If you want to work with athletes as a part of a sports activities medication staff, you may take into account a profession as a licensed athletic coach (ATC). As an allied well being skilled, an ATC has completely different abilities and duties from these of a private coach. Their schooling focuses on the medical facets of bodily coaching and athletic actions.
An ATC works with docs and different allied well being personnel to stop damage, present emergency care, help in analysis, and supply therapeutic interventions and rehabilitation for athletic accidents. In addition they work with non-athletes to advertise wellness and participation in wholesome bodily actions. The settings the place they work embody secondary colleges, faculties, sports activities medication clinics, {and professional} sports activities packages.
Schooling
To turn into a licensed athletic coach, you have to first full a university athletic coaching program that’s accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) and acquire a bachelor’s diploma or an entry-level grasp’s diploma. Nonetheless, that is in transition and the Nationwide Athletic Trainers’ Affiliation says {that a} grasp’s diploma will likely be required sooner or later. Licensed packages are discovered at a whole bunch of faculties and universities throughout the U.S.
The topics you’ll examine in your faculty program have a medical focus. They embody anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, train physiology, athletic coaching, diet. stopping damage, assessing accidents, therapeutic modalities, first help, emergency care, psychosocial methods, and healthcare administration. You may additionally do a scientific rotation with an athletic staff.
Certification and Licensure
When you graduate from an accredited program, you may sit for the certification examination carried out by the Board of Certification for the Athletic Coach. The take a look at is just not solely of information, but additionally in your skill to use it, make choices, and carry out acceptable actions. The examination covers quite a lot of subjects inside the 5 domains of athletic coaching:
- Prevention of athletic accidents and selling wellness
- Recognition, analysis, and analysis of athletic accidents
- Instant care and emergency care of athletic accidents
- Therapeutic interventions, rehabilitation, and reconditioning of athletic accidents
- Healthcare administration {and professional} accountability
As soon as athletic trainers go the certification examination proving abilities and data inside every of the 5 domains, they’ll use the designation ATC.
Earlier than you observe, you have to make sure you acquire a state license or go the opposite regulatory necessities for the state the place you’ll work. It’s essential to get persevering with schooling credit and recertify periodically.
Typical Day
The everyday day for a licensed athletic coach varies with the extent of athletic competitors, employment setting (conventional, scientific, industrial, company) and different institutional necessities.
In case you are working in an athletic setting, you could start earlier than observe, making use of preventative measures similar to tape, wraps, and braces for the athletes. Throughout observe, you’d be lively in evaluating accidents and sending athletes to the physician or following standing orders to deal with minor accidents.
Your abilities embody prevention, recognition, and rehabilitation of sports activities accidents. Whether or not these happen throughout observe or competitors, you develop a remedy program below the supervision of a licensed doctor. As soon as an athlete is injured, you’re employed with the participant, their household, and the medical staff to speak when and the way they’ll return to observe and competitors.
Outdoors of an athletic setting, an ATC may fit in a clinic, hospital, or enterprise and supply wellness providers, handbook remedy, and sickness prevention teaching and educating.
