LEWISBURG, WV (LOOTPRESS) – The Greenbrier East High School Spartans men’s varsity soccer team secured a state championship with the help of the team’s coaches, one of which was West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine student, Dan Hussion.
Hussion began volunteering his time coaching as a first-year medical student after having spent much of his life engaged in the sport of soccer.
“In all my days playing as a competitive athlete, the coaches would engrain in us that we were only there because a former player wanted to give back and spread the knowledge of the game,” said Hussion. “It was second nature to volunteer throughout my time in medical school. Studying can get stressful, and you can get in your own head or frustrated with the way things are going. But having soccer practice would release all that.”
After sustaining an injury, college and semi-professional play were no longer a possibility. But the experience allowed for the fostering of an interest in osteopathic medicine, according to the player.
“They were how I learned about WVSOM because they were incorporating osteopathic manipulative medicine in their clinic. If someone came in with back pain, they would fix it rather quickly and I was curious as to why these doctors were pulling on these older patients’ legs,” he said. “I asked them about it and they said, ‘let me tell you all about OMM.’ I wanted to be just like these doctors. The physical manipulation was a game changer for me. I didn’t even apply to any other medical school after that.”
A native of the West Virginia Eastern Panhandle, Hussion began his medical school journey in 2020, completing a full year as an Osteopathic Principles and Practice graduate teaching assistant. He is expected to graduate in May of 2025 at which point he will move on to a residency in orthopedic surgery.
“I was such a Lego kid and liked shop classes in middle school. I liked using tools and working with my hands to see instant results,” he said, and likens the support received on the local level by the medical school to the support the soccer team saw during their state championship contention.
“We packed the bleachers. Each game we won, in the semifinals and finals, we had a police and fire escort in and out of town. That was incredible and something I told the coaching staff and the boys that, being from a more populated area, that sort of thing doesn’t happen,” he explains.
“Seeing the connection of community was one of the most heartwarming things I’ve been a part of. A lot of people will say medical school is one of the hardest things someone will have to go through, outside of residency. But now I’ve got nothing but rose-tinted glasses about medical school because of those boys, the program and the coaching staff.”
