Senior Candie DelValle is the winner of the Dr. Mac Reynolds Sports Medicine Student of the Year Award.
The competition assesses students’ abilities with muscle tests, CPR knowledge, tape jobs, and stress tests for athletes.
The award was named after the late Dr. Mac Reynolds, an orthopedic surgeon who served as a team doctor for Campolindo sports teams for 15 years.
DelValle was ecstatic when she heard the news. “I was crazy happy,” she said. “I’ve wanted this since I was a sophomore.”
DelValle’s name will appear on the Dr. Mac Reynolds Sports Med of the Year plaque. She will also receive her own individual plaque.
Her brother Andreas DelValle, who graduated two years ago, was also a Sports Med student and would show her different aspects of sports medicine, such as tape jobs and how muscles move. “He’d come home and he’d tape me, and he’d tell me things about my body,” she said. “He really installed in me a passion for it.”
Her brother came in 2nd in the competition for Sports Med of the Year. “He was like, ‘It’s all you now, you have to win,'” she said. “I remember telling Ray, ‘Save a spot for me on that plaque.'”
Sports medicine teacher Ray Albiento appreciates DelValle’s work ethic. “She has a genuine passion for sports medicine,”
DelValle almost missed out on the Sports Med course her junior year. “It took a lot for me to get into the class,” she said. Another student ended up dropping the class, and she took that student’s spot.
During her water polo season, DelValle enjoyed helping her teammates with injury issues.
She also enjoys attending other sporting events, being on the sidelines, and helping with minor injuries.
Last year, she logged 400 Sports Medicine hours and is hoping to hit at least 500 hours this year, even though she plays a sport. “She puts a lot of hard work in,” Albiento said.
“Every year, the Contra Costa County Regional Occupational Program wants ROP teachers to nominate a student who demonstrates excellence in the classroom,” Albiento said. “We send a letter of recommendation to the district, and the winner sends a letter explaining why they think they would be a good candidate for the Student of Excellence award for the district.”
If DelValle wins the county award at the end of April, she will write a speech and talk about the Sports Med program and how it has helped her. The prize is scholarship money for college.
“Next year I’m going to Liberty University in Virginia, and I’m going to go into the athletic training program,” she said. She wants to major in athletic training, and is hoping to minor in exercise science. “That’s where I’m going with my life, and this Sports Med program has just put me there,” she said.
