Bragging Rights Only For Players, Dinner At Stake For The Trainers

WHEELING - Not only will bragging rights be at stake for the Ohio and West Virginia All Stars Saturday night when the 80th annual OVAC Rudy Mumley All Star Football Game kicks off, but the two team trainers - Mike and Caitlyn Garman - have a friendly wager on the line, as well.

Mike is the head trainer at Wheeling Park High School while his wife, Caitlyn, serves as the head trainer at St. Clairsville. They met while enrolled in the Athletic Trainer's program at the then-Wheeling Jesuit University in 2015 and were married six years later.

With their respective high school football staff chosen to lead the Mountaineers and Buckeyes, respectively, in the mid-summer classic at Wheeling Island Stadium. This allowed them the opportunity.

"This is the first year since we both started working the game in 2018 that our respective schools - St. Clairsville and Wheeling Park - have their staff coaching in the game and we get to be with them," Caitlyn said. "It's pretty neat.

"The best part is I'm a West Virginia girl and he is an Ohio guy, so we have to swap teams for the week, so that's probably one of the better parts about it."

Mike graduated from Toronto High School. His first job was at Indian Creek High School. Caitlyn is an alum of Wheeling Central and worked at Buckeye Local.

"We've been facing each other at least once a year since 2015 when I was at Indian Creek and she was at Buckeye Local," Mike recalled. "When she went to St. Clairsville and I went to Wheeling Park, they started their rivalry, so we've been facing each other yearly.

"Now with her on the Ohio side and me on the West Virginia side for the OVAC All Star Football Game it's a different dynamic.

"Our household is pretty competitive," he added. "I like to remind her that I have a winning record overall in our head-to-head series, but I don't think she is happy about that."

Caitlyn responded, "I actually out-edge Mike in OVAC games over the last couple of years, and I have more OVAC championships than he does."

Even though Mike was born in Ohio, his allegiances are now with West Virginia.

"I hear it a lot from the West Virginia coaches that I'm still a Buckeye at heart, but I'm from West Virginia now and I let it be known," he insisted.

What got both of them into taking care of athletes?

"I grew up around sports my entire life and I wanted to do something that kept me involved with them for my career," Mike said.

"I wanted to stay in sports," Caitlyn noted. "I didn't want an office job or a 9-5, so this kind of fits that. I wanted to be outside around sports that I love."

So about that bet?

"It's usually dinner wherever the winner chooses," they both replied.