From tape to trust

They start by tearing tape — inch by inch, piece by piece — a task that feels tedious at first. By the time they leave, they’re making real-time decisions on the sideline, trusted by coaches and relied on by teammates.

That transformation is at the heart of the student athletic training programs in Las Cruces Public Schools, where the lessons go far beyond sports medicine.

Since about 1981, the district has offered a mentorship program in athletic training for students interested in healthcare. The athletic trainers at the four high schools are responsible not only for the health of student-athletes on the field, but also for educating dozens of students who support them behind the scenes in the training room.

For those who join the program, it starts with the basics.

“Students that are brand new, they have to learn how to tear tape,” said Drew Flores, the athletic trainer at Las Cruces High School. “We’ll give them all the tape supplies that we utilize on a daily basis, and they have to tear it into inch-by-inch pieces and put it on a piece of paper. This was one of the assignments that we got we were in college and I hated it.”

That seemingly simple task is about more than preparation for taping an ankle. It teaches repetition, attention to detail and the importance of doing small things well — habits that translate into lifelong skills.

“In our program, for the kids that we've had come through in the past four years, it's about life skills,” Flores said. “It's being able to answer questions in an interview. It's being able to do simple tasks that you would do outside of the high school setting like doing laundry, teaching these kids how to do laundry. You'd be surprised how many kids don't know how.”

Students arrive at the program through a variety of paths. Many start as sophomores, though some begin even earlier. For some, it offers a way to stay connected to athletics when making a team doesn’t work out.

The district’s health occupations classes often serve as a pipeline, introducing students to careers in nursing, medicine, EMT work and radiology. For some, that exposure sparks a more specific interest.

“From there they can say they’re more interested in this sports medicine pathway, orthopedics, physical therapy, athletic training, and then they can join the sports medicine online class,” said David Gallegos, a Las Cruces physical therapist who teaches the course.

But the path isn’t always academic. Sometimes it starts with a conversation.

“The way that we usually do it here, when kids have a sport that they're playing and they don't make the team the following year they still want to be involved with the sport, so we give them a different background to still be involved and help out,” Flores said. “We’ll have a conversation with them and if they still want to be a part of sports, we can still do that, but now you can help out from the sports medicine side and help out with injuries, prevention, stuff like that.”

Each school structures its program a little differently, though all share the same core mission. The district’s trainers include Flores at Las Cruces High, Cristina Baca at Centennial, Krista Villa at Mayfield and Blake Pridemore at Organ Mountain. Jazzy Benavides coordinate the program from the district level.

“Each school is a little different,” Flores said. “This is my fourth year here. When I got here, I was teaching sports med and healthcare occupations. That’s usually where we would pull all of our kids, but then within the first six or seven months that we were here, they pulled us out of the classroom. So, starting up that following year in January, we were just strictly athletic trainers.”

That shift has made recruiting more intentional — and more personal.

“At Organ Mountain, they need to have at least Health Occupation 1 to actually join the (athletic training) class,” Pridemore said. “I've gone to some classes before, but the students can just come in and see what we're about and see if they want to do it and then join their next year.”

The commitment required of student athletic trainers often exceeds that of the athletes they support. So, what do trainers look for?

Finding the right students

“Work ethic, for sure,” Villa said. “We like to have them at a certain GPA in order to be eligible also and to be able to keep that. It’s the same thing as athletics; they have to have a certain GPA in order to participate. We look at that, just the character of the kid, their willingness to help out, be proactive, and their integrity is what I look for.”

Gallegos, who works with students in the classroom setting, plays a role in identifying those who are ready for that responsibility.

“I try to identify the kids that I think are responsible,” Gallegos said. “These are high school kids that are actually getting to, to a certain extent, practice health care. You can't just have the average kid that's not that focused, that's not serious, that shares all the stuff that they hear. You have to have somebody that's more locked into what they want to do and they realize they're in health care. I remember when I was doing what these guys are doing, we'd be at school at 5:30 in the morning and the kids need to be, so you can't have kids that you can't count on. There is a lot of responsibility on the kids.”

That responsibility includes something fundamental to healthcare: trust.

“They have a lot of responsibility, a lot of trust,” Benavides said. “Being trustworthy is important because they are dealing with a lot of sensitive information, they're around a lot of sensitive healthcare information.”

