The WHS Sports Medicine Program was started in 1992 and is designed for students interested in fields such as athletic training, physical therapy, medicine, fitness, physiology of exercise, kinesiology, nutrition, and other sports medicine related fields.  The first year  includes class work and practical hands-on application in the following areas:  prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of sports injuries, taping and wrapping of injuries, first aid/CPR, emergency procedures, and  sports medicine careers. The Sports Medicine course is taken in conjunction with the Sports Medicine Practicum where students work athletes in the Panther Athletic Treatment Center and with athletic teams.

About the Program Director/Instructor

Dale F. Blair, MS, CSCS, ATC

Mr. Blair is a certified athletic trainer and strength and conditioning specialist. He teaches Sports Medicine I, II, III, Sports Medicine Practicum, Fitness Specialist, and Fitness Specialist Practicum at Wenatchee High School. He is also the Head Athletic Trainer for Wenatchee Panther athletic teams. He was selected as Washington State Sports Medicine Educator of the Year in 1995 and 2008. Mr. Blair previously served as the Director of Sports Medicine at the Wenatchee Valley Clinic Sports Medicine Center from 1984-1992. He was also selected to serve on the sports medicine staff of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games and the 1990 Goodwill Games.
Mr. Blair was awarded by Governor Gary Locke the Washington State Excellence in Education Award in May, 2001. He was inducted into the Northwest Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame in March, 2006.

You can e-mail Dale Blair at blair.d@mail.wsd.wednet.edu

View Dale Blair's CV

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The Program

This past year we had our largest program this past year with 120 students. The 2008-2009 school year was the first year of a separate Sports Medicine 2/3 class.  This class allows us to go deeper in the material that we started in the first year as well as covering higher level knowledge and skills.   We continue to strive to put new and innovative units and projects into the curriculum including:
-Student produced Podcasts
-Internet learning objects used in the classroom
-Customer service training for sports medicine
-Suturing practice on pigs feet (Dr. Freed)
-Hands-on ACL reconstruction unit (chicken thigh/leg)
-Guest speaker on topics including:  dermatology (Dr. Dan Dietzman), pharmacy (Bob Blane), job interviewing/search (Tom Christensen)

Shantelle Nelson and Chris Parker from our program had case studies accepted for presentation at the 2009 National Athletic Trainers’ Association National Conference in San Antonio, Texas. They are the only high school students in the nation accepted for this honor.

In 2013, The WHS Sports Medicine Program continued it string of 19 consecutive top 4 finishes at the Washington Vocational Sports Medicine Association State Competition. In the past 19 years, WHS has been WVSMA State Champions 5 times (1998, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012) and placed second place 9 times. 

Individually, Wenatchee has had three WVSMA state champions: Nic Truscott in 2002, Julie Stahly in 2003, and Danny Burnham in 2011.

The Wenatchee High School Sports Medicine Program was honored with the High School Athletic Training Management Award of Excellence for 1995 by Athletic Management Magazine. The award was presented for a Cervical Injury Symposium that as conducted to coordinate all on-the-field medical personnel with a cervical injury protocol. Click here to see a copy of this protocol.

The WHS Sports Medicine Program/Curriculum was recognized in the June 1996 issue of the NATA News. To see the Wenatchee vocational sports medicine curriculum please click here. The WHS Sports Medicine Program was also featured in an article in Current Health magazine (September 1997) and in Training and Conditioning magazine (September 2009).

The WHS Sports Medicine Program has been selected to write a column for Prep Illustrated, a national high school sports magazine. Students write a monthly column on a different sports medicine topic for each issue. Sports medicine students Lisa Zanol, Ruth Sarles, and Adam Noble articles have also been published in The First Aider magazine from Cramer Products, Inc.

Visit the Wenatchee High School Athletic Treatment Center