Do you enjoy sports and physical activity, the human body, solving problems, caring for patients, and working with people?
If so, have you considered pursuing a career in athletic training?
The Master of Science in Athletic Training (MSAT) program at UW–Madison is a 24-month program that prepares students seeking a health care career in athletic training.
To give you some insight into this program, following is a Q&A with Isabel Lampre, a former student-athlete at UW–Madison who today is a student with with the MSAT program.
Where are you from and what drew you to UW–Madison? I was born and raised in Brisbane, Australia. I moved to the U.S. in September of 2018 to start university here. The athletics department and my experiences with the athletic trainers that work here were what drew me to attend UW–Madison for my graduate program.
Where did you earn your undergraduate degree, and what sport did you compete in? I earned my undergraduate degree at UW–Madison and graduated in December 2022. I majored in biology and I was a member of the women’s swimming team here.
How did you decide to study athletic training, and how long have you been in the program? I started in the Master of Science in Athletic Training program in the summer of 2023 and I’m currently in my first year of the program. Before moving to the U.S. I had no idea what athletic training was, or what work athletic trainers did. My time as a student-athlete was the first exposure I had to athletic training, and I was lucky enough to have had some incredible ATs over my four years. It was them that sparked my interest in the profession, but I debated about pursuing it for a long time. It wasn’t until I took my undergraduate anatomy class that I truly realized how much I enjoy learning about musculoskeletal injuries and anatomy, and how we treat these things. It was after that I made the decision to start the application process for an athletic training master’s program.
Where are you doing your fieldwork this fall? This fall I am working with the UW–Madison football team!
What has it been like moving from the athlete side of the equation to the health care side? Are there any advantages to being a former student-athlete who is now working toward becoming an AT? It’s been extremely interesting moving to the other side of the equation and so far it’s been really rewarding. I’ve dealt with injuries over the years and now getting to see the other side of how ATs diagnose and plan rehabilitative programs has been lots of fun. There is so much work that goes on behind the scenes that many people are unaware of. Personally, I think there is a fantastic advantage in being a former student-athlete. I feel as though I have a unique understanding of the pressures that a collegiate athlete is experiencing, and I understand how hard it is to juggle an elite level of both school and athletics. Every interaction I have with a patient I try to keep in mind the experiences I’ve had as an athlete, and more often than not, just being a person that will listen to them is what they really appreciate.
What do you enjoy most about being an athletic trainer? At this point, what I enjoy the most about athletic training is getting to see any athlete return to play after an injury. The day they get to go back to practice, or play in a game for the first time since injury, feels like we have come full circle and it is very exciting.
What’s next for you? What are your future plans? I still have roughly one-and-a-half years left in my MSAT program and I’m incredibly excited for my immersive experiences over that time. Beyond that, I plan to pursue a career working in collegiate athletics.
Athletic trainers (ATs) are multi-skilled professionals who collaborate with physicians as part of the health care team to provide preventative services, emergency care, clinical diagnosis, therapeutic intervention, and rehabilitation of injuries and medical conditions. For those who seek dynamic, exciting, and challenging work within the health care field, athletic training is an incredibly rewarding career with a positive employment outlook. For more information visit the MSAT program’s website.