July 14, 2005

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Kelly Fitzgerald has been named assistant athletic trainer at the University of Notre Dame.

Prior to joining the Irish staff, Fitzgerald worked as the primary trainer for the women’s soccer team at the University of Mississippi. In addition to her role with Ole Miss women’s soccer, she was responsible for the day-to-day operations of a satellite athletic training room, all medical paperwork and assistance in the rehabilitation of all student-athletes.

During her yearlong stint in Oxford, Fitzgerald also created and maintained the Ole Miss Sports Medicine website and implemented an ACL Prevention Program for the Rebels’ women’s soccer team.

The Miami, Fla. native also served as a graduate assistant athletic trainer from August 2002 to April 2004 at the University of Northern Colorado. She served as the head athletic trainer for the school’s women’s soccer and men’s and women’s track and field teams, with primary responsibilities for game day and practice operations.

Fitzgerald’s other responsibilities during her tenure at Northern Colorado included oversight of the school’s athletic training clinical education program, supervision of physical examinations and assistance in the selection of prospective undergraduate student trainers.

From August 2000 to May ’02, Fitzgerald served as a student athletic trainer at Florida State. She was the head student athletic trainer on the ’00 Atlantic Coast Conference runner-up women’s soccer team, in addition to working with that year’s ACC champion football team and serving at the FedEx Orange Bowl, when it was the BCS National Championship game, in ’00.

She also served as a student trainer at Barton College in Wilson, N.C. for the 1998-99 academic year, assisting with a variety of men’s and women’s sports.

In addition to her experience on the college level, Fitzgerald did seasonal work from June 1999 to July ’04 at Foot Works in Miami, Fla. She was involved in injury assessment and gait analysis of marathon runners, tri-athletes and recreational runners, as well as proper running shoe fitting and wear analysis.

Fitzgerald began her undergraduate career at Barton College, where she was a member of the school’s varsity soccer team. After transferring to Florida State, she received a bachelor’s of science in human sciences, with an emphasis in athletic training, in ’02, and was awarded a master’s of science in physical education, with an emphasis in sport administration, from Northern Colorado in `04.

She was certified as an athletic trainer by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Board of Certification (NATABOC) in ’02, and earned her National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) strength and conditioning specialist certification in 2005. She is a member of the NATA, NSCA and the Southeastern Athletic Trainers’ Association, and served as a volunteer firefighter in Lafayette (Miss.) County for a year.