High school football reigns supreme in Texas during the fall. Under the bright Friday night lights, athletes become hometown legends.
While coaches and athletes garner the newspaper headlines, behind the scenes is a group of unsung heroes getting those same athletes ready for battles on the gridiron.
With a bag full of first aid gear, athletic trainers roam the sidelines during practices, games and beyond, helping keep athletes ready for Friday nights.
“We’ve been hidden behind the lines, and we’ve been working behind the lines so much,” La Joya Palmview athletic trainer Edwin Gomez said. “Yes, we’d like the gratitude, but in a sense we’re used to not getting that recognition. We’re not just water boys or hydration assistants or anything like that. I would really like the public to know we’re a jack-of-all trades. We’re much more than that. We have the best interest of the student-athlete in mind.”
Athletic trainers across the state are off and running with fall sports kicking off mid-August. They’ll be in full swing Thursday, with the 2022 football season kicking off.
Gamedays for athletic trainers normally begin hours before the bright lights come on. For San Benito’s trainers, the day begins the morning of gameday with the loading of their trunk full of first-aid equipment.
From there begins sideline setup almost three hours prior to kickoff, followed by wrapping and treatment for players.
Once the game begins, the athletic trainers run up and down the sidelines following the ball, watching intently for any possible injuries.
“The one thing I think people don’t notice is there is always a trainer on a varsity night that follows the football,” San Benito football head coach Dan Gomez said. “They’re very interested and very in tune with what’s going on. They want to see if any injury occurs. Them being by where the ball is at, they can see it happen and know before they get there what occurred or what’s happening. I think people probably just assume they’re on the sideline waiting for something to happen, but they’re in tune the whole game from the time pregame gets going and all the way to postgame.”
Their work goes beyond medical treatment, however, often spending more time with the student-athletes than others.
Their long hours with the athletes tends to lead to strong relationships beyond sports.
“We just try to provide advice to the best of our ability,” San Benito head athletic trainer Laura Garcia said. “We’re not counselors by any means, but they do trust us with some of their lives and their struggles. We get to see that a lot. The students are definitely our priority, so we just try to do the best for them.”
“That’s actually one of my favorite things, besides being out there and watching the game,” Edwin Gomez said. “That’s the other aspect I love about this profession. We get to deal with these young individuals in a prime time of their lives where we can influence them even a little bit. … One thing I noticed is, yes, the mental health movement is very big right now, but it truly is very important at the high school and middle school level.”
During the summer, San Benito lost two of its own who embodied what it meant to be an athletic trainer. Robert Garza, an athletic trainer at San Benito High, and Raul Ramos, an athletic trainer at San Benito Veterans Memorial, tragically died in a car crash June 10.
Though their medical expertise will be missed, it’s the duo’s infectious personalities that allowed them to bond with their athletes that will be missed the most.
“Raul went above and beyond for our ninth-graders, and I think that’s where it really began for our student-athletes,” Garcia said. “(Raul) made sure they knew that their injury was their priority, and you could tell that once they came here (to San Benito High). He made an impact for them very early on in ninth grade, and it shows in the way the community has mourned his loss and Rob’s.
“Rob’s personality was bar none. He really loved the kids, and they loved him. Even now you can tell that they miss him. It gets difficult because there were kids that would only go to Rob because they felt comfortable with him. He was the guy everyone wanted to be around. He had that personality and that’s what helped him make a difference in all these athletes, even the ones that weren’t injured. … That’s a void that’s hard to fill again.”
While Garza and Ramos won’t be on the sidelines or in the training room this season, the duo will still be on the field when the Greyhounds strap up for their season opener.
San Benito will stray away from its normal gold and white stripe running down the middle of its helmet this season, instead donning black and white stripes as a tribute to Garza and Ramos.
Athletic trainers across the RGV also will carry on Garza’s and Ramos’ legacy, with the Valley Athletic Trainers Association creating black ribbons with the duo’s initials for athletic trainers to wear throughout the year.
“These two gentlemen, anytime they had an opportunity to talk to kids about their well-being or things outside of athletics, they always took that time out and fostered positive relationships with the kids,” Dan Gomez said. “I think that’s the one thing that is missed more when it comes to the two men we lost. Besides their expertise in their job, we lost two brothers and that’s tough.”
