Westfield State Athletic Training Program

EXAMPLE SKILL Practice Domain 1, Equipment Fitting: Athletic Trainers study and apply proper inspecting, fitting, and maintenance practices for helmets and other required protective equipment. These occur regularly throughout the season. We work with coaches to instruct participants to prevent intentional head-first contact and other motions that increase risk of traumatic injury.
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Congratulations to alumni and Carolina Hurricanes Athletic Trainer Koryd Lavimoniere on the 2026 Stanley Cup win! Westfield State Athletics Westfield State University

EXAMPLE SKILL Practice Domain 1, Pre-participation Physical Exams.

Athletic Trainers take a lead role in creating, administering, screening, and reviewing mental and physical pre-participation examinations (PPE). Athletic Trainers develop skills in their education to identify underlying risk factors for mental and physical illnesses and injuries and utilize these screenings to intervene BEFORE the participant is affected by these conditions. These risks may be for mental health issues such as depression, and also cardiac or other organ system concerns. It is one of the many reasons why Athletic Trainer employment settings are expanding to non-sport scenarios such as firefighting, police, military, and occupational settings.
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EXAMPLE SKILL Practice Domain 1, Emergency Action Planning:

Athletic Trainers lead interdisciplinary teams to design, update, and PRACTICE site-specific Emergency Action Plans (EAPs). This includes rapid movement of participants and spectators to safe areas for electrical or wind emergencies, meaningful placement of emergency equipment (cold water immersion tubs, AEDs), and role practice of medical and non-medical personnel.

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EXAMPLE SKILL Practice Domain 1, Environmental Monitoring:

Understanding when the environment poses a risk of injury or illness is an essential skill for . Electrical, wind, moisture, heat, or cold concerns each pose threats to participant safety. study and practice to understand these threats BEFORE risk of injury or illness become elevated. Actions in this domain would be regular humidity and temperature monitoring with a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) readings, understanding radar and lightning readings, and heat indices. Your response would be to modify activities, change hydration and nutrition intake, and access to areas of safety. This leads us to the next set of skills…
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ATHLETIC TRAINING 101: Practice Domain 1: Risk Reduction, Wellness, and Health Literacy.

According to the 8th Edition of the Board of Certification, Content Outline for Practice Analysis, 8th Edition, this domain is involved with “Proactively identifying risk factors to prevent injury and illness. This includes developing conditioning programs, conducting pre-participation physicals, and educating athletes on nutrition and lifestyle choices.”
“Risk reduction, often synonymous with risk management, is one of the most important domains of the athletic training profession. It can be defined as “activities to prevent, ameliorate, treat, and/or reduce injury-related disability and death.”
Follow along! The next two weeks, we'll give examples of the skills sets acquired by Athletic Trainers for this domain of practice.

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ATHLETIC TRAINING 101: Domains of practice. According to the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA), there are FIVE domains – or areas – of practice for Athletic Trainers. We’ll spend the next two weeks exploring these domains and what that means for . These domains are: 1) Risk Reduction, Wellness, and Health Literacy 2) Assessment, Evaluation, and Diagnosis 3) Critical Incident Management 4) Therapeutic Intervention 5) Health Care Administration and Professional Responsibility.
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Congratulations to all of our Sports Medicine and Human Performance 2026 Graduates! We look forward to hearing about your successes in your careers and in graduate school! Westfield State University Westfield State Athletics Westfield State Alumni

? Clinical experiences are boosted WHEN working with great athletes/teams (and vice-versa). Our Westfield State Athletics Owls are AGAIN tops in the MASCAC Sports (SIXTH STRAIGHT)! Westfield State University

Owls Secure 20th Smith Cup as MASCAC’s All-Time Winningest Institution
https://westfieldstateowls.com/general/2025-26/releases/20260512n645m0

ATHLETIC TRAINING 101: According to the National Athletic Trainers Association (National Athletic Trainers' Association), Athletic Training "encompasses the Prevention, Examination, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Rehabilitation of Emergent, Acute, or Chronic injuries and medical conditions.
That's a lot to take in with one statement, so we'll spend a few days breaking that all down. We'll start by digging into what each of those areas encompass.
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