The Evolution of Athletic Training

Hey everyone!  I know I haven't posted in a while...  Personal stuff.  I don't want to bore you with those details!  But I'm back.  And today's topic is all about how athletic training has changed from the past to now and how it will continue to change.  I think this is a great topic to talk about, especially from a female standpoint.  Now we all know that females are underrepresented in certain aspects of athletic training, but let's see what has led us to this point now, not only with females, but in the profession itself.

Did you know there were athletic trainers in the 1800's?!  Me neither!  They were present for the safety and health of athletes, but did not have any more responsibility than that.  They were true "water boys" as well, there to hydrate the athletes.  Right after WWI, athletic trainers were formally known in the college setting.  They formed the NATA in the 1930's, but by the 1940's, the NATA was no longer an organization.  The organization was reestablished in the 1950's In 1970, the frist national exam took place, and by 1989 the BOC was created.  There used to be 2 routes to become an athletic trainer - you could intern, or you could take a certified cirruculum through the NATA.  Don't know about the internship route?  Well.. You had to have 1500+ hours of clinical experience, had prerequiste courses, and had to pass the BOC.  The internship route ended in 2003, and you can now only become an athletic trainer through a CAATE accredited program and pass the BOC.  In 2003 and beyond, an athletic trainer has to be competent in 5 domains and 8 content areas of athletic training to be able to be properly educated and to pass the BOC to become part of the profession and we have to complete 50 CEUs every 2 years.  The NATA is now comprised of over 35,000 members!  This is the evolution of the education and practice of athletic trainers since they first came about.  Now let's look how the profession has changed.

In 1869, Rutgers and Princeton introduced the sport of football.  In 1905, there were 18 deaths and 159 serious injuries.  The original reason athletic trainers became so popular was because it was realized that football needed responders on the field in case of injury.  As said in the previous paragraph, the athletic trainers were there to provide water and be the team manager.  Samuel E. Bilik was the man that created athletic training as more than just a "hydration specialist".  He graduated from the University of Illinois and then went to med school.  The University then hired him as a part time ATC where he changed the face of athletic training.  During WWII, athletic trainers went from preparing athletes to preparing service men.  As the war continued, the profession struggled.  They needed to establish a national organization for the profession to succeed.  As stated before, that's when the NATA was finally established and grew.  When athletic training first started, athletic trainers were mainly found in colleges and high schools.  It quickly evolved to include athletic trainers in professional sports.  Now athletic trainers can be found in many different non-traditional settings like hospitals, corporations, performing arts, NASCAR, and the military, to name a few.  Athletic trainers have also been known to work as physician extenders.

Females in the profession have evolved as well.  Before Title IX was passed, there were no female athletic trainers.  In 1972, the first female sat for the BOC exam.  Her name was Sherry Bagagian.  Shortly after, Gail Weldon sat for the exam.  Weldon was the first female athletic trainer hired by the US Olympic Committee, and in 1980 became the first female cheif ATC for the US Olympic Team.  She became the director of athletic training and physical therapy in the 1984 Olympic Games.  Weldon was the first female inducted into the NATA Hall of Fame in 1995.  There is now an award named after her called the Gail Weldon Award of Excellence.  It is given to one person every year that displays a "commitment to mentoring, professional development and life balancing for women athletic trainers or significant contributions to improve the health care of females provided by ATs".  Another influential woman in atheltic training is Majorie J. Albohm, who was elected as the NATA president in 2007.  She was only the second female to be president.  In recent years, as I have spoken about before, we had Sue Falsone, the first female head athletic trainer for a Major League Baseball team.  In 2005, 47.6% of the NATA members were females, and in 2011 the number grew to 50.9%.

Below are the articles where I got my information.  Learning about how athletic trainers have evolved to where we are now is so interesting.  If this profession can evolve from what it was to what it is, just think about how much more it will continue to evolve and grow.  It might take a while, but it will definitely be different 20 years from now!

http://samples.jbpub.com/9780763735203/35205_CH15_FINAL.pdf
http://www.kcumb.edu/uploadedfiles/content/academics/_assets/cme_presentations/bertoncino_athletic_6_14.pdf
http://www.bocatc.org/blog/uncategorized/history-of-women-in-athletic-training/