Mission Statement

The Michigan State University Athletic Training/Sports Medicine team is committed to delivering the highest quality health care to all of its student athletes. We will continue to strive to provide a first-rate quality clinical education to our Undergraduate and Graduate Athletic Training Students.

Key initiatives to assisting the accomplishment of the Athletic Training/Sports Medicine Mission include:

1. Continual education of Athletic Training Staff in order to utilize the current knowledge, research, and resources in the management of athletic injuries.
2. Endeavor to pursue state of the art and quality Athletic Training facilities.
3. Command within the resources of the Department of Athletics adequate injury care.
4. Insist upon timely and efficient delivery of the needed services in athletic injury care.
5. Educate our Athletic Department Coaches and Staff about medical limitations of our injured student athletes.
6. Mandate well educated Athletic Training Students by providing quality and variable education opportunities.
7. Resolutely maintain a drug free experience for student athletes through education and testing.
8. Steadfastly work on the traditional and innovative approaches to fund raising for programmatic needs.

The Profession of Athletic Training

Athletic training is a major specialty in the field of sports medicine where active daily involvement with athletes, physicians, and coaches affect the health care and well-being of the competitive and recreational athlete. Through a combination of medical specialists and the active commitment of the athletic trainer, the sports medicine team at Michigan State University covers a broad entity of healthcare. At MSU, the athletic training student is offered a wide interdisciplinary base of educational and professional development capable of preparing him or her for future job opportunities in the collegiate, professional, clinical, high school, or industrial setting.

Michigan State's undergraduate educational curriculum program involves an aggressive hands-on experiential learning structure blended with an academically enriched curricula. The Michigan State University athletic training student is exposed to current state-of-the-art philosophies, equipment, and research in athletic training. The coeducational athletic training program encourages both the undergraduate and graduate level athletic training student to experience a broad range of medical and intercollegiate opportunities through a greater awareness into the field of sports medicine.

The Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training (CAATE) in 2006 initiated the requirement that an Athletic Training major involved in undergraduate educational institution must be identified on a student's transcript in order for an undergraduate's athletic training educational program to become and remain accredited. Initial CAAHEP accreditation was secured at Michigan State University in 2004. However, it was initially designated as a specialization under Michigan State University's Department of Kinesiology's major. Therefore, in the spring, 2007, Dr. Tracey Covassin, program director of undergraduate athletic training education, completed all the necessary evaluations, requests, forms, and curriculum committee's approvals to establish the Michigan State University athletic training student with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Athletic Training. As a result of a comprehensive evaluation in 2009, including a self-study and on-site visit, CAATE voted to award Continuing Accreditation to the Athletic Training Education Program at Michigan State University. As a result, Michigan State University's Athletic Training Education Program's next comprehensive CAATE review is scheduled to occur during the 2018-2019 academic year.

Undergraduate athletic training students will complete the two year athletic training curriculum major program while working with numerous athletic teams at MSU, gaining knowledge through a variety of situations, settings, and exposures. During the undergraduate athletic training student's second year in the program, he or she will be placed in the role of head athletic training student of an MSU intercollegiate team working directly with an Approved Clinical Instructor. The athletic training student will assist in decision making opportunities, physician consultations, injury evaluation discussions, and communication situations with intercollegiate coaches, athletes, team physicians, and athletic training supervisors.

The aggressive graduate assistant athletic trainer will be expected to commit two years to the athletic training program while being challenged academically and professionally in the field of athletic training. Educational and research oriented opportunities incorporate experiences from the Department of Kinesiology, Osteopathic Medicine, Human Medicine, and various sports medicine clinical rotation services. Sport coverage and teaching assignments are delegated to all graduate assistants during their two-year tenure. Experiences in local high school settings are available in yearly appointments.

In order for our program to succeed, students who accept the challenge from themselves and others will find the benefits of this program unparalleled. Michigan State University's educationally and clinically experienced athletic training alumni offer a strong supportive family atmosphere for employment, mentoring, and research development. "Critical thinking" is a term the student will begin to hear and understand throughout his or her athletic training career at MSU. Dedication and motivation are two key components that will play an integral part in the success of the student athletic trainer's personal career. By maintaining an overall pride and positive attitude towards MSU athletic training, success and future growth is attainable.

History of MSU Athletic Training

Michigan State University's Athletic Training program has been supervised and directed by four head athletic trainers throughout the past eighty years. The head athletic trainers are Jack Heppinstall, who worked from 1914 until 1959, Gayle Robinson, who was the head athletic trainer from 1959 to 1973, Clint Thompson from 1973 until 1985, and Jeff Monroe from 1985 through the present. Gayle Robinson continued his work in the athletic training room at Michigan State as a full time staff athletic trainer from 1973 until 1982. Read More...

NATABOC Approved Continuing Education Programs:

February 3 - February 7, 2013

Big Sky Athletic Training and Sports Medicine Conference, Big Sky, MT

April 22, 2013

Michael Straus Athletic Taining Educational Endowment Presentation: Featuring Ann Berry, Dr. Chris Ingersoll, Mike Straus at the Skandalaris Football Buiding, Pentecost Room, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

May 9 - May 11, 2013

Fundamental Techniques of Evaluation and Management for the Spine
College of Osteopathic Medicine, East Fee Hall

June 16 - June 19, 2013

Michigan State University High School Athletic Training Workshop
2013 Michigan State University High School Summer Athletic Training Camp
(Location: Duffy Daugherty Football Building/Jenison Field House)