What if warehouse workers, first responders, and high school athletes had access to the same athletic trainers who keep D-1 football stars healthy? As our guest today explains, this vision of athletic trainers embedded across workplaces and schools is starting to be a reality. And the implications for physical—and mental—health are profound. In this conversation with Ally Smith, the founding Chair of Antioch’s new MS in Athletic Training, we discuss this profession’s broadening horizons, what it means to be a competency-based clinician, and how she imagines a world that sees “people not as disposable, but as an asset to be taken care of and nurtured.”
Visit Antioch’s website to learn more about the MS in Athletic Training that Ally chairs. You can also visit the main page for the Graduate School of Nursing and Health Professions. To learn more about the Coalition for the Common Good, visit the CCG website.
This episode was recorded October 22, 2025 via Squadcast and released November 19, 2025.
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The Seed Field Podcast is produced by Antioch University
Host: Jasper Nighthawk
Editor: Nastasia Green
Producer: Karen Hamilton
Work-Study Assistants: Dani LaPointe, and Liza Wisner.
Additional Production Help: Amelia Bryan, Jonathan Hawkins, Jefferson Blackburn-Smith, Gina Calcamuggio, Jenny Hill, Kati Skon, and Laurien Alexandre
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