The Essential Role of Athletic Trainers in Schools
- Aleysha Czartoszewski
- 6 hours ago
- 6 min read
School-Based Healthcare Professionals Series: Part 1 This article launches our School-Based Healthcare Professionals Series, an exploration of the many health career paths that intersect with education. These dedicated professionals are essential to maintaining student well-being, supporting learning, and nurturing the next generation's interest in healthcare. |
More Than Just Sports Support
In many schools, the person most likely to “catch” a concussion isn’t a doctor or a nurse, but the lone Athletic Trainer juggling hundreds of student-athletes.
Athletic Trainers (ATs) oversee first aid, coordinate injury treatment and documentation, and provide medical care at practices and games. Though ATs serve in a variety of settings from pro sports to performing arts, their work with secondary school athletes may be the most important.
ATs are increasingly playing a vital role in school-based healthcare. During the 2024-2025 school year, Michigan had just one school nurse for every 3,810 students (Michigan’s Center for Educational Performance and Information, n.d.), while ATs served a median of 300 students each, putting them on the front lines where nurses can’t reach.
These health professionals are central in developing and communicating treatment plans. They also offer a trusted space for students to talk about their lives. And they often spark interest in athletic training as a career post-graduation.
The many roles of a school-based AT shape a routine that starts long before the first whistle and ends well after the lights go out on the field.
A Day on the Sidelines
Alex Salinas, the President of the Michigan Athletic Trainers’ Society, begins his day as an AT for Forest Hills Northern High School at 1:00 p.m. He completes paperwork from the previous day and talks to counselors to create a plan if an athlete needs to miss class due to an injury.
Once the last bell rings, Salinas’ day shifts into high gear. Between assessing injuries, preparing teams for games, and monitoring practices, his day doesn’t end until 7:00 p.m. During the fall or spring seasons, when there are more sports simultaneously competing, he may work until 9:00 p.m. or later.
While Salinas’ working hours differ from those of most school employees, they are common in the school-based AT world. Gabrielle Townsend, an AT at Optimal Rehabilitation & Wellness, is contracted as the head AT working full-time at Goodrich High School, which means a 12:30 p.m. to 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. workday, plus weekend work during tournaments.
“I'm there Monday through Friday, occasionally Saturdays,” says Townsend. “I travel with varsity football in the fall, and then I travel in the postseason with most of the teams, when I'm able.”
During preseason, such as in the winter months when sports seasons are slower, Townsend fills her days with administrative work, ordering supplies, managing inventory, and updating emergency plans for teams.
Those long hours reveal how ATs aren’t just game-day support; they’re also the schools’ frontline healthcare defense.
Why ATs Matter in Schools
According to the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), sports-related injuries cost 20 million lost school days and the U.S. $33 billion in healthcare costs each year.
Salinas says, “Students might not have access to healthcare outside of ATs. We relieve the system and help prevent unnecessary ER visits.”
NATA estimates $14.7 million in savings per state from full-time ATs in every high school. Newer studies confirm that ATs lead to fewer emergency department visits, keeping students in school and parents working. ATs have also increased the identification and referral of injuries and conditions that might otherwise go untreated.
Beyond the prevention and treatment services, Salinas points out the important coordination role that ATs provide. “ATs are the glue between coaches, parents, and teachers,” says Salinas.
Townsend also highlights the role ATs play as trusted sounding boards. “What I do in some aspects is so minuscule, but it makes a really big impact where you don’t realize it,” Townsend says, “They all sit in my office and talk about school and their life problems. So sometimes it’s more of a therapy session.”
Salinas and Townsend reveal why ATs matter so much, yet those benefits aren’t reaching half of Michigan’s schools.
Rural ATs: 90-Minute Drives for Friday Night Lights
A recent survey by the Korey Stringer Institute and NATA (n.d.) reveals a stark reality: only 48% of Michigan schools have access to an AT, even counting part-time coverage. The gaps cluster heavily in the Upper Peninsula and northern Michigan, where rural and small schools struggle the most.
Red dots represent high schools that do not have Athletic Training.
Townsend’s school can afford full-time coverage. Most can’t.
