CLEVELAND — Jason Christner is a Sport Health and Fitness Tech Instructor at the Lorain County Joint Vocational School. He said athletic trainers need to know how to use cold temperatures to help a swollen ankle. 

What You Need To Know

  • Industry experts are seeing shortage of new athletic trainers 

  • Depsite the shortage, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates a 17% growth in the field by 2031

  • An instructor at the Lorain County Joint Vocational School said one deterrent is the advanced education requirements for the job

“This would be a treatment protocol utilized in the first 48 to 72 hours to help with that inflammatory process,” Christner said. 

He said there’s a growing demand for trainers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the number of athletic trainer jobs to grow by 17% by 2031, and projects 2,500 new openings each year on average.

Christner said one thing that’s getting in the way of more trainers is advanced education requirements to get certified.

“With it being a master’s degree program, there’s not really any extra money in it from having a master’s degree, so you tack another two years on the education and what kind of college tuition costs, and then you’re not making any money on the back end,” he explained. 

Christner said the increased demand comes from schools looking for an in-house athletic trainer. Some schools contract with hospitals for an athletic trainer, but Christner said having one on site is more efficient, since they would know the athletes on a personal level.

“One of the best things about being an athletic trainer is you really get to know the students,” Christner said. “That’s important when they get hurt, so you know how they act or respond to an injury or how they’re going to act or respond to the rehab process.”

Student Colt Duke signed up for this class after he got hurt playing a sport. He was fascinated at how he was helped by athletic trainers, and then got to shadow his high school’s athletic trainer.

“I’d really like that,” he said. “I thought it was a pretty unique thing, getting a view on what I could do in my future.”

The classes at the JVS can earn students to up to 20 college credits, and they will have a leg up on their peers when they start their undergraduate program.

“The biggest part is the knowledge that they’re going to get in the program,” Christner said. “The college credits are nice. It’s a nice free bonus, but it’s the knowledge and experience that you get in the program that really is going to help put you ahead of the other students.”

Christner said the demand and the job growth practically ensure that there will be jobs for these future trainers when they graduate.