March is National Athletic Training Month, and the IC Department of Athletics invites you to join us in acknowledging all of the members of our athletic training staff and the adjustments they've made during the pandemic to keep our Bomber athletes healthy while still providing the same exceptional care as they always have.    
 
Athletic trainers (ATs) are health care professionals that coordinate and execute injury prevention programs, prepare our Bomber athletes for practices and games, communicate with our team physician about injuries, treat and rehabilitate any injured players while helping facilitate their return to play, and so much more. For more information about the profession and what ATs do please visit https://www.nata.org
 
The National Athletic Trainers' Association designated the slogan for this month to be "Essential to Health Care" and we're seeing that more now than ever during the pandemic. From the NATA- "Over the past year, collegiate athletic trainers on campuses big and small have stepped up to slow the spread of and manage the COVID-19 pandemic. While many ATs have transitioned to testing and even vaccinating in the athletics department, some institutions have turned to their athletic trainers to take the lead for the entire campus as essential health care providers. Athletic trainers have the foundational skill set and education to manage challenging and unpredictable situations COVID has caused, making them the ideal health care providers to have during these times.
 
At IC, we have seven certified athletic trainers working with our teams on campus as well as three graduate assistants and our athletic training students. Although our fall and winter teams are not currently competing, they are practicing along with spring athletics, which means the AT staff is working more than ever while providing coverage for multiple teams at once this semester. It truly has been all hands-on deck but we wouldn't trade it for the world because we are able to help our athletes safely do what they love; participate in their sports.
 
Visit https://www.ithaca.edu/academics/school-health-sciences-and-human-performance/exercise-science-and-athletic-training/athletic-training-education/faculty-staff-medical-team to meet our athletic training staff and learn more about them!
 
One way you can join us in thanking our athletic trainers is to visit this link and give them a shout out! https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=9sga-lReV0ifC0qkIsCWiY8Tjb0D3TJGvMtkTn5e_eFUNEJPTDhRRU9IWURJVzE5NVBHMEpJU0xKRC4u
 
You can also follow IC Athletic Training on Instagram @IC_AthleticTraining https://www.instagram.com/ic_athletictraining/?hl=en to learn more and see other ways you can celebrate National Athletic Training Month with us.