NATA Now

NATA is conducting its biennial Salary Survey this October and needs your help to ensure the athletic training profession is properly represented.

NATA is dedicated to representing, engaging and fostering the continued growth and development of the athletic training profession. To support this mission, NATA is conducting research about the work, compensation and benefits of athletic trainers. The information collected through this effort will provide athletic trainers with valuable information to help advance their careers through the NATA Salary Survey report.

This week At Your Own Risk, NATA’s public awareness campaign, will co-host two Facebook Live events aimed at educating the public on two important sports-related health issues: concussions and athlete mental health, and the ATs role in each. Designed to educate the public, these events provide easy ways for the AT to engage with their community and raise awareness on these important topics. We encourage ATs to follow At Your Own Risk and share these events with parents and community groups in their social network. 

After several years of collaborative work with members of Congress, the Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act (H.R 302/S. 808) was signed into law by President Trump Oct. 5, a monumental event for NATA and the athletic training profession.

Hello students and welcome to the SLC’s To The Students, an open letter from ATs Care Part 2! ATs Care is a program designed to offer crisis management training opportunities for athletic trainers with the effects after a critical incident. This is a peer-to-peer system to assist ATs and AT students when dealing with a difficult event. This is the second of two open letters to students – the first was from Jim Thronton, past-NATA president and founder of ATs Care – and is from David Middlemas, EdD, ATC, CCISM, the current chair from the ATs Cares Committee.

UPDATE: The Senate passed the Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act Oct. 3. The bill will now go to the President for signature.

UPDATE: The House of Representatives approved language changes made by the Senate and passed the Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act Sept. 26. The bill will now go to the Senate for approval. If the Senate passes the legislation, it will advance to the President for signature.

Hello Students and welcome to the SLC’s To The Students, an open letter from ATs Care! ATs Care is a program designed to offer crisis management training opportunities for athletic trainers with the effects after a critical incident. This is a peer-to-peer system to assist ATs and AT students when dealing with a difficult event. We have two excellent open letters for you, the first from Jim Thornton, MA, LAT, ATC, past-NATA president and founder of ATs Care. In his letter, Thornton explains the need and creation of ATs Care program.

By Kim Diggs

Every day, Cari Wood, ATC, athletic trainer for Redmond High School, in Redmond, Oregon, and former NATA District Ten director, wades through hallways brimming with chatting students and smiling faces.

On Dec. 14, 2017, RHS lost one of those smiles in the hallway. No one knew he was on the brink of taking his own life – especially not Wood. Almost one year later, she’s created a video featuring RHS faculty and students with money raised in the student athlete’s honor.

By Kim Diggs

After years of service as an athletic trainer – treating countless injuries, providing emotional support and guidance to hundreds of athletes – Larry Cooper, MS, LIAT, ATC, former chair of the NATA Secondary School Athletic Trainers’ Committee, is now retired.

But, he’s not ready to wrap up the gauze just yet.

“During my career as a teacher and [athletic trainer], I never had the free time to volunteer,” Cooper said. “So, I knew … when I retired, I would volunteer as much as I could.”

Athletes at both the secondary or collegiate level have been affected by bullying and hazing. Bullying is defined at any unwanted aggressive behavior that involves an observed or perceived imbalance of power and is repeated multiple times. Hazing, a form of bullying, is defined as any potentially humiliating or dangerous activity expected of someone to belong to a group, regardless of his or her willingness to participate.

Hello Students and welcome to the NATA Student Leadership Committee’s first career explorations blog post! This month, we are exploring athletic trainers working in the professional sports setting. Read on to learn more about four professional sport athletic trainers, their different leagues, their daily lives and work operations, and tips on how you can one day be in their shoes.