A new five-year agreement between Centenary University and St. Luke’s University Health Network brings leading athletic training to the university’s student-athletes, while advancing academic offerings and supplementing efforts to stem the spread of COVID-19 on campus.

Launched last fall, the partnership has gained importance with the recent announcement by the Colonial States Athletics Conference (CSAC) that intercollegiate athletics—paused by the pandemic—can resume for the upcoming spring season. Centenary’s baseball team will host New Jersey City University at home on Sat., March 13, the University’s first intercollegiate competition in almost a year.

The agreement is part of a broader effort at Centenary to elevate intercollegiate athletics at the university, according to Travis Spencer, the university’s director of athletics. Other priorities advanced through Athletics Department initiatives have included installing new equipment in the University’s fitness center and introducing new facilities, such as an on-campus turf baseball field that debuted with an opening day double header in February 2020, just weeks before the pandemic halted intercollegiate sports across the nation.

The pact sends St. Luke’s athletic trainers to the Centenary University campus to assist student-athletes with prevention, examination, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of emergent, acute, or chronic injuries and medical conditions, as well as strength and conditioning. Through the agreement, Centenary student-athletes also have access to the full range of medical services provided by the St. Luke’s network.

On the academic side, Centenary recently introduced a new exercise science major as part of the university’s expanding offerings in the health sciences. Spencer said the partnership will provide opportunities for these students to gain hands-on experience with the St. Luke’s athletic trainers, as well as through internships with the health network.