With the start of the academic year comes the start of fall sports. Over the course of the past few weeks, fall sports on campus have been a great success, thanks in part to a new addition to the athletics department: Erik Ackerman. Mr. Ackerman joins the community as an assistant athletic trainer and will be a great resource for student-athletes throughout the year!
Mr. Ackerman comes to KO after spending the past 10 years at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., where he gained high-level athletic training experience working with collegiate athletes. He’s really looking forward to being able to bring that kind of experience into the athletic department to help student-athletes at KO. “I can help prepare you guys as youngsters,” he said. “I can help you get ready to go to that level and give you the heads up on what you can expect from college athletics.”
Before becoming an athletic trainer, Mr. Ackerman was an athlete himself. He played baseball at the Community College of Rhode Island for two years before transferring to Central Connecticut State University. Here, he met our Head Athletic trainer Julie Richardson, and the two have been friends since. Mr. Ackerman became interested in athletic training after suffering a shoulder injury and spending many hours in the training room.
So far, Mr. Ackerman has worked with fall teams such as football and soccer and is excited to have a very competitive fall season and getting to know more teams as the year goes on. “Everyone has been wonderful to work with thus far and I’m really looking forward to watching all the games and working with everybody here at KO,” he said.
Outside of athletic training, Mr. Ackerman enjoys staying active by hiking on trails throughout the region, such as the Appalachian Trail, and by sawmilling (cutting his own lumber).
We’re so excited to welcome Mr. Ackerman to the KO community and can’t wait to see all the great things he’ll bring to athletics here at KO!
