The Georgia Athletic Trainers’ Association has named Carla Gilson of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA as the recipient of their Jerry Rhea Athletic Trainer of the Year Award for 2021.
Carla has served the athletic programs at Georgia Tech for over twenty years and is respected by her peers as a stellar athletic trainer, mentor, and advocate for the profession at all levels. She began as an athletic trainer for the Yellow Jackets’ women’s basketball, football, softball, tennis, track and field, and spirit teams, but she is now caring for the volleyball team and serving as the Associate Athletic Director for Sports Medicine. Carla’s passion for helping athletes extends off the field, as she helped found Tech’s “Life Now, Life Later” mentor program for female African American student-athletes and she is also a member of the Yellow Jackets’ Fellowship of Christian Athletes mentor team. She has been a featured presenter for the National Athletic Trainers Association’s Ethnic Diversity Advisory Committee and is hailed by many ATs as an exceptional mentor. Carla is known as a true servant leader who, despite her position and accolades, doesn’t mind helping those who cross her path.
The award is named for Jerry Rhea, longtime head athletic trainer with the Atlanta Falcons and a pioneering force in the profession of athletic training in Georgia. Individuals receiving the honor must be a certified and licensed athletic trainer and also demonstrate exemplary service to the athletic training profession in Georgia. For her commitment to provide quality healthcare and her exemplary professionalism as a representative of athletic training and the GATA, Carla Gilson embodies all that this award represents.
The Georgia Athletic Trainers’ Association is an organization committed to the education of its members and enhancement of the profession of athletic training, leading to better healthcare for the population which it serves. The GATA is proudly composed of over 1000 licensed athletic trainers – ranging from professional, collegiate, and high school teams to industries, physician offices, and rehabilitation clinics – all working together to promote and practice the profession of athletic training within the state of Georgia. Follow the GATA on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.