In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Mark Stonerock and Madison Eddy with UP Rehab Services in Marquette cover multiple schools through contracts. Eddy routinely drives up to 90 minutes to cover high school games. Her weekends? Spent traveling under the Mackinac Bridge and as far as Detroit for hockey and football games. Stonerock often “gifts” coverage to schools after full clinical days.
But even their dedication has limits; many remote schools remain uncovered, creating gaps in care.
Yet stories like Stonerock’s and Eddy’s also reveal something powerful: the students watching them often want to become the next generation of ATs themselves.
The Path: From Sidelines to Breaking In
When it comes to why they became ATs, Stonerock credits a neck injury; Eddy, the AT she never had. Both swear by job shadowing, advice echoed by Townsend and Detroit Pistons Director of Athletic Training Alex Garland.
Garland’s own path through Central Michigan University’s athletic training program, and an internship with Henry Ford Health before moving into the NBA, shows how those early shadowing experiences can lead to advanced degrees, clinical rotations, and eventually positions with professional teams.
“You have to spend some time and see the world you want to be in,” Garland advises, “whatever level you can get to…high school or college is better than nothing.”
In Michigan, becoming an AT means earning a master’s degree and state licensure, then finding the right setting that aligns with personal and career goals.
For students eyeing pro sports like the Detroit Pistons, Garland suggests starting where access is possible, G-League, semi-pro, or college, then working up. “I started as a contingent Athletic Trainer… I covered everything I could get from a per diem side, just to network and try to find something I was really interested in.”
For students, the possibilities are exciting; for the profession, they are also a reminder that recruitment and retention can’t be left to chance.
Game Plan: Filling Michigan’s AT Shortage
Michigan needs more ATs, and students have plenty of motivation to step up to the plate.
"There are more open positions than ATs,” says Salinas. “Opportunities exist across the state, you can pick where you want to lay roots."
The wide range of opportunities and settings in Athletic Training underscores why it's such an appealing career path for students.
The problem? Too few students even know these careers exist. With only half of Michigan schools having access to an AT (Korey Stringer Institute & National Association of Athletic Trainers, n.d.) and an estimated shortage of 110 ATs over the next decade¹, awareness is a big hurdle. “I think most Athletic Trainers were high school or youth athletes in some regard,” notes Alex Garland. But students can’t aspire to what they never see.
Job shadowing changes that. Nearly every AT we interviewed credits early exposure with their career choice. Filling AT positions to create more shadowing and career exposure opportunities in schools, clinics, and communities isn’t just smart, it’s essential.
Local partners can be creative in finding ways to bring ATs closer to students. Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula proves it. After hearing Stonerock present on concussion training, the hospital decided to open a new sports medicine outreach center. The result? Positions for two ATs to serve a community that previously had none.
“Sports programs can be revenue-generating and positive for the community,” Stonerock says. “The right people in the right place made it happen.”
Looking Ahead: From Classrooms to Championships
Athletic Trainers are crucial healthcare workers in schools, filling critical gaps. Their presence keeps kids safer on the field, reduces unnecessary emergency room visits, and helps families avoid time away from work for injuries that can be managed at school. When students regularly interact with ATs, whether for injury prevention, treatment, or a quick debrief about life, they not only stay healthier, but they also see a healthcare career they can imagine themselves in.
ATs don't always get championship rings, but they score big by showing students that healthcare is a sport worth playing.
¹ Calculations based on data from Lightcast
References
Korey Stringer Institute & National Athletic Trainers Association. Michigan athletic training
locations and services: A.T.L.A.S. project. [Map]. Retrieved March 20, 2026, from https://www.zeemaps.com/view?group=1724758&x=-86.316776&y=44.209965&z=12.
Lightcast. (2026, February). Occupation table [Dataset]. www.lightcast.io.
Michigan’s Center for Educational Performance and Information. (n.d.). Student/support
staff ratio. [Trend graph showing the statewide student-to-school nurse ratio each school year from 2020-21 to 2024-25]. Retrieved March 20, 2026, from https://www.mischooldata.org/michigans-education-staff/.