Bio

Wellesley Athletics Welcomes Niki Rybko as Director of Sports Medicine and Wellbeing (Jun 03, 2015)

Niki Rybko joined Wellesley in 2015 after spending four years at Harvard University, where her primary responsibility was to coordinate care for the Harvard-Radcliffe Crew teams.

While at Harvard, Rybko played a large role in the Sports Medicine Department of one the nation’s largest collegiate athletic departments, serving as a member of the Student-Athlete Prescreen and Physicals, 5-Year Planning, Disordered Eating/Mental Health and the Emergency Planning Committees. In addition, she worked as a preceptor for athletic training students from both Boston University and Lasell College. Her relationship with Lasell College extended beyond clinical work and into the classroom, as Rybko has also served as an Adjunct Professor in the College’s CAATE Athletic Training Education Program since 2006.

Prior to arriving at Harvard, Rybko spent six years at Brandeis University, working as one of three athletic trainers to cover all 21 of the Judges’ Division III Varsity programs. While at Brandeis, she provided daily coverage of athletic practices and competitions, assisting with the care, prevention and rehabilitation of injuries and illness for over 300 student-athletes. Rybko’s responsibilities ultimately expand to include supervision of work study and athletic training students, the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and sports psychology and sport sociology independent studies. She was also responsible for authoring the sports medicine policies, the procedures manual and the creation of strength and conditioning programs for the women’s basketball, volleyball, softball and men’s soccer programs.

Rybko is a Certified and Licensed Athletic Trainer and a 2001 graduate of the University of Florida with a degree in Exercise and Sport Science/Athletic Training. She received her Masters in Exercise Science from the School of Public Health at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2004.

Rybko spent time as a Graduate Assistant Athletic Trainer at UMass, working with the men’s soccer and women’s lacrosse programs, as well as an Intern Athletic Trainer at Northwestern University, working with women’s volleyball and cheerleading. As an undergraduate at Florida, she worked with the Gators women’s soccer and volleyball teams, as well as local high school athletes.