The athletic trainers received the Texas Football Training Staff Superstars Award from Texas Children’s Hospital and Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine. They give superstars awards so that more programs are appreciated and acknowledged as a way to advocate and advertise for their profession.
Dave Campbell’s Texas Football and Texas Children’s Hospital teamed up to spotlight student training squads in Houston according to the Texas football website. Each week they focus on a different group of students training superstars. They plan to continue what will be an annual tradition of giving these awards to programs like these to gain more recognition.
“I heard from Ms. Hernandez that we had won an award but we never really knew what it was for,” Sophomore Ruth Guitierrez said.
Although many students in the program weren’t aware about winning the award, the head athletic trainers knew and celebrated when they were given the award.
“I was surprised because Coach Hineman (Head football coach and Campus athletic director, Kendall Hineman) and Ms.Rikki (Athletic admin secretary, Rikki Thompson) came into the office with party poppers and confetti to celebrate winning the award,” Hernandez said. “I was also scared at first because I was wondering what was being popped but it was just confetti, it was nice that they were excited for us, too.”
Soon enough, the student athletic trainers heard about the news and were happy to receive the award. The athletic training teachers teach their students how to set realistic fitness goals for themselves. The students also join football games to assess and treat injuries .The adult athletic trainers were proud of their students’ hard work even as they do work with little recognition.
The athletic trainers don’t receive much attention and not many people know what they do according to adult athletic trainer Idalia Hernandez.
“Many of the students are actually not in the class, they don’t get a grade; they are just doing this as an act of service,” Hernandez said. “Although some of the students that are in that class for a grade, most of them are there willingly to help out in the program, they work really hard so they deserve all the recognition in the world.”
