Wrapping a new major
Athletic training major up for consideration
By Colleen Casey
Staff Reporter

Around 25 students will likely change majors later this spring with the approval of a new major in athletic training, said Rhonda Keen-Payne, dean of the college of Health and Human Sciences.

Daniela Munguia/SKIFF STAFF Student athletic trainers Amaris Vandyke, a senior health and fitness major and Julie Calvert, a freshman kinesiology major, tape the ankles of Zach Bray, a sophomore speech communications major, and J.T. Aughinbaugh, a senior finance major. The students are preparing for football practice.

An athletic training major is being considered in part because of the changing role of athletic trainers in society in the last 20 years, said Ross Bailey, an associate athletic director and former TCU head athletic trainer.

“It used to be that athletic trainers worked for professional collegiate or high school sports,” Bailey said. “Now it’s about taking care of one who’s physically active and getting people back on their feet. You’ll now find athletic trainers at all sports medicine clinics.”

About 25 students in the current athletic training program are anticipated to become majors, Keen-Payne said.

TCU’s athletic training accrediting organization, the Committee on Accreditation of Allied Health Programs, is responding to the increasingly demanded field, Bailey said. They are extending their programs and requiring the CAAHP accredited schools to offer athletic training as a major for more concentrated training, he said.

“(The accreditation committee) did some research of trainers in the business and asked what is needed of trainers,” Bailey said. “A lot of the reform has come from that process.”

Bailey said the athletic training program is currently a program within the kinesiology department, but he said it’s time to make athletic training its own major.

Students now in the program will have the option to stay kinesiology majors or change to athletic training, said Joel Mitchell, chairman of the kinesiology department.

Mitchell said he thinks the students’ transition from the athletic training program to the major will be smooth.

“Although the number of courses in athletic training won’t change, students will be able to reduce the total number of hours they take because they won’t need a different major anymore,” Mitchell said.

Senior health fitness promotion major Amaris Van Dyke, who’s in the athletic training program, said she’s not concerned about graduating without a major in her future occupation.

She also said the new major will bring recognition to the profession.

“People previously thought of athletic trainers as water boys and girls, but now they’re realizing it’s more like physical therapy,” Van Dyke said.

Colleen Casey
c.m.casey@student.tcu.edu

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