In the near future, I plan to introduce a resolution recognizing March 2026 as “National Athletic Training Month” in Pennsylvania.

National Athletic Training Month is celebrated each March to spread awareness about the important work of athletic trainers, and this year’s theme is “Care You Can Count On.” The first National Athletic Training Month took place in 2001 when it was established by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA). Founded in 1950, NATA now represents and supports more than 36,000 members of the athletic training profession employed in professional sports, colleges and universities, high schools, clinics and hospitals, corporate and industrial settings, performing arts, and every branch of the United States military.

This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers’ Society, which was founded in 1976 and has served as an advocate for the profession and for patient-centered health care in the Commonwealth for five decades. Today, more than 3,000 licensed athletic trainers practice in Pennsylvania, providing health and safety services to athletes, performers, and residents in communities across the Commonwealth.

Licensed athletic trainers have a long history of providing quality health care and applying evidence-based knowledge and skills to protect and care for individuals. Athletic trainers are highly skilled health care professionals who specialize in immediate, acute, and emergency care. They also provide examinations, assessments, and diagnoses. Athletic trainers work to prevent injury and provide risk management assessments, therapeutic intervention, and rehabilitation of injury and illness.

I am proud to have worked with so many of these outstanding health care professionals throughout my own career as an athletic trainer, and I ask all of you to join me in celebrating March as National Athletic Training Month.