One N.C. Central University student will be on the West coast this summer – working with the San Diego Chargers.

Daniel Bellamy, a rising athletic training senior, is one of eight who will be interning with the California NFL team until fall 2007.

“They invited me to stay the entire season, but they know that I have to come back for the fall semester,” Bellamy said.

The internship comes with a scholarship for the 2007-2008 academic year.

According to Sean Thomas, director of NCCU’s athletic training program, the University boasts the only accredited program at an HBCU in the nation.

Bellamy is the only student in the program who has a national internship.

“I know I’m going to be helping the athletic trainers identify triages, and helping them rehab, going to practices, and sort of supervising practices,” Bellamy said.

He said he’s glad he’s at NCCU “because [his] instructors are genuinely investing in [his] future.”

He said working alongside Thomas with the University’s football team last semester taught him important things.

But that experience was not enough to ensure Bellamy’s survival in a world of professional athletes; now he won’t go unprepared.

“I was in the training room [at NCCU] trying to fine-tune my skill, practicing different taping jobs,” Bellamy said.

Bellamy didn’t seek the internship – he said the San Diego Chargers called the University.

“I think that he was the one person that was ready for that step,” Thomas said.

“Working with him daily, I knew that he had what it takes working at that level.”