How to Become an Athletic Trainer | MedXL

To become an athletic trainer in the United States, you earn a master's degree from a program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE), pass the Board of Certification (BOC) examination to earn the ATC credential, and obtain licensure or registration in your state. In Canada, the equivalent profession is athletic therapy: you graduate from a program accredited by the Canadian Athletic Therapists Association (CATA) and pass its national certification process to earn the CAT(C) designation. This guide covers both routes and the career landscape that follows.

What athletic trainers do

Athletic trainers (ATs) are healthcare professionals who specialize in preventing, assessing, treating, and rehabilitating injuries in physically active people. Despite the name, they are clinicians, not fitness trainers. A typical scope includes:

ATs work under or in collaboration with physicians, and their day mixes hands-on clinical care with event coverage, documentation, and athlete education.

Education path

United States

The professional degree has shifted to the master's level. The path looks like this:

  1. Complete a bachelor's degree, commonly in exercise science, kinesiology, or biology, covering prerequisites such as anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, and psychology.
  2. Enroll in a CAATE-accredited professional master's program in athletic training. Programs blend coursework with extensive clinical education across sport teams, clinics, and emergency settings.
  3. Graduate eligible to sit the BOC examination.

Some universities offer accelerated 3+2 tracks that combine the bachelor's and professional master's; if you know early that athletic training is your goal, these save time.

Canada

Canadian athletic therapy candidates complete a degree program accredited by the Canadian Athletic Therapists Association, offered at a limited number of universities. Programs combine academic coursework with supervised field and clinical hours in both on-field emergency care and clinic-based rehabilitation. Graduates then complete CATA's national certification process, which includes examination requirements, to earn the Certified Athletic Therapist, CAT(C), designation.

Certification and licensure

United States: BOC certification and state regulation

The Board of Certification administers the national examination for athletic trainers. Passing it grants the ATC credential, which is the professional standard across the country. Nearly every state also regulates athletic training through licensure, certification, or registration, generally requiring BOC certification as the baseline. Requirements and permitted scope vary by state, so confirm details with your state's regulatory board before practising. Maintaining the ATC requires ongoing continuing education and adherence to the BOC standards of practice, including current emergency cardiac care certification.

Canada: CATA certification

In Canada, the CAT(C) credential from the Canadian Athletic Therapists Association is the recognized standard for athletic therapists. Athletic therapy is not regulated by statutory colleges in most provinces, so employers, insurers, and sport organizations rely on CATA certification and its continuing education requirements. Check CATA's current certification and maintenance criteria directly, and note that scope and insurance billing recognition can differ by province.

Where athletic trainers work

The profession has diversified well beyond the sidelines:

Industrial and clinic-based roles typically offer more regular hours than sport coverage, which involves evenings, weekends, and travel.

Advancement and specialization

Career growth in athletic training usually follows one of these tracks:

  1. Head athletic trainer or director of sports medicine, leading staff, budgets, and medical coverage planning for a school, university, or team.
  2. Clinical specialization, deepening expertise in areas such as concussion management, manual therapy, or rehabilitation, often with post-professional credentials.
  3. Industrial program leadership, managing injury prevention services across worksites.
  4. Education and research, teaching in CAATE-accredited programs, which generally requires doctoral study for tenure-track roles.
  5. Adjacent transitions, into clinic administration, physician practice management, or performance science.

Active involvement in the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) or CATA builds the professional network that most leadership roles come through.

Skills and fit: what separates good ATs

Beyond the credential, employers hire for a recognizable set of working strengths:

If you are still deciding, volunteer with a school sports medicine program or shadow ATs in two different settings. The contrast between a Friday-night football sideline and an industrial prevention program is dramatic, and knowing which environment suits you will guide both program selection and your first job search.

How to find athletic training jobs

  1. Use your clinical education rotations to build references across settings; sports medicine communities are tightly networked.
  2. Decide which setting you want first, since school, clinic, and industrial roles develop different skills and schedules.
  3. Watch university athletics postings, school district boards, and health-system career pages, and use MedXL's job search to filter healthcare roles by region across the US and Canada.
  4. Time your search around the academic and sport calendar; school and university roles often post in spring for fall starts.
  5. In interviews, be ready to walk through an emergency action plan, a concussion protocol, and a return-to-play progression.

Key takeaways

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