Bryan Gardner will begin his third season as athletic trainer and second as the strength and conditioning coach for the men's and women's hockey teams at RIT in 2014-15. He came to RIT in Feb. 2014 as an interim trainer and was promoted to the staff full-time for the 2014-15 season. He will work with head athletic trainer Ben Emke and athletic trainers Missy Wilson and Amanda Page helping staff all 24 RIT varsity sports.
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Gardner, a native of Fairport, earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Ithaca College in 2010 and master’s degree in the same field from SUNY Cortland in 2013. He played three seasons of varsity baseball at Ithaca from 2006-2008. In his final season, Gardner struck out 62 batters in 33 innings, tying a school record with seven saves. He was a 2008 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) New York Region All-Star and earned All-Empire 8 first team honors. Gardner was also a 2007 All-Empire 8 honorable mention selection.
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In June, 2008, Gardner was selected by the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball and played three seasons of professional baseball, with the Gulf Coast League Reds, Billings Mustangs, and Traverse City Beach Bums.
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After hanging up the cleats, Gardner served one season as the Head Athletic Trainer at Mount Vernon High School, before heading back to school, serving as a graduate assistant in the sports medicine office at SUNY Cortland from 2011-2013. At Cortland, Gardner served as the head athletic trainer for the field hockey and baseball teams, while assisting with the football squad and gaining experience as a clinical instructor in the athletic training education program.
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Gardner, who is certified by the National Athletic Training Association, was most recently a part-time athletic trainer at St. John Fisher and Monroe Community College. He resides in Fairport.
