CARY, N.C. (April 5, 2024) — The North Carolina Courage today announced the hiring of Kristi Hall-Griffey as the team’s new head athletic trainer. Hall-Griffey joins the Courage staff from Duke University, where she had served as an athletic trainer since 2006. She spent 12 of those years with the women’s soccer program.
During her tenure with the Blue Devils, Hall-Griffey worked closely with the women’s soccer coaching staff and physical therapists and played an integral role evaluating each player’s daily physical and mental well-being. She was responsible for reviewing each student-athlete’s daily training monitoring system results and questionnaires to recommend any necessary practice modifications to the coaching staff. She also worked alongside physical therapists, sports performance coaches, and the coaching staff to implement injury prevention exercise programs. Hall-Griffey concurrently worked with the women’s track and field teams and, prior to assuming the role with women’s soccer, had served as the athletic trainer for the women’s rowing and men’s wrestling teams. “We are thrilled to welcome Kristi to the Courage. She checks all the boxes we look for in our medical staff leaders. She is a highly respected person who works incredibly hard in support of her players, which she’s proven over decades of great work experiences at Duke and other athletics departments. She is a fantastic leader who will quickly integrate into the group and add to our daily culture,” Courage Chief Soccer Officer Curt Johnson said. “It’s bittersweet. Kristi has meant so much to our women’s soccer program over the last 12 years she’s been with us. She is more than an athletic trainer. She is a member of our coaching staff and she is family. She has done an outstanding job for Duke women’s soccer over the years. We very happy for Kristi as we know this is a great opportunity for her. The North Carolina Courage are getting one heck of an athletic trainer and she will do an outstanding job for them. We will miss Kristi and we wish her the best as she goes forward into this new adventure in life,” said Head Coach of Duke women’s soccer Robbie Church. Prior to joining Duke University, Hall-Griffey was the head athletic trainer at St. Andrews Presbyterian College for two and a half years where she also served as an adjunct professor in teaching Kinesiology, Exercise Physiology, and First Aid/CPR in addition to her head athletic trainer duties. The Texas native worked as a graduate assistant athletic trainer at University of Central Oklahoma while completing her Master of Science in wellness management with an exercise science emphasis. She attended Oklahoma Baptist University to complete her Bachelor of Science degree in exercise science with sports medicine emphasis. Hall-Griffey will be on the sideline when the Courage return to action next Saturday, April 13, to host the Portland Thorns at 7 p.m. ET at WakeMed Soccer Park. Tickets for the clash between the two most-decorated clubs in NWSL history are available here.
ABOUT THE NORTH CAROLINA COURAGE
The North Carolina Courage begin their eighth season of competition in 2024 since beginning play in the National Women’s Soccer League (USSF Division I) in 2017. The Courage were formed after Steve Malik purchased the Western New York Flash and relocated the franchise to Cary, North Carolina, and play their home games at WakeMed Soccer Park. The Courage are the winningest club in NWSL history, claiming seven league trophies as three-time NWSL Shield winners (2017, 2018, 2019), two-time NWSL Champions (2018, 2019), and two-time UKG NWSL Challenge Cup champions (2022, 2023). The Courage also won the 2018 ICC Championship. Follow the Courage on the web at www.nccourage.com and on social media @TheNCCourage.
