Athletic trainers in New York are pushing the state to update a 1992 bill that regulates what they’re allowed to do.
"We've been working on this licensure bill for quite some times," Ryan Krzyanowicz, program director for the University at Buffalo’s Athletics Training program, told WGRZ. "We have brand new accreditation standards that came out and states that all degrees for athletic training must be at the masters level."
The current New York bill doesn’t reflect the current standards, and New York is one of only four states that doesn’t require athletic trainers to have a license.
Kryzanowicz is hoping that changes.
"We're really elevating the educational level of what athletic trainers are and what they can do. That should be reflected within our bill for the state," Krzyanowicz said. "We really are the best people to be evaluating them after an injury. But also we can help prevent injuries from happening.
According to the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, a third of all athletes in secondary schools compete without the assistance of an athlete trainer.
"All high schools should have an athletic trainer, because what happens when they don't and a student athlete gets injured? Who evaluates them? Is it that mom from the stands? Well, that could be a liability issue? Is it the coach? Same thing, that could be a liability issue," Krzyanowicz continues.
