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What does a head athletic trainer do?

Updated January 8, 2025
5 min read
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Head athletic trainer responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real head athletic trainer resumes:

  • Provide health care to student athletes in men's and women's basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball.
  • Prepare and administer appropriate rehabilitation programs according to protocol
  • Provide leadership and supervision of both cross country/ track and field graduate assistant and volleyball graduate assistant.
  • Care for and rehabilitate professional soccer players, as well as handled the duties of travel secretary for the organization
  • Serve as co-head athletic trainer covering athletic periods throughout the day, including baseball, softball, and spring football.
  • Coordinate all medical services for professional soccer team.
  • Supervise rehabilitation guidelines administer to student-athletes.
  • Prepare and administer appropriate rehabilitation programs according to protocol

Head athletic trainer skills and personality traits

We calculated that 22% of Head Athletic Trainers are proficient in Rehabilitation, CPR, and Game Coverage.

We break down the percentage of Head Athletic Trainers that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Rehabilitation, 22%

    Prepared and administered appropriate rehabilitation programs according to protocol

  • CPR, 8%

    Created the curriculum and instructed AED, CPR and First Aid for Upper School students.

  • Game Coverage, 7%

    Provide athletic training services, including and not limited to practice and game coverage, and weekend event coverage.

  • Athletic Injuries, 6%

    Evaluate, prevent, treat and rehabilitate athletic injuries-Sport physicals to athletes-Designed conditioning programs for athletic teams

  • NCAA, 5%

    Head Athletic Trainer responsible for the safe participation of the student-athletes in 15 NCAA Division I & II varsity athletic sports.

  • Physical Therapy, 4%

    Developed and implemented orthopedic physical therapy programs under supervision of staff physical therapist at Institute for Athletic Medicine.

"rehabilitation," "cpr," and "game coverage" are among the most common skills that head athletic trainers use at work. You can find even more head athletic trainer responsibilities below, including:

Compassion. The most essential soft skill for a head athletic trainer to carry out their responsibilities is compassion. This skill is important for the role because "athletic trainers work with athletes and patients who may be in considerable pain or discomfort." Additionally, a head athletic trainer resume shows how their duties depend on compassion: "exhibit an excellent bedside manner by treating patients with compassion, patience, and respect while diffusing ailing and frustrated clientele. "

Detail oriented. Many head athletic trainer duties rely on detail oriented. "athletic trainers must record patients’ progress accurately and ensure that they are receiving the appropriate treatments or practicing the correct fitness regimen.," so a head athletic trainer will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways head athletic trainer responsibilities rely on detail oriented: "maintained detailed record keeping including medical history, pre-participation examinations, injury reports, treatment records, and rehabilitation programs. "

Most common head athletic trainer skills

The three companies that hire the most head athletic trainers are:

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Head Athletic Trainer Resume
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Head Athletic Trainer Resume

Compare different head athletic trainers

Head athletic trainer vs. Sports medicine coordinator

A trainer is responsible for instilling knowledge and process techniques for a specific business role. Duties of a trainer include facilitating engaging classes, identifying areas of improvement and opportunities for the learner, evaluating skills and attending to the learner's challenges, organizing training materials and scheduling training sessions, and submitting timely reports to the management on progress. Trainers are required to have excellent public communication skills and extensive product knowledge to provide effective learning methodologies and maintain strategic project management.

We looked at the average head athletic trainer salary and compared it with the wages of a sports medicine coordinator. Generally speaking, sports medicine coordinators are paid $4,321 lower than head athletic trainers per year.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both head athletic trainer and sports medicine coordinator positions are skilled in rehabilitation, athletic injuries, and physical therapy.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, head athletic trainer responsibilities require skills like "cpr," "game coverage," "ncaa," and "emergency care." Meanwhile a typical sports medicine coordinator has skills in areas such as "patients," "ekg," "drug screens," and "clerkship." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

On average, sports medicine coordinators reach lower levels of education than head athletic trainers. Sports medicine coordinators are 5.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.9% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Head athletic trainer vs. Trainer

Trainer positions earn higher pay than head athletic trainer roles. They earn a $469 higher salary than head athletic trainers per year.

Each career also uses different skills, according to real head athletic trainer resumes. While head athletic trainer responsibilities can utilize skills like "rehabilitation," "game coverage," "athletic injuries," and "ncaa," trainers use skills like "pet," "training programs," "leadership," and "bonds."

In general, trainers achieve lower levels of education than head athletic trainers. They're 10.0% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.9% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Head athletic trainer vs. Sports medicine trainer

On average scale, sports medicine trainers bring in higher salaries than head athletic trainers. In fact, they earn a $21,392 higher salary per year.head athletic trainers and sports medicine trainers both have job responsibilities that require similar skill sets. These similarities include skills such as "rehabilitation," "cpr," and "athletic injuries," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a head athletic trainer is likely to be skilled in "game coverage," "ncaa," "emergency care," and "injury prevention programs," while a typical sports medicine trainer is skilled in "dme," "student athletes," "injury prevention," and "splints."

Most sports medicine trainers achieve a lower degree level compared to head athletic trainers. For example, they're 9.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 2.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Head athletic trainer vs. Graduate assistant athletic trainer

Graduate assistant athletic trainers typically earn higher pay than head athletic trainers. On average, graduate assistant athletic trainers earn a $54 higher salary per year.While their salaries may vary, head athletic trainers and graduate assistant athletic trainers both use similar skills to perform their duties. Resumes from both professions include skills like "rehabilitation," "cpr," and "game coverage. "While some skills are required in each professionacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities, there are some differences to note. "physical therapy," "varsity sports," "emergency action plan," and "injury management" are skills that commonly show up on head athletic trainer resumes. On the other hand, graduate assistant athletic trainers use skills like injury documentation, medical coverage, championship, and caate on their resumes.In general, graduate assistant athletic trainers hold lower degree levels compared to head athletic trainers. Graduate assistant athletic trainers are 5.2% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of head athletic trainer

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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