GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Detroit Red Wings on Monday announced that Josh Chapman has been hired as the Grand Rapids Griffins’ new athletic trainer.

Chapman joins the Griffins after spending the previous three seasons as the head athletic trainer for the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears, managing all medical and training operations for the club. He replaces John Bernal, who served as the Griffins’ athletic trainer for eight seasons (2011-19) before recently accepting a position as a work strategies and sports medicine coordinator for West Michigan with NovaCare.

Chapman has also spent time as an assistant athletic trainer for the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the North American Soccer League (2015-16), an athletic trainer for CORA Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Centers that included overseeing Tampa Catholic High School (2014-15), an intern with the Tampa Bay Lightning’s medical staff (2014-16), and as an athletic training student for both the University of Tampa (2012-14) and Merrimack College’s hockey team (2011-12). He earned a bachelor of science in athletic training from the University of Tampa in 2014.

In addition to being a certified and licensed athletic trainer, Chapman is a certified Corrective Exercise Specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine, a certified Performance Specialist through EXOS, and an ImPACT Trained Athletic Trainer. He has emergency medical training and once held an EMT Basic national certification.

Photo at top by Fernando Medina