Sports Medicine
- Title:
- Interim Head Football Athletic Trainer
Kyle Blecha begins his first year with the Mizzou Football program in the role of Interim Head Football Athletic Trainer. While in his first year working directly with the team, Blecha is no stranger to Mizzou and Columbia. He begins this new role after spending the last five years as Sports Medicine Coordinator at the Missouri Orthopedic Institute, and working with Mizzou team physicians Dr. Pat Smith and Dr. Jim Stannard. Blecha has come full circle, as he previously served as a graduate assistant trainer at Mizzou in the mid-1990s while working on his master’s degree.
From July 2000-January 2014, he was the Director of Medical Services at Western Michigan University, where he also served as the Broncos’ head football trainer.
Prior to arriving at WMU, he served over three years as head athletic trainer at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo. He is a certified member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association.
He received his Master’s Degree in Health & Exercise Science from Mizzou in 1995, and worked as a graduate assistant trainer with the Mizzou Sports Medicine team during that time.
As an undergraduate, Blecha was an athletic training student with the Fresno State Bulldogs, completing a bachelor’s degree in physical education-athletic training in 1993.
A native of Ridgecrest, Calif., Kyle and his wife, Kelley, have two daughters, Alyssa and Sydney. Sydney is currently a student at Mizzou.
