Tag: University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Posted on by

Texas Rio Grande Valley Grad Finds NFL Internship

Article reposted from The Monitor
Author: Dennis Silva

As a football player at La Joya Palmview High a few years ago, Edwin Gomez became well acquainted with the athletic training room at the Lobos’ fieldhouse.

“With football comes injuries, so I was hurt a few times,” said Gomez, who graduated from UTRGV in May with a major in kinesiology. “One time I dropped a weight on my quad, and that’s where it really started. I got to know the rehab process, got to know the profession and from there I was attached. Any free time I had, I’d sneak off into the training room and learn a few things here and there.”

Gomez didn’t know it at the time, but he had found his calling. His passion for athletic training, specifically the process of helping an athlete recover back to full health, has landed him in Nashville, Tennessee. Gomez is on an athletic training internship with the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, a long way from his time in Edinburg as an intern with the Vaqueros’ athletic training staff.

“Every opportunity is a great opportunity and I’m really thankful for the Tennessee Titans,” said Gomez, whose first day of camp with the Titans is Friday. “I came here to help other people get here as well. It’s not just for me. I’m trying to get this experience for my family and future colleagues from UTRGV. I’m trying to get the name out there.”

Dancing initially peaked Gomez’s interest; in high school, he danced folklórico. He earned a scholarship to dance Flamenco at the University of New Mexico, but left after a year to return home to the Rio Grande Valley after his grandfather died.

Gomez enrolled at UTRGV and got involved with its athletic training program under Jim Lancaster. For the next three years, Gomez received a first-hand tutorial on how to pay attention to detail and “never throw away the tape until you’ve used it all,” the latter a popular Lancaster adage.

Gomez worked with all sports except for soccer and worked particularly closely with the volleyball and baseball programs. Inquisitive and friendly, he was held in high regard by coaches, players and trainers. Gomez, 24, also handled a fulltime job to provide for his fiancé and daughter.

Former UTRGV athletic trainer David McDonald helped show Gomez how to apply for NFL internships in November. Athletic trainers Ashley Elwell and Andrea Chilcote assisted during the process as well.

Britt Brown, associate trainer and director of rehabilitation for the Dallas Cowboys, told Gomez about a scholarship for minorities that was available. Gomez applied and found out after spring break in March that the Titans had awarded him the scholarship.

“He is very motivated and ambitious,” said Elwell, Gomez’s supervisor with the UTRGV volleyball program. “He takes on a lot of responsibility in his personal life, but that never got in the way of things. He’s a quick learner, curious, and that goes a long way.

“Most students in internships with us don’t do these things like what Edwin is doing, so it’s refreshing when someone does. Students see it as a risk, but an opportunity like this pays off to be fearless.”

Gomez reported to Nashville on Monday. The internship lasts the entire NFL preseason; his final day is Sept. 5. His responsibilities include pre-practice rehabs, setting up and tearing down practice settings and working the sidelines during game days.

Gomez has run into running back DeMarco Murray and quarterback Marcus Mariota so far.

“I’m a little starstruck here and there,” Gomez said. “There is hope, and they’ve mentioned they (the Titans) do try and bring back seasonal interns the following year. My goal is to get to the NFL or a high-level college. I just love the grind.”

And he grinds to make a name, one Elwell feels will pay dividends for others who want to follow in Gomez’s tracks.

“A lot of kids who intern with us at UTRGV figure they’ll leave the program and just start working down here in the Valley,” Elwell said. “But it can lead to opportunities that are so much more. It’s about experiencing different places and different levels of athletics. You can learn so much more from that.”

Posted on by

Relationships drive Lancaster into UTRGV Hall of Honor

Before Mike Mancias and Joe Resendez became athletic trainers in the NBA, they were fueled by coffee through late-night study sessions in Jim Lancaster’s training room.

Lancaster, then and now the head athletic trainer at UTRGV, remembers showing up at his normal time of 7 a.m. one morning about 15 years ago to find his taping table turned into a boxing ring for small figures built from tongue depressors and medical tape.

“They come back in and say, ‘We got crazy last night. We were staying up, we were delirious, and we started doing goofy things,’” Lancaster said. “It was those little fun things that kind of got us through.”

Now in his 36th year at UTRGV, Lancaster has seen countless athletes, coaches and assistants come and go. In recognition of all he’s accomplished and the many different hats he’s worn during his tenure, Lancaster is being inducted into UTRGV’s Hall of Honor during a luncheon at 11 a.m. today in the UTRGV Ballroom.

Since taking the job at then-Pan American University in 1980, Lancaster has been an equipment manager, facilities director, awards program coordinator, Hall of Fame committee member and even interim athletics director. Now, he’s the associate athletic director for sports medicine.

“It’s kind of like, that’s what you do,” Lancaster said. “You get set, you get established, you make a name for yourself, and you stick with something. You’re part of the program, and it’s a program you can be proud of. I think that’s kind of what I did.”

