Spring Branch ISD Featured News

 

 

Spring Branch ISD Lead Athletic Trainer Tyra Harrell was awarded the 2019 Bobby Gunn Athletic Trainer for the Year at the Greater Houston Football Coaches Association Awards Banquet on May 5.

“I’m so honored to receive this award,” said Harrell.  

“Athletic training is mainly a ‘behind the scenes’ profession, one which many people aren’t really aware of, but it’s a vital part of any athletic program. This award means that even though we think we aren’t being seen, we are.”

Harrell, who also serves as head athletic trainer at Spring Woods High School, was nominated for her leadership and her strong, positive influence on athletes she serves and the students who are involved with the school’s student athletic trainers corps called SWAT (Spring Woods Athletic Trainers).

“Our SWAT program is built around preparing our students for professional life,” said Harrell. “That doesn’t mean they all have to be athletic trainers, even though I think it’s the greatest job in the world!“

Ms. Harrell was instrumental in adding Sports Medicine coursework to the SBISD program of studies. She has been an advocate for helping students further their post-secondary educations and has raised scholarship funds targeted for first-generation scholars.

“I want them to find a purpose and a passion and be ready to make great strides toward those goals. This award brings attention to the program so people can see the service we provide, but also the hard work and dedication our students give to Spring Branch, to themselves, and to their futures.”

Click here to read a SWAT scholarship essay one of the SWAT students, Anyelin Ayala, wrote about the life lessons she learned while participating in the program.

Prior to her work at Spring Woods, Harrell was the Interim Head Athletic Trainer at Tuskegee University and Head Women’s Athletic Trainer at Texas Southern University. Both universities are her alma maters, where she earned degrees in Biology and Nutrition and Dietetics, respectively.

The last time an SBISD trainer was named the Bobby Gunn Athletic Trainer of the Year was in 2006 (Mark Phillips, Northbrook High School). The award is named after Bobby Gunn who was an athletic trainer at Brazosport High School in Freeport, Texas in the 1950s, and was the founding member of the Southwest Athletics Trainers’ Association. Read more here.

“I’m blessed to work with an incredible staff and administrators that support our vision in many ways,” said Harrell. “This award is as much for them as it is for me.”

Submitted by Becky Wuerth, SBISD Communications

Becky.wuerth@springbranchisd.com