Membership 2026: Growing Professionally, Personally

By Kristin Carroll

Midge Peterson, MS, LAT, ATC, didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life when she graduated high school. She attended college for a bit but ended up working her way through the ranks in a restaurant. 

“I realized that’s not what I wanted to do with my life,” she said. 

At 26, Peterson said she had an opportunity to go back to school. She knew she wanted to help people and found the intersection of athletics and health care in athletic training interesting. 

At first, she had difficulties finding a program to join. The profession was making the switch to a master’s degree. She said she hadn’t planned to get a master’s degree, but also didn’t want to be left behind with just a bachelor’s degree. 

“I found the University of Montana, and [Program Director] Valerie Moody, [PhD, LAT, ATC,] was amazing,” Peterson said. “She was willing to do anything to work with me as a 26-year-old coming in with transfer credits from a bunch of different community colleges. I was trying to continue my education, but it was really challenging being a working adult navigating all of that. I figured if someone wanted to invest in me that much, that was where I was supposed to be.”

When a spot opened up on the NATA Student Leadership Committee in 2018, Moody encouraged Peterson to apply. She then served as chair from 2019-20.

“It was a really great experience,” she said. “I enjoyed being part of the SLC both as a member and as chair. It was cool to see athletic training from an idealistic perspective. I was surrounded by people who were new to the profession, and we had mentors who loved athletic training and had been involved in it for a long time.”

Part of her job as chair was to create a plan for the NATA Symposia & AT Expo, including Committee Day and content geared to student. NATA 2020 was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which Peterson said was like “having the rug pulled out from under us.” But she said the experience of pivoting and putting together virtual content was a great learning opportunity.

Graduating during the pandemic also presented a challenge to finding a job, Peterson said. She worked for a time in a physical therapy clinic and spent two seasons with a semi-pro hockey team in her home state of Washington.

“But my goal had always been to work in the professional baseball setting,” she said. 

After a bit of time off, she decided “I’m just going to start applying to baseball jobs.”

She applied for seasonal positions, working with both the Milwaukee Brewers and the Baltimore Orioles as a seasonal athletic trainer, assisting with spring training and minor league teams. 

Peterson has continued to volunteer with NATA, and just rolled off as the District Ten representative for the NATA Professional Responsibility in Athletic Training Committee. She said she wanted to continue volunteering in a way that helped the profession, but wasn’t sure how as a young professional. In 2021, she reached out to then District Ten Director Tony Fitzpatrick, AT Ret., and said she’d be happy to volunteer for any role. 

“It wasn’t that long after he came back with the role on PRAT,” Peterson said. “I ended up talking to Past Chair Gretchen Schlabach, [PhD, AT Ret.,] and we just moved forward with it. It was cool to be included in PRAT because professional responsibility is so huge. … To even be in the room with the professionals on that committee was meaningful, especially being so young. I sometimes didn’t know what I had to offer, but I just continued to show up and try.”

For Peterson, being a member of NATA is important because it helps her grow in the profession, she said. She joined initially because it was encouraged at her university, but stayed because it was a point of pride.

“Knowing there’s a body of people from your profession that gather together and talk about topics that are meaningful, putting yourself in that group is always going to help forward your career,” she said. “Even just being in the room and learning names and faces, networking.”

Networking isn’t Peterson’s strong suit, she said, adding that she doesn’t like to connect with people for the sole purpose of getting something from them. She said NATA helps ease the tension.

“People want to grow our profession,” she said. “[NATA] makes it easier for anyone to go and get involved and network and grow.”

Renew or Join Today!

Take your career, knowledge and connections beyond with NATA. Join today or renew your membership by Dec. 31 to continue accessing the resources and community that keep athletic trainers at the forefront of health care.