer that has completed seven years at ETBU and was promoted to his current role in 2019. He covered men's basketball, beach volleyball, and both tennis programs. He earned his undergraduate degree from Baldwin Wallace and a Master's Degree from ETBU. This past spring, he traveled with the men's soccer team to Spain for the TAME mission trip.
 
Bieschke is an associate athletic trainer that has completed four years at ETBU and covered men's soccer, softball, men's and women's golf.  The former Tiger volleyball player earned her undergraduate degree from ETBU and a Master's Degree at Lamar University. Along with those two degrees, she received her ICTA cupping therapy certification in 2016 and dry needling certification in 2018. She came to ETBU after four years at Texas Dallas.
 
Wilson is an assistant athletic trainer that has completed two years at ETBU covering both hockey programs, men's lacrosse, and both cross country programs. She earned both her undergraduate and Master's Degree from Indiana State University and has a Graston M1 Tech certification.
 
Buhnerkempe is an assistant athletic trainer that completed her first year at ETBU and covered women's soccer and women's basketball. She is a graduate of Concordia University (Irvine) and has a Master's Degree from California Baptist University. She did a residence in sports medicine at Virginia Tech and also spent time at Wayland Baptist University.
 
"Congratulations to Marcus Holliday and the entire ETBU Athletic Training Staff on a very deserving award and honor," Vice President for Student Engagement and Athletic Director Ryan Erwin said. "The ETBU Athletic Training Staff, under the leadership of Marcus, exhibits servant leadership day in and day out, while continually serving and caring for our student-athletes.  Their tireless work ethic and dedication to the health and well-being of over 650 Tiger student-athletes, plays a critical role in the success of our athletic programs at ETBU. In addition, Marcus, Kerri, Katie, Michael, Rebecca, and Ashley are vital to the ETBU Athletic Department and our ability to host events throughout the year, as well as ASC and NCAA post-season tournaments, while providing quality athletic training coverage for visiting teams and student-athletes."
 
These individuals are responsible to ensure the student-athletes are taken care of during the regular and post season traveling with their assigned teams. In addition, they help coordinate with visiting team's athletic training staff and are also available for service if a team was unable to travel a trainer. ETBU hosted the ASC Men's Golf Championship, ASC Baseball Championship, NCAA Division III Baseball Regional, NCAA Division III Softball Regional, NCAA Division III Baseball Super Regional, and NCAA Division III Softball Championship this past year.