How To Become A Sports Athletic Trainer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a sports athletic trainer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Christie , M. González-Toro Ph.D.

Sports athletic trainers may work for both professional and non-professional sports teams. They may also work as private trainers for clients or work in gyms and other types of athletic facilities.

When you become a sports athletic trainer, your job will revolve around developing training plans for athletes, conducting training sessions, assessing their progress, and making corrections when needed. If you work for a team, you will have a close working relationship with the team's physician, manager, and other professionals to ensure the optimal performance of each team member.

As you would expect, a sports athletic trainer may have to be physically fit themselves. Many are also highly skilled in the type of sport they are training others for. In terms of education, a high school diploma is usually the minimum requirement, but having a degree in kinetics or sports science is a huge plus.

Sports athletic trainers earn around $44,000 a year. Trainers for professional athletes, of course, make more than that, with some even earning six-digit figures.

What general advice would you give to a sports athletic trainer?

Christie , M. González-Toro Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Manhattan College

Stay informed about your field! Join a national and state organization in your field (e.g., SHAPE America and The New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance) and attend local and virtual professional development and workshop events. Attendance at these events facilitates the graduate to learn and share best practices, innovative programs, and problem-solving. In addition, it provides the opportunity to network and meet other professionals.

The year 2020 taught us to adapt and innovate lessons from in-person to remote in a short period of time. I advise beginner teachers to become familiar with the technology. Spend time with Google Classroom (develop learning activities, assessments, learn about features, Google Meets), Zoom, and teaching websites. Record yourself teaching a learning activity and in the video practice your voice projection, camera angle, teaching position, captioning, platform uploading, and such. Create a professional Twitter account to keep in contact and share teaching ideas with other educators.

ScoreSports Athletic TrainerUS Average

Salary

3.8

Avg. Salary $48,071

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.1

Growth rate 17%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.55%

Asian 8.52%

Black or African American 8.44%

Hispanic or Latino 15.81%

Unknown 4.14%

White 61.53%

Gender

female 31.71%

male 68.29%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress level

8.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

2.4

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a sports athletic trainer

Explore sports athletic trainer education requirements

Most common sports athletic trainer degrees

Bachelor's

77.6 %

Master's

8.2 %

Associate

6.0 %

Start to develop specific sports athletic trainer skills

Skills	Percentages
Rehabilitation	28.39%
Patient Care	17.49%
CPR	17.41%
Student Athletes	6.87%
Athletic Events	3.46%

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming a licensed sports athletic trainer usually require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed sports athletic trainer in most of states. 42 states require sports athletic trainers to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License url
Alabama	Degree required	State exam required	Licensed Athletic Trainer
Alaska	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Athletic Trainer
Arkansas	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Athletic Trainer
Colorado	-	-	Athletic Trainers
Connecticut	Degree required	State exam required	Athletic Trainer

Research sports athletic trainer duties and responsibilities

Cover athletic events for football, soccer, basketball, track and field, baseball and softball, including travel.
Coordinate game day operations, travel arrangements and provide medical coverage for football, women's volleyball, and aquatics.
Maintain personal health information pertinent to require records for rehabilitation, fitness/wellness, and injury prevention programming.
Comply with all NCAA and NATA code of ethics, rules, and regulations.

Prepare your sports athletic trainer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your sports athletic trainer resume.

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