Being in charge of a jam-packed room filled with sweaty athletes and their painful injuries keeps these new athletic trainers very busy.

Despite a sad farewell to last year’s athletic trainers, Courtney Fauquet and Kemba Ford, WS extended a warm welcome to Shannon Scarbeau and Eric Stanford to the Athletic Training Program.

These two Certified Athletic Trainers (ATCs) love working with high school athletes and helping them recover from injuries. Their only goal is to get them back on their feet so they can enjoy the game they love again. Both are enjoying their time here as they gradually become acclimated to the athletes and staff.

“The teams I work with become family and I love each and every minute I get to work with them,” said Scarbeau. “I already feel like West Springfield is home.”

With his interest in sports medicine and love for football and baseball, Stanford knew since his freshman year in high school that he wanted to be an athletic trainer.

He graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi, and continued his education at the University of Colorado as a graduate assistant. Stanford was finally able to become an ATC during the summer of 2007.

Scarbeau was also an athlete in high school, involved in basketball. Fascinated by the human body and an enthusiastic sports lover, Scarbeau was excited to pursue a career that would allow her to combine the two interests.

She attended Florida Southern College, where she was given the opportunity to work with some of the best athletic trainers in the country, and became an ATC in the summer of 2009.

Prior to becoming a Spartan, Stanford worked at Southeastern Sports Medicine with some of Western North Carolina’s top orthopedic surgeons. However, he soon realized that he missed being in the high school setting and interacting with young athletes, so he gladly accepted the position as head athletic trainer at WS.

“Simply put, I love my job,” said Stanford. “I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else.”

Before coming to WS, Scarbeau was employed with a company through Walt Disney World that allowed her to work with the characters and performers. She also completed an internship at the Kennedy Space Center with RehabWorks. Like Stanford, Scarbeau missed athletics and the high school environment, so she made the change and began her career as a Spartan trainer.

The new ATCs agree that Fairfax County has a great set of policies and procedures regarding athletics and protection of their student-athletes.

“It is arguably the best model for high school athletic training in the country,” said Stanford.

Stanford and Scarbeau work hard to improve the general wellness of their athletes, but also try to give them skilled advice in all aspects of sports.

“Have fun!” said Scarbeau. “This is high school athletics and it may be the only time in your life that you will play a sport, so enjoy it and have fun.”