After a chaotic year in which Alan Hill served as the athletic trainer at both Powell High School and Northwest College, he is looking forward to the opportunity to train solely at the college beginning this fall.

In the fall of 2022, Leslie Kenney resigned from her position at Northwest to move into a position in Kansas closer to her family — leaving the Trappers without a trainer in the middle of the fall sports season.

“I heard Leslie was leaving and it was actually [local photographer] Greg Wise that informed me about that,” Hill said.

This is the eighth year that Hill has been the athletic trainer at PHS, and he felt like it was the perfect storm that brewed for him to move to the college level.

“I put my time in at the high school and really enjoyed it,” Hill said. “A lot of times you don’t have the opportunity to transition from high school to college without experience.”

He said that he wasn’t planning on leaving the high school, but saw himself working at the college level and leaped at the opportunity.

Hill said that he contacted NWC Athletic Director Brian Erickson and said that they worked out a deal between the hospital and the college to have Hill serve as the athletic trainer at the college as well starting in October of 2022.

That caused a year filled with different challenges, needing to balance practices, games and lining up schedules between both institutions to ensure there would be athletic training coverage at every event in Powell over eight months.

“It was extremely difficult,” Hill said. “I jumped right into the fire primarily getting the volleyball team fixed up to finish their season. I think I covered one soccer game at Northwest before their season ended.”

He said that it was at the tail end of the high school season in the fall before he got thrown fully into the fire for both programs in the winter.

“There were a lot of different things to manage at the same time,” Hill said. “It worked out, I didn’t really miss any events and if I did we found coverage for those times. A lot of time management and spending time away from my wife and kid.”

He said it put time constraints on his position, while trying to raise his under 1-year-old son along with his wife finishing her doctorate program.

By the end of the year, the trainer position at the college officially opened up and Hill applied to take over the position permanently.

He said that the college and the hospital ended up developing a contract that will enable him to work full time at the college starting this fall.

“I have loved my time at the high school level but time constraints have been a little bit difficult,” Hill said. “You basically see everyone at the end of the day and you have to figure out who you are going to evaluate, who you are going to tape, who you are going to rehab in basically a 30 minute to an hour time frame.”

He is just thankful to have one school to focus on throughout this upcoming year.

“The coaches here (at the high school) have been phenomenal and have been very supportive of everything I have worked with and done for them,” Hill said. “They are very receptive and very welcoming … One of the best groups of coaches I have worked with. It’s the same thing at the college, a lot of great coaches and a lot of people I have worked with and I am excited to work with.”

He said that he plans on a long future in the college position, while potentially having his own Powell Panther at some point.