NATA Now

Editor’s note: After careful consideration, the Master Preceptor Program was sunsetted by NATA in 2025. Learn more about NATA’s educational offerings.

The NATA Professional Education Committee has created multiple resources for NATA members to assist them in continued learning. For ATs in the education setting, these resources can help them learn a new skill or gain new insight.

UPDATE: Caring for a suspected spine-injured athlete is a team effort – which is why NATA wants to ensure your entire sports medicine team has a chance to gain a deeper understanding of recently published recommendations from the NATA Spine Injury in Sport Group.

As the premier event for athletic training educators, the 2021 Virtual Athletic Training Educators’ Conference will provide attendees the latest insights into athletic training education, live April 29-May 1 and on-demand through May 31.

Each year, the NATA Executive Council for Education recognizes members who exemplify excellence in the field of athletic training education through the Sayers “Bud” Miller Distinguished Educator Award. Named in honor of the first chair of the NATA Professional Education Committee, the award recognizes those who have excelled in promoting athletic training education beyond the local level through service and publishing on athletic training issues.

By Dana Bates, PhD, LAT, ATC, and Jessica Moore, EdD, LAT, ATC

In 2019, the NATA Education Advancement Committee, under the NATA Executive Council for Education, created the Continuing Professional Development in Educational Scholarship Grant to help a researcher gain a new skill or collaborate with a partner in order to move their research agenda forward. The goal of the grant is to expand the number of individuals performing the educational research needed to move the profession forward.

Over the past several months, the NATA Board of Directors, along with at-large appointments from the NATA Ethnic Diversity Advisory Committee, has worked with a DEI consultant in association management to develop and align around organizational commitments. These guiding principles provide a foundation for enhanced infusion of diversity, equity, inclusion and access throughout our organization.

The first event of its kind, the 2021 NATA Secondary School Sessions – held virtually Wednesdays and Thursdays, April 21-May 13 – will provide attendees a unique educational experience designed to advance patient care and enhance policies in the secondary school setting.

The NATA Executive Council for Education began its search for a new chair in July 2020. Former NATA Professional Education Committee Chair Brian Vesci, DAT, ATC, was selected as the new ECE chair and will start his term in June 1.

Vesci has been involved with NATA education efforts for a number of years as a member of the PEC, including serving as PEC chair for the past three years. He said he was drawn to education and wanted to be the ECE chair because it would offer him a greater platform to service the profession and affect positive change.

The April NATA News features content related to athletic training education, including an article by the AT EducATionalist Cabinet about students’ perspective on education during the COVID-19 pandemic.