June July 2024 - 8

Most Valuable Athletic Trainers of the Year
Her empathy is shown through her regular practice of
embodying Waynesburg's motto of " faith, learning, and
service. " She manages the institution's yearly " No Sew
Blanket Day " where they create blankets for Project
Linus. She has also engaged in school mission trips, the
most recent being a trip to Costa Rico to assist with the
construction of a house and a school classroom.
Name: Erin Leaver
HOMETOWN: Hampton Township, PA
OCCUPATION: Head Athletic Trainer,
Waynesburg University
EDUCATION: B.S., Athletic Training,
Anderson (IN) University; M.S., Athletic
Training, California University (PA)
Award, demonstrating that his efforts in his role have
created a positive and productive work environment that
champions healthy practices and behavior change.
" It costs somewhere around $100,000 to $180,000
to replace a soldier, " Howard said. " We also address
mindset, the spiritual domain, and all that stuff because
it's not just the physical ability that prevents soldiers
from being able to be compliant with programs. We
want to find out what the cause of the cause is, and then
hopefully fix that cause. "
The program he built in the FLARNG has become a
flagship program across the National Guard Bureau (NGB)
and now the new H2F Integrators for other states are
directed to him for best practices to ensure their success.
" He also developed multiple programs within the
state for soldier education including the historic first
Spiritual Readiness Domain Leaders Course, which
received accolades from NGB and focused on improving
help-seeking behaviors for Service Members who had
been exposed to trauma, " Connor Foy, a Florida H2F
Coordinator said. n
NAME: Jeremy Howard
HOMETOWN: Ft. Myers, FL
OCCUPATION: Holistic Health and
Fitness Integrator, Florida Army
National Guard
EDUCATION: A.A., Pre-Athletic Training,
Florida Gulf Coast University; B.S., Athletic
Training, Florida Gulf Coast University; M.S.,
Health Science in Athletic Training, University
of St. Augustine; Ed.D, Health Sciences,
University of St. Augustine.
NON-TRADITIONAL
Jeremy Howard's devotion to improving the Army's
overall health and fitness has earned him decorated
recognition. As Florida's Holistic Health & Fitness
Integrator and Chief of Training for the state's National
Guard, Howard is charged with serving more than
10,000 soldiers.
To date, his program has trained over 3,000 Service
Members from both the Air and Army National Guards,
the Coast Guard, and Active Duty Army. His efforts in
improving the health and fitness of the force have earned
the state two years running as the 5th healthiest National
Guard force of the 54, and the four states above the
Florida Air National Guard (FLARNG), none are close
in size to their force. Further, his efforts in improving
the health of the force resulted in the State earning
recognition from the American Heart Association (AHA)
as a Silver Award Recipient for the Workplace Well-Being
8 | Training & Conditioning | June/July 2024
June July 2024

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