Catawba College’s Athletic Training program over the years has expanded in numbers and has become more organized thanks to the help of the current program Director Jim Hand. Today he is working to take the program to another level. Currently, students who enter the Athletic Training program will graduate with a Bachelors in Science of Athletic Training. With the growing and developing field of Athletic Training, the career path is switching to a Masters degree.
Individuals looking to become an Athletic Trainer must now get at least a Master’s degree in order to work in the field. They must also become certified by passing the Board of Certification of Athletic Training (BOC). Individuals who have already graduated with a bachelors will be grandfathered in and it will not be required of them to acquire a Masters degree, although it will be recommended.
This will raise salaries and provide more competition within the field. Due to this great change in the field, Dr. Hand is working with the college administration to convert the current Athletic Training program to a Masters program. The main goal of this change is to “provide students a high quality Athletic Training program with great facilities, faculty and curriculum that will meet the goals and values of Catawba and its students.” Catawba can now compete against other colleges offering a Masters program. “Catawba can compete against larger schools like UNC Chapel Hill. It is only a matter of time.”, This is a major step for the program, college, professors and students. It will take time, money, sacrifice and great planning to achieve making this new Masters program to succeed in a majority Bachelors college.
The Athletic Training program has already had an increase in the number of interested students and they hope to continue to increase as the masters program is set in place. The biggest concern is not being able to provide the master students with proper medical facilities and high level courses. It will be a work in progress and will not be expected to take its shape until around the year 2025.
So what does this mean for Catawba? For starters, this switch will put Catawba College in the race against other schools that offer a Masters program for Athletic Training. There will be more research being done and collaborations by Catawba’s students. The students themselves not only will have more opportunities to work in their field during their schooling, but “will receive a more immersive clinical experience.” The program will have to continue to improve, update and develop in order to keep up with medical advances. Dr. Hand commented that he hopes “to provide the very best for my students, that Catawba will be a regular contributor to research that comes from the program, that Catawba College will be on the map for education in Athletic Training and the program will acquire a 100% job placement and exam passing score.”
This is a long process that requires hard work from various parties, but there is hope from many to have this program built up. The Masters in Athletic Training should attract more students to what is already an outstanding program.
[This article was considered for the Fall 2016 Print Edition of the Catawba Pioneer.]
