COVID-19 Response

UTRGV Athletics had to adapt in considerable ways while following guidance and rules from campus, the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), the NCAA, the CDC, and local, state and federal governments. Our department was lucky in one sense, though, as Associate Athletic Director for Sports Medicine Steven Kraus and his team were able to work closely with the UTRGV School of Medicine and UT Health RGV to give student-athletes from all teams a chance to compete. “The partnership works great,” Kraus said. “Having the ability to pick up a phone and call Dr. Linda Nelson, [the senior director of Clinical Operations for the UTRGV School of Medicine and UT Health RGV], and her staff in regard to testing, or Dr. John Thomas, [the director of COVID-19 operations at the UT Health RGV Clinical Lab], in regard to our results was crucial when it came to becoming operational and as efficient as possible. They were huge, and I could go down a long list of names at UT Health RGV and the School of Medicine that stepped up in tremendous ways to help us be able to play sports and to keep us safe and healthy.” On the medical side, Dr. Jimmy Gonzales, the Director of Sports Medicine and UTRGV Athletics Head Team Physician, was crucial to the department’s efforts, providing guidance and functioning alongside Kraus as part of the WAC Medical Advisory Committee. The collaboration, which included numerous doctors, such as the UT Health RGV sports medicine team of Dr. Evan Perez, Dr. Bob Claflin and Dr. Peter Zhang, was critical. As testing ramped up and UT Health RGV became crucial to the Rio Grande Valley’s efforts to track and contain the virus, Kraus and his staff learned how to conduct PCR tests. This allowed athletics to conduct the necessary testing to move forward with practices and competitions without further burdening the UT Health RGV staff. The joint efforts by UTRGV Athletics and UT Health RGV allowed the Vaqueros to compete on a high level this year, but they weren’t alone. “It was a very difficult year, but it showed our resilience,” Kraus said. “We were hit with so much adversity, not too different from so many other people, but it brought us together and I’m proud of where we ended up.”