Lancaster got his start as a student assistant at UT, including a trip to see Texas and Earl Campbell take on Joe Montana and Notre Dame at the 1978 Cotton Bowl.

He became intertwined in the fabric of Pan American University, working with coaches from Al Ogletree, to Lon Kruger, to Abe Lemons and through all the coaches of present day. When Chris King came aboard as UTPA’s athletics director in 2009, he called on Lancaster’s wealth of experience to try to forge the way forward.

“All of the responsibility he had, he was a good resource for me as a young, brand new athletic director,” King said. “So it’s been good to have Jim on board. … He was able to give me perspective in regards to here’s how we’ve done it, to be able to do more with less.”

On top of producing Mancias, now with the Cavaliers, and Resendez, now with the Clippers, Lancaster has molded many of the Valley’s high school athletic trainers.

Combing over the 2014-15 Rio Grande Valley Athletic Trainers Directory on Thursday, Lancaster highlighted 18 names that have come through his program.

Jimmy Cantu, now with Brownsville Lopez, and Marie Thompson, now with La Joya High, were his first two assistants. Together, the trio handled all of the school’s athletic training needs for the 1980-81 season.

“He took care of me and allowed me to just spread my wings and learn as I went,” Cantu said. “He made me the trainer I am now, man. I owe a lot to him. He’s really been there for me.”

Said Thompson: “Jim was a good instructor. If it hadn’t been for that, I don’t think I’d be where I am now.”

Today, Lancaster works with a much larger staff. Beyond an expansive group of student volunteers, Lancaster oversees three full-time assistant athletic trainers. Since joining the staff in September, men’s basketball assistant trainer David McDonald has seen how Lancaster uses jokes and a talkative nature to be a calming influence on athletes.

“I think a lot of the student athletes clearly respect him, but also like him a whole lot,” McDonald said. “He’s a very friendly guy.”

Now in a more administrative role, Lancaster made an effort to hire people like McDonald, who bring a better formal education than he received in his day. He leaves much of the athletic training to them, instead handling most of the paperwork and bills.

Still, he works daily with the soccer, baseball and track and field programs. Student trainer Paul Chavana, who has been studying under Lancaster since 2014, said the most impressive thing about Lancaster is his work ethic. He remembers being with Lancaster at 6 a.m. to set up for a morning tennis match, all the way through a baseball game that kept them until 1 a.m. Just six hours later, Lancaster was back in the office at his typical starting time.

“I asked, ‘Jim, how do you do it? Is it the coffee?’” Chavana said. “And he just said, ‘After so long, you notice that people depend on you. People want to get better. People want to represent this school and their colors, and they want to be the best they can. What they need to do is come here, and get better here.’ That’s just what Jim is all about.”

King said Lancaster’s work ethic is second to none. Lancaster credits the trait to his upbringing. Doing odd jobs like setting up chairs in the gym, taking out the trash and washing down coolers comes naturally to him. The commitment to helping wherever he could made him the reasonable choice to take on all the secondary functions he has throughout the years.

Now 58 years old, Lancaster sees the value of stepping into a more administrative oversight role. But passing up the opportunity to be there on game nights, alongside the athletes through all the emotional highs and lows, isn’t easy. He said it’s that part of the job that keeps him going and feeling young.

“I don’t have a problem with working,” Lancaster said. “Sometimes I work too long and turn around and go, ‘I shouldn’t have done that.’ I’m dying the next day. My knees are killing me. My back is killing me. I didn’t get any sleep. But pour the coffee, let’s go.”

gluca@themonitor.com

CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Posted on by

Lancaster to be inducted into Hall

Jim Lancaster began his career at then-Pan American University 36 years ago, making $9,000 a year in his first job as an athletic trainer after the late Pan American and University of Texas basketball coach Abe Lemons strongly recommended him.

More than three decades later, now at UTRGV, Lancaster has crafted an admirable career as the athletic department’s associate athletic director for sports medicine. Because of his versatility as an athletic trainer and administrator in the department, Lancaster will be inducted into the 2016 UTRGV Athletics Hall of Fame’s Hall of Honor in February.

“I found a place I was comfortable with,” said Lancaster, recalling Aug. 19, 1980 when he first stepped foot onto the campus in Edinburg for his job interview. “I like the coaches. I like the people.

“We’ve had some bad times and good times, and the good times are why you stick with it.”

Lancaster, whose wife Tencha is the head cross country coach at Edinburg High and whose daughter Lisa is the head volleyball coach at Progreso High, joins a team and five individuals that will be recognized at the Hall of Fame induction luncheon on Feb. 20:

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.themonitor.com/sports/utpa_broncs/lancaster-others-to-be-inducted-into-utrgv-hall-of-fame/article_74c86f14-82a3-11e5-849f-cf0ff8c8e4a5.html