General 11/10/2021 2:31:00 PM Steve King, WSUAthletics.com Guest Contributor

FEATURE STORY: Important Additions to Sports Medicine

The following feature first appeared in the football game program on Nov. 6, 2021.

New is good. It's really good. It's excitingly good.

And so it is at Wayne State University with three recent key additions to the school's athletic training staff and their anticipation of working in a long-awaited state-of-the-art fieldhouse that promises to be a real game-changer for the school.

WSU has welcomed Associate Athletic Director/Head Athletic Trainer Lisa Erickson, Assistant Athletic Trainer Jenna Hirsch (women's basketball and men's and women's cross country and track) and Assistant Athletic Trainer (football, women's tennis, and women's golf) Don Moran, all of whom are thrilled to be here, Erickson and Hirsch for the first time and Moran because he has gotten a chance to return to a school, and an area, he truly loves.

"As a large academic institution with a partnership with the Henry Ford Health System, I was drawn to Wayne State and the resources available to the student-athletes," Erickson, who started in August, said via email of her decision to come to Wayne State. "WSU student-athletes have a lot of advantages at their disposal, and the services the sports medicine team provides are of the highest quality.

"Wayne State is deeply rooted, and has a great relationship with, the surrounding community. It has been great to see a loyal fan base at both home and away sporting events. WSU really is a part of downtown Detroit," and that has been a unique and positive experience to be a part of.

Erickson spent the previous four years at Madonna University in Livonia, Mich., including the final two seasons as head athletic trainer. She was the primary athletic trainer for the football program as well as the softball, competitive cheerleading, and competitive dance teams.

Prior to that, she worked with Orthopedic Rehab Specialists in Jackson, Mich., serving as the outreach athletic trainer for Jackson Northwest High School. She has also previously worked as an Athletic Trainer at Ashford University in Clinton, Iowa, and Adams State University in Alamosa, Colo.

Soon, along with everyone else, she will get to move into the new WSU fieldhouse, the crowning glory of -- the end game, the last piece of the puzzle in -- this two-decade complete makeover of the school's athletic facilities.

"The new fieldhouse is going to be a great addition to the sports medicine facilities," Erickson said. "The additional space and new equipment will aid in providing more effective care for all our athletes."

Erickson earned a bachelor's degree in Athletic Training from Michigan State University in 2011 and a master's degree in kinesiology from the University of Illinois. She spent time studying Traditional Chinese Medicine techniques at the National Taiwan Sports University in Guishan, Taoyuan, Taiwan.

Hirsch, a Mariette, Mich. native who began work here in September, came to Wayne State after spending the last three years at Saint Francis University, a small Division I school located in Loretto, Pa. She served as the head athletic trainer her final seven months there after 29 months as an assistant trainer.

"Taking the job at Wayne State was a tough decision, but ultimately, it was what I had been working towards the past few years," she said via email. "Though I loved working at Saint Francis, the demands there never allowed me time to come home and visit my family.

"During the beginning of the pandemic, I was able to spend a few months home with my family, including my two-year-old nephew. This time really allowed me to realize how much family time I had missed out on over the past eight years, and it was the driving factor for me to start looking for jobs closer to home.

"When I started the interview process at Wayne State, I discovered I had an opportunity to continue to work with a basketball program as well as a growing athletic department. After learning about the university and the direction it has been moving with the number of improvements to facilities, while also being closer to family as well as having a much better work-life balance, it was an easy decision.

"Even though I loved the Division 1 high-energy and high-demand atmosphere, I am so grateful every day that I made the decision to move back home and join the Wayne State University athletic training staff."

That's especially the case with the fact Hirsch gets to work in the new fieldhouse.

"With my sport assignment including the women's basketball team, I will be fortunate enough to spend a lot of time at the new arena," she said. "The arena is beautiful, and the facilities are top of the line. The athletic training room will be an awesome resource to the basketball teams. The cold tubs are the highlight of the facility and what the athletes are most looking forward to in the athletic training room. Previously, they only had the single-person cold tubs, but now with the new facility, these cold tubs can hold most of the team at once.

"We are really excited to get the athletic training and recovery rooms up and running in the new arena. I'm excited to have everything in one place to make things easier and more efficient for the athletes and staff."

Hirsch was a four-year member of the Youngstown State University women's basketball program and set the school record for games played with 125. She finished her career ranking 12th in program history with 318 assists and 18th with 118 career three-pointers made, while playing over 3,100 minutes.

She was voted to the Horizon League All-Freshman Team for the 2013-14 campaign and served as a team captain as a senior. She was a YSU Dean's List honoree as well as being named to the Horizon League Academic Honor Roll.

Hirsch earned a bachelor's degree in Kinesiology and Sport Science in 2016 from YSU and a master's degree in Athletic Training from the school two years later.

Moran is passionate about Wayne State, particularly, athletic training, and his hometown of Detroit. He loves being back after spending 2015-16 academic year doing an internship at the school "being mentored under skilled athletic trainers such as Mike Chan and Steve Domzalski," he explained via email.

Since then, he spent the 2018-19 academic year working with Henry Ford Health System as an athletic trainer, and prior to that, he was a graduate assistant at Syracuse University for two years (2016-18), where he worked with football, men's lacrosse, and men's rowing

Most recently, he was at Rice University from June 2019 until this past July, working primarily with the football program. In addition, he worked at the University of Michigan with the football and women's lacrosse teams from August 2018 until May '19.

But it is his time at WSU, and getting back to the school, that stirs the heart and soul of the graduate of Dearborn Divine Child High School, where he was a three-sport athlete.

"When I was called and given the opportunity to move back home to Detroit and work with the sports medicine team and athletic department that helped start my career, it was a no-brainer for me," said Moran, who graduated from Central Michigan with a Bachelor of Science degree in Athletic Training in 2015 and then earned a Master of Science in Exercise Physiology from Syracuse in 2018. "To have an opportunity to serve this department in a leadership-type role is a great honor.

"Along with being an athletic trainer, I am also a certified strength and conditioning specialist, which helps bridge the gap between sports medicine and sports performance with our outstanding strength staff.

Everything I have learned and have done since my internship here at Wayne State will help move the sports medicine department forward to continue providing the best medical care for our student-athletes.

"The city of Detroit and Wayne State mean a lot to me. To see how much the campus, the athletic department, and the city itself have improved in the past six years have given me much pride to call myself a Detroiter and to wear the 'W' on my chest when I go to work.

"It's great to be back home and representing the Wayne State Warriors again!"

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