University of Virginia's College at Wise Athletics issued the following announcement on Oct. 12
Last month, head athletic trainer Dana Sibrel and women's assistant basketball coach Molly Land traveled to Orlando, Fla. with four student-athletes to attend the Athletic Prevention Programming and Leadership Education (APPLE) training institute seminar, which provides coaches and student-athletes with tools and ideas to promote student-wellness and to prevent athlete substance abuse.
Ben Bryson (MBB), Tamiyia Bynum (LAX), Leah Kestner (WBB), and Zach Owens (CC/MBB) were the four student-athletes who attended the seminar to represent UVA Wise. These students, along with students from multiple different Division-II institutions, were trained with the APPLE Model — a diagram that displays the many components of encouraging student-athlete wellness that should be enforced by an athletic department. The seven "slices" of the apple include recruitment, expectations and attitudes, policies, education, drug testing, sanctioning, and counseling and referral.
The APPLE Training Institute was created by the Gordie Center at the University of Virginia that focuses on ending hazing and substance abuse among high school and college students. The Gordie Center was developed in memory of Lynn Gordon Bailey Jr. who died from substance abuse encouraged by his fraternity's pledging process.
Sibrel was thoroughly impressed by the APPLE training. "the opportunity to go to the APPLE Institute gave our team the chance to address different challenges that are on our campus, as well as within the athletic department," said Sibrel. "It was also insightful to hear our student-athletes speak on different topics that they see as challenges and then provide examples of solutions for those challenges. I can't wait to start implementing pieces of our action plan."
"The interaction, feedback, and ideas from Leah [Kestner], Ben [Bryson], Zach [Owens], and Tamiyia [Bynum] made the trip worthwhile," Land added. "We were able to gain valuable perspective on their experience as students at UVA Wise because of the attitudes and authenticity they brought on the trip. Together we made an action plan for education and prevention on drug and alcohol misuse that we hope will address the concerns of our student-athletes in a manner that works for and with them."
Each school attendee was given a "campus toolkit" that provided a framework to instill a positive and healthy environment for student-athletes and ways to bring "APPLE back home" to their respective campuses.
Sibrel ended by stating, "I truly cannot wait to start implementing pieces of our action plan, and make a difference for student-athletes on our campus."
To learn more about the APPLE Training Institute and the Gordie Center at the University of Virginia, visit https://apple.studenthealth.virginia.edu/index.
Original source can be found here.
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