Over the summer, Darlington acquired a new Floyd Athletic Trainer to assist throughout the 2018-19 school year.

Brent Kasai, a 26 year old from Greensboro, North Carolina who attended East Forsyth High School, joined the Tigers following a job at Chattooga High School.

“The biggest difference between public and private school is the quality of the student athletes and the coaches and the intensity of the practice,” Kasai said.

Kasai attended Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina for his undergraduate degree, but he was brought to Rome through his post-graduate work at Shorter University for two years.

Prior to working at Chattooga, Kasai worked at Piedmont Healthcare. He works alongside Athletic Trainer Donny Brown, who is in the midst of his seventh year at Darlington.

“One major benefit is having someone to work with. It allows me to focus on the teams that I am assigned to, build rehabs for injured athletes, and learn new and different techniques from Donny,” Kasai said.

Being from North Carolina, Kasai finds it hard to visit friends and family back home.

“I have a job where I work 60 hours a week, and my family lives seven hours away. The location is definitely the worst part of my job,” Kasai said.

Through working with younger athletes, Kasai has had the opportunity to form close bonds with some of his students.

“When working with high school athletes on a daily basis, you would be surprised at how much they trust you with that is going on in their lives. On many occasions I have had the opportunity to mentor my student athletes through the recruiting process and deciding on colleges,” Kasai said. “It means a lot to me to be able to listen and to help these kids through decisions and to also be the one that they trust to give them sound advice.”

Kasai has been working with students for three years, and he hopes to continue to meet and assist even more athletes in the coming year.

“I enjoy what I do because I get to serve others. Seeing a difference in the student athletes from one day to the next is the most rewarding thing that I can imagine,” Kasai said.