Certified athletic trainers are health care professionals who specialize in preventing, recognizing, managing and rehabilitating injuries that result from physical activity. As part of a complete health care team, the certified athletic trainer works under the direction of a licensed physician and in cooperation with other health care professionals, athletics administrators, coaches and parents.
Students who want to become certified athletic trainers must earn a degree from an accredited athletic training curriculum. Accredited programs include formal instruction in areas such as injury/illness prevention, first aid and emergency care, assessment of injury/illness, human anatomy and physiology, therapeutic modalities, and nutrition. Classroom learning is enhanced through clinical education experiences. More than 70 percent of certified athletic trainers hold at least a master's degree.
Athletic training is not the same profession as personal training. And certified athletic trainers work with more than just athletes - they can be found Just about anywhere that people are physically active.
To become certified athletic trainers, students must pass a comprehensive test administered by the Board of Certification. Once certified, they must meet ongoing continuing education requirements in order to remain certified. (Obtained from the NATA)
Certified athletic trainers can be found almost anywhere people are physically active. Here are some of the places you'll find them:
Entry-level athletic training education uses a competency-based approach in both the classroom and clinical settings. Using a medical-based education model, athletic training students are educated to serve in the role of physician extenders with an emphasis on clinical reasoning skills. Educational content is based on cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skill), and affective (professional behaviors) competencies and clinical proficiencies (professional, practice-oriented outcomes). See a brief overview of our program's academics.
NIU accepts 20-25 athletic training students each year.
NIU students are professionally prepared by faculty and clinical staff, who have a diversity of experiences. Furthermore, they exemplify excellence in teaching, professional service, cutting-edge research, and textbook-development for classroom teaching.
NIU's Chicagoland location affords the NIU student and intern a wealth of clinical experiences, eg, intercollegiate, community college, high school, amateur sports, professional sports, clinics, and hospitals.
NIU students have experienced internships outside of Chicagoland, eg, Disney's Wide World of Sports (Orlando, Florida), Notre Dame (South Bend, IN), Chicago Cubs Spring Training (Mesa, Arizona) to name a few.
NIU students experience a strong and supportive alumni group. NIU students experience the Roger Kalisiak Distinguished Alumni lecture every spring that sponsors recognized professionals in the field:
2006 - NATA Hall of Fame Inductee, Kathy Schniedwind
2007 - NATA District 4 Director, Mark Gibson
2008 - NATA President, Marjorie Albohm
2009 - Michigan Hall of Fame Inductee, Mike Braid
NIU students join a long tradition of providing athletic training coverage for the Chicago Marathon every October.
NIU students are encouraged to engage in faculty/student research and presentations at professional conference/meetings.
The NIU ATEP requires the completion of coursework, clinical observation hours , essay(s), recommendations, an interview and a minimum of a a 2.5 grad point average. For more specific information, visit NIU's undergraduate catalog (see the Athletic Training emphasis section).
| 1999 | Initial Accreditation. The NIU ATEP was the 101st program accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Allied Health Educational Programs (CAAHEP). |
| 2004 | Continuing Accreditation (CAAHEP) |
| 2011 | Continuing Accreditation by the Commission on the Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) |
Absolutely. Remember that admission into the NIU ATEP is a 2-step process:
Transfer students are encouraged to apply by Jan. 15th of the second year of their community college studies.
As a freshman, you will:
To secure an Athletic Training Application contact the Program Director. Admission decisions are made by the athletic training selection committee.
It varies every year, but on the average, we accept about 20-25 students/year.
Get professionally involved. Become a member of the:
Get all the experience you can by observing in different practice settings. Convey to athletic trainers that you have a genuine interest and a strong work-ethic.
The NIU ATEP requires two letters of recommendation. One, preferably both, letter(s)of support should be provided by a certified athletic trainer (ATC), who knows your interest, commitment, and/or work ethic. If the second letter of support is not written by a certified athletic trainer, we encourage you to avoid family, neighbors, or friends.
In most instances, you may reapply. We will assist you in identifying and correcting your deficiencies. We will let you know if you should consider pursuing another major/profession. Most of the time, those that don't get into the program have poor grades, do not seem to display a full awareness of our program or the profession, or have not demonstrated good interpersonal skills or professionalism.
If you are accepted into the professional program during the spring semester of your freshman year, you will begin the actual program fall semester of your sophomore year.
Students will engage in variety of clinical experiences/assignments with NIU Intercollegiate Athletics and off-campus clinical's during their tenure in the athletic training education program. All clinical experiences are under the supervision of an approved clinical instructor. Clinical education experiences are rotated based on the ATS progression through three specific phases: Observation Student (first year), Practiced student (second year), and Professional student (third year). Each clinical experience is a registered 3 credit hour course for the athletic training student with an instructor of record who is program faculty. Assignments to an ACI/CI at on or off campus clinical sites are made by the CIE and based on several factors: exposure to medical conditions, upper extremity injuries, lower extremity injuries, and equipment intensive sports. These assignments will be distributed through individual and team sports, in-season/out-of-season sports, contact and non-contact sports, and men and women's sports by the student's assigned ACI. Further, each student will complete a clinical experience with football for at least one semester. The majority of the clinical experiences will be completed in the afternoon during 2-6 PM. However, certain sports will practice either earlier or later than this time. Once a student is assigned to an approved clinical instructor/sport, they are to check with the ACI about the practice time for that sport.
The ATS first year rotating through clinical sites involves observation, basic skill acquisition and application. During the athletic training students first semester in the program they will be involved in clinical experiences on campus through intercollegiate athletics. Their second semester will involve 3 four week rotations through different sites off-campus. The second year students are considered practiced students utilizing intermediate skill acquisition and application. During the fall semester of their second year, the athletic training student will be assigned to one site for the entire semester either on campus or off campus at area high schools or local colleges affiliated with NIU ATEP. For the duration of the second year and fall of their third year in the ATEP the athletic training student will be assigned to one site either on or off-campus. The ATS in their third year in the program is considered to a professional student with advanced skill application and integration. The final semester of the program, spring semester third year, involves an internship experience that is selected by the student and approved by the ATEP.
This has worked out in the past with highly dedicated and motivated students. However, it will be more difficult to be an athlete and an athletic training student because of the time demands required in both roles. To the greatest extent possible, we are willing to work with you in this situation.