When Hollywood Gets Athletic Training Wrong (and Why It Matters)

When Hollywood Gets Athletic Training Wrong (and Why It Matters)

Lately, two major TV shows — Landman and Grey’s Anatomy — have spotlighted athletic training in very different ways.

In Landman (S2 Ep 9), an athletic training student appears unsupervised, using questionable techniques like spatting for “weak ankle ligaments” and functioning independently — something that would violate both clinical and educational standards.

In Grey’s Anatomy (S22 Ep10), a community college team suffered multiple injuries without a licensed athletic trainer on site, leading to chaos and delayed medical response.

Both storylines touch on real issues — underrepresentation, underfunding, public confusion of the AT profession, and ultimately misunderstanding of our profession — yet both also miss the mark on depicting what athletic trainers actually do.

For anyone outside the field:

➡️ Athletic trainers (ATs) are licensed healthcare professionals, not coaches or assistants.

➡️ We specialize in injury prevention, emergency care, clinical evaluation, and rehabilitation.

➡️ Athletic trainers actively collaborate with physicians and other healthcare specialists.

➡️ We’re often the first responders for athletes and workers — activating Emergency Action Plans (EAPs), coordinating EMS, and handing off directly to physicians or hospital staff.

Both have been missed opportunities.

Both were moments when athletic trainers could have been accurately portrayed as the licensed healthcare professionals we are.

And yet — not a single public statement, press release, or professional commentary from the NATA, CAATE, or BOC.

Why?

When we stay quiet about misrepresentation, we allow others to define our profession for us. When the public sees “trainers” instead of healthcare providers, that shapes how legislators fund positions, how schools budget for coverage, and how young professionals see their own value.

We can’t afford to let Hollywood dictate our identity.

This is the perfect moment for our professional associations to step in and lead the narrative:

🎯 Issue official responses or educational statements when athletic training is misrepresented on screen.

🎯 Create a media outreach initiative that ensures athletic trainers are represented with accuracy, dignity, and depth.

🎯 A public relations partnership that ensures any show depicting sports medicine does so accurately and respectfully.

The stories we tell on screen shape public perception — and perception shapes policy.

It’s time for our national organizations to advocate beyond the sideline and into the culture that defines how the world sees us.

Silence is not professionalism. It’s missed opportunity.