Athletic Training Alumni Share Professional Experiences with Students

Alumni from the athletic training education program in the Division of Kinesiology and Recreation at California State University, Dominguez Hills returned to campus on March 4 to speak to current students during a mentorship session organized by instructor Willda Bingham. Fifteen alumni in careers such as physical education, athletic administration, professional sports, performance enhancement, and physical therapy spoke about their education, experiences, and the job options available to new graduates.

The majority of speakers represented physical education and athletic training programs at the high school and college levels, including Tony Diaz, athletic trainer, Compton College; Evonne Durand, athletic trainer, Orange Coast College; Keith Ellison, head athletic trainer, Loyola Marymount University; Rory Natividad, athletic director and dean, Rio Hondo College; and Davion White, instructor and head athletic trainer, Long Beach Polytechnic High School. Three of the alums — Dr. Michael Ernst, professor and chair of kinesiology and recreation; Dr. Chris Ingstad, athletic trainer and adjunct faculty; and Tim McGuire, head athletic trainer — are currently employed at their alma mater. Ethan Krieswirth, director of the athletic trainer education program, Concordia University, previously worked as an athletic trainer for Toro Athletics.

Dr. Scott Cheatum, a physical therapist and athletic trainer, and Jose Nartea began their own performance enhancement companies and athletic trainer, and physical therapist Monica-Lastrapes Smith works as an independent contractor while raising and home schooling her children. Chris Pearson, Tamara Poole, Robert Walls and Courtney Watson train professional athletes in football, hockey and women's basketball.

Bingham, who also teaches at Loyola Marymount University and is the head athletic trainer at Los Angeles Southwest College, says that the opportunity for students to hear first-hand experiences of professionals in the fields they aspire to is invaluable.

“According to feedback from our kinesiology students who were in attendance, meeting with professionals currently working in the field allowed them to see themselves as having the same potential for success,” she says. “Since [the alumni] all began their educational process at CSU Dominguez Hills, the students can better relate to real life role models who are not any different than they are. They're living examples of people in positions that they may have otherwise thought were unattainable.”

The event was sponsored by the West Coast Sports Medicine Foundation, where according to Bingham, many of her former students served as interns and employees.

For more on the athletic training education program at CSU Dominguez Hills, click here.

- Joanie Harmon