Ashley Arnold
Sports Editor
In March, 2006, Ebbighausen’s senior year of high school, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, taking away her ability to participate in sports.
“Knowing I was going into athletic training, it was nice because I knew I would still get to be around sports. Even though I can’t play, I can still be apart of the athletic world, which has always been a big part of my life growing up,” she said.
Ebbighausen said she attended Springfield College that fall, still undergoing treatment and chemotherapy. Her cancer was in remission of Oct. 2006.
After school at Springfeild, Ebbighausen worked as a solo athletic trainer at Clinton Community College in Plattsburgh, New York from 2012 until 2015.
After that, Ebbighausen moved back home and worked at her old high school in Hinsdale, NH from 2015 until spring of 2018.
She said this was the first time Hinsdale Middle High School had an Athletic Trainer.
“At Hinsdale, I created all the policies on my own. I created everything by scratch. Nothing was in place. No emergency exit plans, no concussion return to play protocols, no referral processes. Anything like that, I created it all on my own,” she said.
According to Ebbighausen, working in the KSC Athletics Department is a big step in her career.
“I was a little nervous to apply for this job. It’s a lot bigger than what I’m used to. Coming to a big Division III school, with a great Athletics Program is definitely a huge step for me,” she added.
With the addition of three other Athletic Trainers, Ebbighausen said she enjoys working with a team of co-workers.
This is the first time Ebbighausen has worked with an athletic training staff. “The last two jobs that I had in the past 6 years, I’ve been the only Athletic Trainer. I know that if I have something that I’m questioning, I can bounce ideas off of them,” she said. “It’s really nice to be in that environment.”
Prior to applying for the position, Ebbighausen covered KSC basketball camps in the summer and AAU basketball tournaments in the winter.
She was working at a basketball tournament last spring when she found out about the position.
Ebbighausen said that Head Coach of the KSC Basketball team Ryan Cain and Associative Head Coach David Hastings encouraged her to apply for the position.
“I got to know some of the staff and the players and I knew that this department was a very small, close-knit department. It seemed that the coaches and the players that I was working with really appreciated the athletic training staff and valued what we do as a profession,” she said.
“The coaches and the students really want to take care of themselves and are willing to allow us to help them.”
Head Athletic Trainer Deborah Wood, described Ebbighausen transition into the KSC athletics program as “nothing short of amazing.”
“She has not only met our expectations but has exceeded them. She’s been a very, very, quick learner. She’s picked up on everything. She has fit right in and has established her role with the teams and not waited to feel things out. She really just came in and set her path,” Wood said.
Wood said Ebbighausen replaced her as one of KSC’s Assistant Athletic Trainers.
Wood was promoted to Head Athletic Trainer when Bob Merrow retired in May 2018 after 32 years at Keene State.
According to Wood, Ebbighausen’s prior work at Clinton and Hinsdale have prepared her for the role as Keene State’s newest Assistant Athletic Trainer.
“Her history of being an only athletic trainer, I think is what makes her so strong here because she has started programs from nothing and turned them into something. She’s just has a very global view of things, as opposed to just focusing on the athlete care. She knows all the little things,” Wood added.
Ashley Arnold can be contacted at
aarnold@kscequinox.com
