Photo courtesy of Anika Goodhue. Mount Holyoke Athletics hired Victoria VanAlstine-Taur as the new assistant athletic trainer.
By Emily Tarinelli ’25
Sports Editor
Mount Holyoke College’s Athletic Training staff expanded with the hiring of assistant athletic trainer Victoria VanAlstine-Tauer, who joined Head Athletic Trainer Ellen Perrella and Assistant Athletic Trainer Catie LeBlanc in October 2022.
Before coming to Mount Holyoke, VanAlstine-Tauer graduated from Westfield State University in 2016, where she competed on the cross country and track and field teams and received her Bachelor of Science in athletic training. While a student athletic trainer at Westfield, she had a clinical site at Mount Holyoke, which first put Mount Holyoke on her radar.
“I really liked it [here] a lot,” VanAlstine-Tauer said of the experience. She added that an athletic training position may have opened up around that time, but she had already enrolled at Smith College for her graduate studies, where she worked as a graduate assistant athletic trainer and earned her Master of Science in exercise science and sport studies in 2018.
“Having worked at Smith College and [being there for] grad school, and then having this experience in undergrad, I really wanted to get back to … a woman-centered college,” VanAlstine-Tauer said. “When I saw that the … position was open [at Mount Holyoke again], I wanted to get in on it because it’s very close to where I live and it’s a great opportunity for my family. … I really appreciate the culture that’s on campus.”
Expanding on the culture at Mount Holyoke, VanAlstine-Tauer said that she appreciated the community’s closeness, determination and individuality.
“I think the community within athletics alone is so family focused. And then you have the students who are incredibly smart, want to know what’s going on and ask you to be the best you could be for them. I think it’s just a really forward-growth community and that’s why I want to be here and why I like Mount Holyoke,” she continued. “I’m a quirky person anyway, and it’s extra quirky here.”
VanAlstine-Tauer said that her experience in dealing with sports injuries combined with an interest in medicine drew her to a career in athletic training.
“I had been injured quite a lot growing up, and I really liked medicine, but I wasn’t fully committed to being a doctor, a physician’s assistant or a nurse,” she said. Athletic training, however, “works out pretty well,” she said.
VanAlstine-Tauer worked as a full-time athletic trainer at Amherst Regional High School in Amherst, Massachusetts from February 2021 to June 2021. She then transitioned to a full-time assistant athletic training position at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Gill, Massachusetts, where she remained until coming to Mount Holyoke. It was during this time period — between January 2021 and June 2022 — that VanAlstine-Tauer acquired a second master’s degree, this time in music business, from Southern New Hampshire University in partnership with Berklee College of Music.
“I got my second one working full time and going to school full time, so I’m pretty proud of that,” VanAlstine-Tauer said. “It seems like [someone might ask], ‘Why would someone get a master’s degree in music business as an athletic trainer?’ But the parallels between things like events and budgeting are incredible.”
VanAlstine-Tauer said that the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic motivated her to work towards her master’s degree in music business.
“I was like, ‘Oh, shoot, how the heck am I going to be an athletic trainer again?’ Athletics was one of the things that was supposed to be safe,” VanAlstine-Tauer said. “I think when the pandemic … shut everything down, … I [didn’t] know if I [was] going to ever be an athletic trainer again, or if it was ever going to be in the same facets.” However, she thought her second master’s degree would still help her “in essence as an athletic trainer.”
Now at Mount Holyoke, VanAlstine-Tauer reflected on the process of adjusting to a new environment.
“I’m coming from a place where I had 30 kids that I was actively checking in on, and here, it’s [much less than that with] only three or four sports going on now,” VanAlstine-Tauer said. “The grind is here, but it’s much more manageable than other places.”
VanAlstine-Tauer said her favorite part about working with Mount Holyoke student-athletes is their unique and driven personalities.
“They’re quirky and dedicated and smart,” VanAlstine-Tauer said. “They ask you to be your best, and I think that’s super inspiring.”