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Pre-Athletic Training Advising

Pre-athletic training advising spans all the years of a student's Whitworth education. Explore your career interests, receive personalized guidance, and gain invaluable skills and experience outside of the classroom. The skills you gain will prepare you to be a competitive applicant for an accredited graduate athletic training program and will build the foundation for your future as a holistic clinician.

What is athletic training?

Athletic trainers are healthcare professionals who provide preventive services, emergency care, clinical diagnosis, therapeutic intervention, and rehabilitation of injuries and medical conditions. Athletic training falls under the larger umbrella of sports medicine, and athletic trainers work closely with physicians. The pre-athletic training track for Whitworth's B.S. in health science was specifically designed to prepare you for successful entry into an accredited, graduate-level athletic training program. This track includes all nationally mandated prerequisite courses.

Why pursue pre-athletic training advising at Whitworth?

  • Find your calling. Vocational discernment is interwoven into all aspects of pre-athletic training advising, from mentoring to coursework to internship experiences.
  • Form connections with professors and advisors who want to see you succeed and will support you every step of the way. Our advisors even continue to assist students after their Whitworth graduation, particularly as they prepare their graduate athletic training program applications.
  • Build leadership skills that will strengthen your résumé. At Whitworth, you will have many opportunities to develop into a capable and caring leader, whether by volunteering for a worthwhile cause, getting involved with student government or residence life, or serving as a teaching assistant.
  • Develop transferable skills that will make you more effective in your future career in healthcare and in other areas of life. A Whitworth liberal arts education will prepare you to think critically and communicate clearly.
  • Become who you're meant to be.

Our pre-athletic training grads make a difference (and get jobs)

"We have been fortunate to have alumni from Whitworth University's Athletic Training Program as a part of our intercollegiate sports medicine staff for nearly two decades. The athletic trainers that have come from Whitworth's program to work with us have been great clinicians and excellent professionals, and they have had a genuine respect for the history of our profession. More importantly, they have all been good people with strong values that represent everything positive about Whitworth University, at the same time leading the way as quality healthcare professionals."
– Anonymous, University Director of Sports Medicine in the Pacific Northwest

Our alumni find careers as athletic trainers in high school, collegiate or professional sports, physician offices, corporate/occupational health settings, and therapy clinics.

Recent careers pursued by Whitworth pre-athletic training alumni:

  • Jesus Gonzalez '23, athletic trainer, Multicare
  • Shirley Chandler '22, athletic trainer, Seattle Pacific University
  • Coral Hjert '20, program manager & athletic trainer, Amazon
  • Jared Flattum '21, athletic trainer, University of Washington
  • Skylar Nicholson '22, athletic trainer, New York Mets affiliate minor league baseball

State-of-the-art facility

Our new Dornsife Health Sciences Building includes a motion analysis research lab, exercise physiology labs, anatomy labs, simulation labs, dedicated classroom and functional lab spaces, and a practice clinic. The new facility reflects Whitworth's commitments to quality, faculty, student and staff support, accessibility and environmental sustainability.

Pack your bags!

The pre-athletic training track encourages undergraduate students to study abroad during their time at Whitworth. One opportunity specific to athletic training students is a seminar in sports medicine in Japan, which exposes students to a comparative analysis of Eastern and Western philosophies of athletic healthcare. This course generally runs every third year during May Term.

Internship opportunities

If you're interested in athletic training, you're interested in hands-on learning alongside licensed clinicians. This degree track offers internships that may include experiences on campus with Whitworth Division III athletics and the pirATe clinic, and off campus with local high schools, universities or sporting organizations. These internships provide opportunities to learn and network, while also completing hours that can count toward admission requirements for graduate programs in athletic training.

Ask our pre-athletic training faculty advisors

Ask Cynthia

Professor of Health Sciences Cynthia Wright's area of athletic training expertise is orthopedic injury assessment and treatment.

Smokey Fermin

Ask Smokey

Associate Professor of Health Sciences Smokey Fermin's area of athletic training expertise is manual therapy.

Ask Shane

Associate Professor of Health Sciences Shane Wibel's area of athletic training expertise is acute care and coordinating internships.

What related majors can I explore?

The most common majors selected by pre-athletic training students are the bachelor of science in health science, pre-athletic training track or the bachelor of arts in kinesiology. However, you may be surprised to learn you can choose any major as a pre-athletic training student – as long as you also fit in the prerequisite courses required by your chosen graduate program. Graduate programs in athletic training require prerequisite coursework in the sciences (e.g., human anatomy & physiology, biology, chemistry, physics, psychology), thus most students choose a major that includes some of these courses.