What are the responsibilities and job description for the Head Athletic Trainer, Women's National Team (WNT) position at U.S. Soccer Federation?
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Position Description
The Head Athletic Trainer, WNT will be responsible for the management of the healthcare and safety of the Women’s National Team. This person will be supporting athletic training practice across U.S. Soccer, ensuring that the female lens is at the heart of everything we do in alignment with the WNT strategy.
In camp, the Head Athletic Trainer will have a high level of clinical responsibility working with the Technical Staff and the inter-disciplinary High-Performance staff of athletic trainers, female health consultants, sports scientists, massage therapists, physicians, and dieticians.
Out of camp, the Head Athletic Trainer will execute a high level of administrative responsibilities in providing consultations, referrals, and maintaining organizational duties relevant to the WNT and High-Performance department.
The individual will commit to the WNT Strategy and High-Performance Department’s mission and strategy to maximize performance across all sport development programs at U.S. Soccer.
Primary Responsibilities (in and off Camp)
- Communicating and coordinating a inter-disciplinary team of health care specialists ensuring best practice services for players, coaches, and any other relevant stakeholders.
- Responsible for providing first aid/emergency care, injury/illness evaluation, monitoring, assessment, conducting rehabilitation, and making medical referrals.
- Responsible for upholding delivery of U.S. Soccer standards in injury prevention, recognition, evaluation, treatment and rehabilitation to all WNT players.
- Responsible for evaluating and referring significant injuries and/or illnesses to the team physician, consultants, hospitals or specialists as appropriate.
- Support in designing and implementing injury mitigation and rehabilitation programs.
- Support in conducting movement-based evaluations to develop long term care plans for individual athletes.
- Collaborate in return to play decisions.
- Work closely with the High-Performance staff to ensure the USSF standards in all testing, screening, monitoring, and return-to-play protocols are optimized, delivered, and recorded.
- Collaborate with the Sports Medicine, Technical and Performance Staff in designing, delivering, tracking and analyzing individualized strength, off-pitch conditioning, movement, recovery and menstrual cycle strategies, and any other required programming in line with the individual periodization and/or needs of the athlete.
- The Athletic Trainer will be able to coordinate yearly physicals and administer baseline impact testing.
- Maintain a complete and up-to-date roster of player health and participation records in the electronic medical record system.
- Responsible for accurate and timely daily documentation of all player treatments into EMR and other medical documentation.
- Lead the weekly player update with Medical and Performance Staff, and lead on weekly player update from Medical to Technical Staff.
- Send daily/weekly medical reports to the coaches, physicians, and other staff members within the organization.
- Responsible for leading communication of medical decisions to senior medical leadership, head coach, general manager, and any other relevant staff as appropriate.
- Ensure all medical data collected is disseminated to all required staff and players in line with the U.S. Soccer standards and time frames.
- Support evaluation of vendors of equipment and technology; help to identify products that would be valuable for players and assist with the implementation of solutions.
- Responsible for medical inventory ordering, management, packing, and organizing medical supplies for road trips.
- Travel extensively with WNT to training camps and games both within the United States and abroad.
- Building a strong relationship with WNT clubs' home and abroad to ensure the bilateral sharing of data and information is provided pre- and post-camp.
- Supporting medical administrative duties related to USOPC, WADA/USADA, workers compensation, and others as designated.
- Developing and maintaining a pool of qualified network medical professionals to support the team in the camp environment.
- Contributing to the development and support of all athletic training practice across U.S. Soccer.
- Completing administrative and other duties as required or assigned.
- Support and develop athletic training practice within the NWSL.
- Support and develop athletic training practice within the college and/or other soccer institutions
- Help support and develop internal and external continued professional development for staff within the federation and practitioners within clubs.
- Contribute to the education of staff and coaches within the federation and those enrolled in federation-specific qualification pathways.
- Managing the WNT medical staff and creating clear roles and responsibilities.
- Supporting Female 360 initiative.
- Complete goal setting and performance review discussions with WNT Medical staff on an annual basis, which is monitored and tracked regularly throughout the year, in collaboration with WNT leadership to ensure clear alignment with the WNT strategy.
- Undertake a progressive and ongoing personal and professional developmental process attending and participating in house CPD sessions and external sessions.
- Undertake regular performance appraisals to review your personal development plan and on-and off-camp progress with WNT Leadership.
- Execute additional departmental and team tasks as requested by the Head Coach, WNT, and Program Director, WNT.
Specific in-Camp Roles and Responsibilities
- Daily treatment, scheduling, and programming of maintenance and player care.
- Supervise and support other medical staff within the WNT training camps.
- Lead day-to-day operations of the medical room including staff and player scheduling and maintaining a clean and safe environment.
- Lead on-field training coverage.
Requirements
Minimum Qualifications
- Knowledge and experience in working with female athletes
- Master’s Degree or higher in Athletic Training or related field
- NATABOC certified athletic trainer (ATC), eligible for licensure in Illinois
- Minimum 5 years of clinical experience working within Soccer and/or other elite sport
- General knowledge of soccer
- Capable of working in fast-paced and demanding environments
- Must be able to connect “micro” details to the “macro” vision and mission
- Proficient experience with Microsoft Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook)
- Certifications- BLS for Healthcare Providers
- Proficient in managing and executing emergency medical care best practice
- Excellent written and verbal communication combined with a professional demeanor
- Able and willing to travel up to 75% of the time
- Able and willing to work non-traditional hours including evenings and weekends as needed
- Must be able to stand for long durations, squat, bend, lift, carry, and climb ladders
- Must be able to lift/move/carry up to 50 pounds
Desired Qualifications:
- Experience in managing people
- Passion for soccer
- Advanced education in manual therapy and rehabilitation techniques
- Advanced certification/experience in applied movement analysis and biomechanics
- Experience working in soccer
- Bilingual (English and Spanish)
- Ability to collaborate effectively with colleagues and athletes having a range of backgrounds, interests, and perspectives
- Excellent organizational, data collection, planning, and leadership skills
- Experience working in collaboration with coaches and other support staff
- Proven track record in delivering world-class medical provision to professional athletes
- Vast knowledge and expertise of medical modalities, equipment, and technology
- Proficient on computer software's such as Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Electronic Medical Record System, GPS Monitoring System, or other athlete monitoring platforms
- Thorough institutional knowledge of U.S. Soccer’s mission, goals, technical plan, policies, practices, and procedures
- Previous experience with a club or national team
U.S Soccer is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, citizenship, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, genetic information, military status, political belief, or any other characteristic protected under the law. This policy applies to all our employment practices within our organization.
We strongly encourage women, people of color, LGBTQIA, veterans, parents, and persons with disabilities to apply.
