Our vision is that every youth sports program, no matter the size or level of resources, has access to onsite certified athletic trainers — on the game field as well as off the field — throughout the year.
ABOUT ATHLETICARE
Our Vision
Our Mission
At Athleticare Sports Health Foundation, we work daily to build safer sports programs for everyone by CONNECTING underserved schools with access to sports medicine services, EMPOWERING athletic trainers with opportunities for excellence and growth, PROTECTING student athletes from injury and SUPPORTING the communities we serve with access to programs, services and resources to help them build a stronger, safer sporting community.
Our Story
Athleticare Sports Health Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, was founded in 2014 by Dr. Ron Wagner after observing a number of high school sports programs in St. Louis were ill-equipped to run safely, increasing the probability of sports-related injuries in student-athletes. Through Athleticare Sports Health Foundation, Dr. Wagner works to protect student-athletes by providing schools with access to a variety of resources and services, building safer sports programs.
“Sports changed my life for the better. They taught me valuable lessons and built up my character.” – Dr. Ron Wagner
Sports are cornerstone programs for many adolescents, where character is built, sportsmanship is developed, and lifetime healthy habits are established. However, Dr. Wagner noticed that many high school sports programs are ill-equipped to run safely – due to a number of factors, from budgetary concerns to a general lack of understanding of the risks associated with sports injuries.
These same sports programs that are meant to be beneficial in the development of a young athlete’s life have an increased risk of fostering injury-prone activities and the possible untimely end of a young athlete’s sports career when they are under resourced.
Dr. Wagner founded Athleticare Sports Health Foundation to combat this problem by increasing access to certified athletic trainers for underserved schools – to educate student-athletes, parents, and coaches on injury prevention and assist in treatment and rehabilitation of sports injuries. By providing a safe and healthy environment, Athleticare Sports Health Foundation believes student-athletes will be better positioned to benefit from their experiences positively, including building character and leadership skills, learning teamwork and time management, growing academically, and fostering lifetime healthy habits. Athleticare Sports Health Foundation also served as a premier resource for empowering athletic trainers by offering professional and educational opportunities with admittance to a world-class athletic training fellowship program.