Columbus North athletic trainer Ashley Martin bandages Blake Huffman’s knee before the Bull Dogs’ game against East Central in the first round of the Bloomington North baseball sectional, Wednesday, May 26, 2021.
The Republic file photo
As Ashley Martin was honored at last week’s Columbus East-Columbus North boys basketball game, she remembered the six years spent at North with fondness.
Martin served as an athletic trainer for the Bull Dogs before leaving in late October to take a similar position at Carmel High School. She was recognized at halftime of the East-North game, along with Bull Dog fall sports teams and individuals who finished at or near the top of the state this year.
“I enjoyed working with all the teams and the athletes,” Martin said. “It’s good to help an athlete get to return to their sports and excel at it. I enjoy the kids. That’s what I’m more here for — to help out the kids and be there for them.”
A Shelbyville native, Martin did her undergrad at Ball State and earned a masters in kinesiology from IUPUI. She came to North in 2016.
“It was my first job after grad school, so I learned a lot from everyone here,” Martin said. “I really enjoyed all my teams, and it was just a really good experience for me.”
Martin’s first four years, she worked with longtime Bull Dog athletic trainer Steve Souder. Souder retired from North in 2021, but has come out of retirement to work at Hauser the past year-and-a-half.
After Souder’s move, Martin worked with Kate Cockerham, who now is holding down the fort as the Bull Dogs’ lone trainer.
“I really enjoyed working with Steve,” Martin said. “He had been here a long time. We would learn from each other, and then I loved having Kate. We both graduated from Ball State, so we kind of learned similarly. It was nice to have that.”
Along with working with the football and basketball teams for most of her time at North, Martin worked mostly with the volleyball and cross-country and track teams. She worked with the baseball teams all six years.
At Carmel, Martin is one of two trainers who for now are rotating with all of their sports.
“I think we’re just going to have to divide and conquer,” Martin said. “I’m doing girls basketball, and then we have wrestling and swimming. I do miss having a gymnastics team, though.”
For Martin, who has only been at Carmel for about two months, it’s a matter of getting to know everyone at the state’s largest high school. There is at least one person who she was familiar with though — assistant athletics director Jeff Hester, who was the athletics director at North who hired her.
“It’s going well,” Martin said. “I enjoy it there. Getting to know the kids is always the challenge, learning all their names.”
