Athleticare Sports Health Foundation

Athleticare Sports Health Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, was founded in 2014 by Dr. Ron Wagner after observing a number of high school sports programs in St. Louis were ill-equipped to run safely, increasing the probability of sports-related injuries in student-athletes. Through Athleticare Sports Health Foundation, Dr. Wagner works to protect student-athletes by providing schools with access to a variety of resources and services, building safer sports programs.

“Sports changed my life for the better. They taught me valuable lessons and built up my character.” – Dr. Ron Wagner
Sports are cornerstone programs for many adolescents, where character is built, sportsmanship is developed, and lifetime healthy habits are established. However, Dr. Wagner noticed that many high school sports programs are ill-equipped to run safely – due to a number of factors, from budgetary concerns to a general lack of understanding of the risks associated with sports injuries.

These same sports programs that are meant to be beneficial in the development of a young athlete’s life have an increased risk of fostering injury-prone activities and the possible untimely end of a young athlete’s sports career when they are under resourced.