Melissa Linstrom

Athletic Trainer

2nd Year

University of Utah alumna Melissa Linstrom is entering her second season as the Utah gymnastics athletic trainer in 2021-22. Prior to making the move back to Salt Lake City, Linstrom had spent the past five years serving in various athletic trainer roles at Texas Tech.

Beginning in May of 2018, Linstrom served as the Associate Athletic Trainer at Texas Tech where she worked with the men's and women's tennis programs. She aided in the development of championship level student-athletes that had gone on to win Big XII conference championships, advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament and rank as high as No. 5 in the nation. Heading all health care for the programs, Linstrom was tasked with creating and implementing preventative rehabilitation exercise programs to reduce injury risk, evaluate and diagnose acute and chronic athletic injuries within the scope of practice, while also educating the athletes on prevention of injuries, proper nutrition and training techniques.

While the Associate Athletic Trainer, Linstrom also worked in the TTU Department of Sport Management and Kinesiology as a faculty instructor where she taught KIN 3313: Care and Prevention of Athletic Injuries to undergraduate students.

Linstrom worked with the Texas Tech tennis programs for five years dating back to when she first joined the programs as a post-graduate intern while she earned her master's degree in Kinesiology. Following the completion of her master's degree in May of 2017, Linstrom was hired on as the athletic trainer for the tennis teams, along with aiding in the coverage of fall football training camp and working with visiting football teams during the season.

Outside of her time with the Red Raiders, Linstrom worked as a contract athletic trainer with the Covenant Health group where she provided coverage for a six-man high school football team and other various high school squads. She conducted on-field assessments of musculoskeletal and cerebral injuries. Additionally, Linstrom spent a year with the United State Tennis Association. While with the USTA, she was the head athletic trainer for a professional tennis tournament and supplied professional athletes with care during strenuous, multi-match competition days.

Linstrom earned a bachelor's of science in Athletic Training and minored in Nutrition from the University of Utah in May of 2015. During her athletic training education program at the U, she spent time with the Utah football, Utah softball and Highland High School teams in her clinical rotations.