A WSU student examines an athlete in the Athletic Training facility.

Athletic Training (MSAT)

Master's

PROGRAM SNAPSHOT

Build on your undergraduate background to join an in-demand, rewarding healthcare field. Turn your passions for sports and helping people into a professional career.

Why Study Athletic Training at Winona State?

Athletic trainers are professionally prepared healthcare providers focused on serving active populations, including athletes at all levels of participation. Athletic trainers provide emergency care, diagnose conditions, and develop rehabilitation plans to treat their patients now and prevent further damage later.  

Athletic trainers also work with individuals of all age groups—from children and the elderly—and patients at different settings—from athletes to soldiers—all with the same goal: helping prevent and treat sports injuries and illnesses. 

Become a certified athletic trainer with the Master of Science in Athletic Training (MSAT) at Winona State in as little as 2 years. 

Designed for students who already have a bachelor’s degree, the MSAT program features many opportunities for students to gain competitive certification and more than 1,000 hours of clinical practice. 

This program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) and is available through WSU’s Health, Exercise & Rehabilitative Sciences Department

What Will You Learn as an Athletic Training Student?

As an Athletic Training student, you’ll learn and practice athletic training skills at both the traditional and advanced levels. 

You’ll also: 

  • use casting techniques to protect fractured limbs. 
  • work with the best technology—from suturing to IV insertion to manikin simulations. 
  • use diagnostic ultrasound to assess injuries or disorders to muscles, ligaments, spinal discs, and more. 
  • gain advanced credentials such as Corrective Exercise Specialist certification and Graston Technique training.
  • stay on top of emerging trends in athletic training, including emergency care, psychosocial health care, and diagnosis, evaluation, and therapeutic interventions. 

Your coursework will prepare you for careers in a variety of advanced practice settings, like the National Basketball Association (NBA); National Football League (NFL); NCAA Division I, II, and III institutions; sports medicine clinics and hospitals; and even performing arts, military, and high school settings. 

Program Highlights

In the Classroom

Innovative Technology

As an Athletic Training Student, you’ll have access to cutting-edge equipment.

Our simulation manikin allows students to practice emergency care—from CPR to airway insertion to vital sign assessment—and to identify different cardiac and respiratory sounds.

And with our diagnostic ultrasound unit, students get great practice before working with real-world clients.

Competitive Certification

Get the real-world preparation you need to become an athletic trainer along with your degrees.

The Athletic Training program incorporates extra instruction right into the curriculum, preparing students to achieve Corrective Exercise Specialist certification through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM).

Extracurricular Credentials

Winona State offers students access to Basic Life Support certification through the American Red Cross.

We incorporate Graston M1 training in the classroom, so students can practice advanced manual therapy techniques during clinical education experiences.

You’ll also earn Mental Health First Aid certification through the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) to recognize early signs or symptoms that someone with a mental health challenge may have and refer them to the right support services.

Engaged Learning Spaces

Winona State has state-of-the-art facilities that offer Athletic Training students the space to: 

  • practice their clinical skills. 
  • expand their classroom learning. 
  • mature into outstanding healthcare professionals. 

This teaching laboratory hosts Athletic Training lab courses for both classroom instruction and supervised skills practice. 

Athletic Training students working with a Warrior athlete.

As a primary clinical site for Athletic Training students, this space is where students evaluate, diagnose, and treat Warrior athletes.

WSU student using weights

The IWC houses strength and conditioning, counseling services, intramurals, and other specialty areas for students to incorporate into patient care.

Beyond Campus

Clinicals

Once admitted to the MSAT program, students complete 1,000 hours of clinicals.

During the first year of the program, Athletic Training students complete their clinicals locally with Warrior Athletics, St. Mary’s University, and other local clinical sites.

Immersive Experiences

Students who are farther along in the MSAT curriculum also complete 2 intensive, 10-week immersive experiences, which can be done anywhere in the nation.

These experiences are designed to help students develop into highly skilled and independent healthcare professionals who can advance the care of all.

Community-Based Learning

Stand out on your job applications with impressive volunteer experiences.

Athletic Training students have assisted in providing medical coverage at the American Birkebeiner, the largest cross-country ski race in the U.S.

Students are also uniquely involved with Bridges Health, a local healthcare clinic providing care to all socioeconomic populations in the community.

Hear from Athletic Training Alumni
I am a hands-on learner, so the many clinical hours, immersion sites, and practicals all prepared me the best before becoming a full-time certified athletic trainer.
S.I. Washington ’23
The freedom to choose my clinical immersion sites was a major plus of the MSAT program because I got to explore my two main athletic training interests and discover the best path for me.
Logan Rupnow ’23
Academically, the program is challenging and rigorous—but it’s structured in a way that isn’t overwhelming. The professors are flexible and always willing to adjust things to help make it more manageable.
Hannah Valen ’22
I owe the MSAT program everything for where I’ve gotten in my profession so far. I wouldn’t have gotten a head athletic trainer position in the professional baseball setting without the opportunities I was given at WSU.
Kaela Johnson ’21
Careers & Outcomes

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the field for athletic trainers is expected to grow 14% by 2031. 

Other Program Info

The Master of Science in Athletic Training (MSAT) program is currently accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE).

The CAATE reports student achievement and performance data for all accredited programs that is aggregated over the most recent three-year period. View CAATE Data for WSU.

The WSU Athletic Training program is committed to providing the best educational experience to the students accepted and enrolled in our professional degree program.

To ensure program effectiveness multiple points of assessment data are gathered to evaluate the success of the curriculum, the clinical experiences, and our students.

View the MSAT Outcome Measures Chart (PDF).

The following information complies with Regulation 34 CFR 668.43 (a) (5) (v) through the U.S. Department of Education:

WSU’s Athletic Training program curriculum meets state educational requirements in the states/jurisdictions of: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and District of Columbia.

This information was last updated on July 1, 2021.

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