A certified athletic trainer with over 14 years of experience, Samantha Blakely joined the program in the summer of 2024 as the assistant athletic director of sports medicine and healthcare administrator. She will oversee both the athletic training staff and the strength and conditioning team.
Blakely spent the previous two years as a traveling athletic trainer with Jurassic World Live, providing care to staff, cast and crew for the tour across the country. She also served as the workers comp liaison and CoVID compliance officer.
Prior to that, she spent four years as the concussion clinic coordinator for Holy Cross Health in Broward COunty, Florida. She served as the Concussion Chairperson on the Broward County Athletic Association Health and Wellness Committee and provided concussion spotting coverage for some of the top teams in the county, including St. Thomas Aquinas High, Inter Miami Soccer, and American Top Team.
She served two stints as the primary athletic trainer with Walt Disney World, providing an injury prevention program for entertainment cast members at the theme parks and on the cruise line. She also led daily strength and conditioning sessions.
In between the stints, she worked as the head athletic trainer at Father Lopez Catholic High in Tampa, Fla., and with the Tampa Bay Storm in the Arena Football League.
Blakely earned her bachelor's degree from North Central College in Napierville, Ill., in athletic training with a minor in psychology in 2009. She completed her master's degree in kinesiology at A.T. Still University in Kirksville, Mo., in 2021.
She holds certifications from the National Athletic Training Association (NATA) since 2007, and has had her Florida license since 2011. She is a member of the performing arts athletic training society and is certified in CPR and AED by the American Red Cross. She is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine as a corrective exercise specialist and performance enhancement specialist.
