Sports medicine an untapped area to generate donations
One area of athletics development that is often overlooked is athletic training and sports medicine. These are crucial areas to any athletics department as they help keep student-athletes healthy during their respective schedules and throughout the off-season. There are three main formats for collecting donations for the sports medicine and athletic training areas: adding to a current facility, including it in a new facility, or building its own facility.
Adding to a current facility is a great option for facilitating a smaller gift. Sam Houston State used this platform in accepting the donation of a new ultra sound machine for its athletic training facility. A former athletic trainer, Billy “Doc” Wilson, who worked in that role at Sam Houston State for 20 years, donated the ultra sound machine. Generating donations from former athletic trainers or sports medicine staff provide a new demographic to solicit for donations.
Syracuse University included brand new athletic training rooms when it built its state-of-the-art Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center. The athletic training rooms were an essential addition to the building plans to ensure the physical fitness and health of the basketball team. Along with the training rooms, the Melo Center includes a hydrotherapy room with top-of-the-line pools. Recognizing the benefits of athletic training is essential when building any new facility.
The University of North Carolina took a different route by building the Stallings-Evans Sports Medicine Center. The university is tripling the size of its current athletic training center with the facility. The center will serve the majority of UNC student-athletes while also housing the university’s exercise and sports science classes. The Rams Club is working with the university’s foundation to build the facility, using brick donations as a revenue generating effort for some of the final funds. Partnering with the university’s foundation is an upside of working on an athletic training and sports medicine center that include academic departments in those areas.