SPARTA, Mich. – Clarion assistant athletic trainer Mike Chesterfield was honored as one of the best in his profession earlier this month, earning Training and Conditioning's 2022 Most Valuable Collegiate Athletic Trainer of the Year award. He is the first-ever recipient of the magazine's award.
 
A 2006 graduate of Clarion and Cal U, Chesterfield has served as an athletic trainer at Clarion since the start of the 2010-11 school year.  He also earned his master's degree at North Carolina State in 2009, where he was a graduate assistant athletic trainer.
 
"When it comes to promotion of the profession, ethical practice and education, and a commitment to the community, I don't know if there is a man I know that satisfies the criteria more so than Mike Chesterfield," said Clarion head athletic trainer Jim Thornton, in an interview with Wesley Sykes.
 
A former student-athlete on the Golden Eagle men's swimming & diving team, Chesterfield was introduced to athletic training after suffering an injury during his collegiate career. His innate desire to help others – borne in large part because of the influence of his father and paternal grandfather, both firefighters – drove him not just to the field of athletic training, but also to follow in their footsteps as a firefighter himself.
 
"It all fell into place by constantly wanting to help people," Chesterfield told Sykes. "Whether it's been running on the field as an athletic trainer or responding to a call in an ambulance… it takes a certain type of person who will act and not react and run away from it. It's natural, I guess, for me."
 
In that same interview, Chesterfield credited a number of peers for mentoring him toward becoming a more effective athletic trainer, including Thornton as well as his own athletic training students.
 
"It's very beneficial to have those mentors in all walks of life, and it's not just [Thornton]," Chesterfield told Sykes. "Just because someone is a student of mine doesn't mean they can't teach me things too. I learn things from them just like they do from me. It boils down to a willingness to regularly learn and observe."
 
Chesterfield serves the greater community as well, serving in the local firehouse for the last 11 years and earning the title of assistant fire chief. In part because of his efforts, the Clarion fire department has nearly doubled in size and has raised funds to purchase new equipment and better serve the area.
 
"By no means am I a coach, but I do love the recruiting process in the fire department," Chesterfield told Sykes.
 
This story references "Running Towards the Problem: Clarion University's Michael Chesterfield Wins the 2022 Most Valuable Collegiate Athletic Trainer of the Year" by Wesley Sykes (Training and Conditioning, June/July 2022)