Former Georgia Trainers Working With USMNT

By John Frierson
Staff Writer

As the U.S. Men's National Team kicked off its must-win soccer game again Iran on Tuesday — a victory would send the Americans to the knockout stage at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, while a draw or loss would send them home — two former Bulldogs were there to make sure the U.S. squad was as healthy as possible.

While Georgia doesn't have a men's soccer team, it does have a world-class athletic training program, led by Ron Courson, the Executive Associate Athletic Director for Sports Medicine. Both Ron Shinault and Harris Patel are Georgia graduates who went on to work full-time for Courson. Now, both men are part of the national team's five-person athletic training staff.

Now, Shinault (pictured above) and Patel are in Qatar, with Shinault serving as the USMNT's head athletic trainer and Patel working on his staff. Patel already has plenty of international competition experience, having worked with USA Track and Field at the past four Olympic Games.

"It's a real honor to represent the United States. It's a dream job," Shinault, a 2001 graduate, said in a recent alumni spotlight article on UGA Today.

When Shinault was a UGA freshman, he attended a student sports medicine society meeting. There, he met Courson and another student, Patel, who was a senior. A few years later, after graduating, the two student trainers became full-time members of Courson's staff.

"They're both unique because they not only went here through the curriculum as students, but then they came back and worked here," Courson said. "Harris, we hired initially to work with track, and then with football for a number of years, and Ron worked with men's basketball."

For Courson, who has worked multiple Olympics and has led Georgia's sports medicine program since 1995, it feels good to see his former students and colleagues working at one of the biggest sporting events in the world. He actually has former students and staff working for major college and professional programs all around the country.

"We're blessed that we've got some really good people out there," Courson said Tuesday.

Shinault left Georgia to run the athletic training program at the University of San Francisco. After that, he went to work for the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer. From there, he joined U.S. Soccer.

After a long run working with the Georgia football team, Patel went to physician's assistant school before getting back into athletic training.

"Ron was looking for someone to help out (with the USMNT) and Harris was a great fit with his international experience," Courson said. "They work well together, and it's fun to follow your former kids and see what they're doing. They represent us so well."

Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.

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