Athletic Mastery

Students in Radford University’s Master of Science in Athletic Training (MSAT) program follow a tight and accelerated schedule, but the payoff is quick and rewarding

It makes sense that a graduate program that focuses on sports performance, emergency response and health is, itself, fastpaced and demanding, with clear and accelerated rewards.

Students in Radford University’s Master of Science in Athletic Training (MSAT) program hit the ground running and move through their required courses in two years, earning a degree that prepares them to pass the Board of Certification examination.

Athletic trainers treat people of all ages, assessing and providing rehabilitation of musculoskeletal issues and, perhaps most crucially, they’re often the first to offer immediate treatment of sporting injuries. They also work under the supervision of physicians to provide healthcare for clients in such settings as high schools, universities, hospitals and rehabilitation clinics.

Radford’s MSAT program is overseen by Director Sarah Rabe ’07, Coordinator of Clinical Education

Michael Moore ’95, M.S. ’97, and the Department of Health and Human Performance’s Angela Mickle – each a licensed athletic trainer (LAT) and certified athletic trainer (ATC).

Last summer, five students began their first semester in the program – a modest size, but the group agreed that the level of closeness increased their teamwork, heightened their hands-on exposure and facilitated interactivity with instructors.

Student Caitlyn Pharis said she liked the program’s structure because they tackle one course at a time, albeit at an accelerated rate.

“We were only in one class for a couple weeks, then we would switch to another,” Pharis said. “It’s nice because you only have to focus on that one class; you don’t have to switch gears, because some of the classes are pretty different. Not that it’s easy, but I prefer it this way.”

Pharis earned her undergraduate degree in kinesiology, then worked as a personal trainer, but a desire to do more for her clients led her to the program.

“I feel like it does give me more of an advantage than just personal training, because in personal training, if there were injuries, I had to stop or change the exercise completely or even refer them out,” Pharis said. “With athletic training, if they get injured, I’ll be able to treat them and see the whole recovery process and then get them back into the game.”

Another of the program’s participants is Ta’vyon Harris from Richmond, Virginia, who studied health and human performance. He also played college football and, in 2019, suffered an injury that required physical therapy. He now hopes to maintain his ties to the game by helping others.

“I’m passionate about athletic training,” Harris said. “And I want to make sure people know that if they’re taken out of sports, there are other things they can do.”

Together, from May until the beginning of August, the group tackled courses in Foundational Concepts in Athletic Training, Emergency Care and Planning, and Pathophysiology.

They converged each weekday at Peters Hall in a space that’s part lecture hall, part athletic training clinic. It looks like a place where a lot of work gets done, and it is.

“Every day is basically more than a week of class during the normal semester,” Rabe explained to the students early on. “It’s a lot, and we know it’s a lot. We expect a lot out of you. But we also support you as much as we can along the way.

“We're going to put the decisionmaking on you – to figure things out on your own,” she continued. “When you find something out on your own, you're more likely to retain it.”

That same week, Rabe showed the class the ins and outs of treating hypothetical cuts incurred by athletes during a game.

Using a red marker, she drew a laceration on the front of their calves. While that might seem easily treatable, there’s a special method for everything, even putting on rubber gloves to avoid contamination.

One by one, each student discovered that the dark brown Betadine disinfectant they used spilled down the patients’ legs, making a mess that was hard to wipe up with gauze pads, and though the “injured athletes” wanted to help, they weren’t allowed to.

“With every single class you’re going to take in this program, you have to learn by doing,” Moore told the students during their first week.

“You have to get involved and put your hands on people, and you have to be willing to fail,” he said. “It’s OK to fail; you learn a lot from failures. And then your failure will be less and less because you become a better athletic training student and a better clinical athletic trainer.”