The trainers serve as both teachers and coaches. Some skills require careful instruction; others are learned by doing.

“I have a little bit of like an old school mentality, like baptism by fire,” Flores said. “I'll throw the kids in and tell them to figure it out. If they don't, then that's where the teaching curve comes in. This is how you're handling certain situations and if you don't have an idea of what's going on, ask questions.”

Over time, those lessons compound. More experienced students begin mentoring newcomers, reinforcing both knowledge and confidence.

“We have kids that come in that are super shy at times,” Flores said. “If I can't get them out of their shell, we're going to work on that. We start from the basics and work their way up. And then once we get a student who's able to handle the amount of stuff that we can throw at them, we use them as mentors for other students that are coming in.”

That growth is often the most rewarding part of the program.

“The confidence you see in these kids when you have them two, three years in the program, they come in as little sophomores and they're scared, they're timid, but just seeing the person they become at the end of their senior year, that is a great success to see that you've made an impact,” Benavides said. “They're more confident. You give them these opportunities that they probably would have never done before, and the skills that they learned while in the program, and I think a lot of that comes from confidence.

“You see it in them when they don't want to be at football practice, they kind of stay back, they don't want to be part of the action. All of a sudden, you’re splinting and they're the person on your right-hand side handing you all supplies you need. It’s great to see their confidence build because it goes with them to job interviews, scholarship applications, or wherever it may take them in their next step of life.”

Developing confidence

Villa has a particular connection with the quieter students, seeing in them a reflection of her younger self.

“I very much gravitate towards the shy, timid kids,” Villa said, “because that's who I was in high school and I very much needed somebody to help me build my confidence. That’s what I try to do with them.”

One student’s experience stands out.

“I had a kid whose confidence was not very great, but I kept making her do things and kept believing in her,” Villa said. “Every time she needed somebody to help her, like when she needed to learn how to take blood for one of her HOSA classes. I said, ‘all right, let's go,’ and we did that.

“She was very much in the ‘I can't’ mentality and I was trying to get her out of that mindset until she felt that she can try, she can do this. There was an incident where I had a dislocation on the sidelines and she was one who helped me with every step of that. I wrote her recommendation letter for athletic training program as well because that's what she decided she wanted to do. It’s a lot about confidence.”

Communication skills

While students are never left fully on their own, they are often placed in real situations that demand judgment and composure — including difficult conversations with peers.

“They know how to handle stressful situations,” Flores said. “They have basic first aid skills. If somebody needs wound care or anything like that, they can handle it. If someone sprains their ankle, they know to notify us. If it's a severe injury, the kids are pretty good at letting us know, they don’t think this kid can go back in and then they'll call us and then we'll do the evaluation and go from there.”

Communication and conflict resolution are just as important.

“It’s being able to handle themselves in a mature way,” Flores said. “Your typical kid in the school is going to just ignore a difficult situation and walk away. We try to teach them how to resolve that conflict if there is any within the program, have that conversation as adults, mediate it and then go from there.”

Still, they are teenagers — and learning how to navigate that reality is part of the process.

“They have to figure out how to work together but at the end of the day they're teenagers and that’s one of their life skills,” Villa said. “When you work at a professional job you're not going to get along with everybody that you work with and you have to figure out how to get along with others and how to solve problems and be professional.”

“You hope that they learn to work as a team, that when they walk into that training room, they're a team,” Benavides added. “I don't care if your friends outside of this, but when you're in here, you work as a team.”

Accountability and commitment ultimately define the program. Despite the demanding schedule — practices, games, weekends and holidays — most students who start stay through graduation.

“We want to make sure that those kids understand they're not just here for a one-hour class, that they're here for football practice, football games, soccer, basketball, which is hours long, weekends, holidays,” Villa said.

That commitment often becomes a point of pride for their coaches, these professional athletic trainers.

“It’s about coming to work every day and seeing pictures on the wall of the students that we've worked with and their success stories,” Flores said. “For them it is, ‘I put myself through that work for two to three years, the grind of having to keep up with the classwork, the grind of having to show up at six o'clock and work for football practice, to go out there with all the sweaty football players.’

“You’re getting covered in mud and all that kind of stuff and then you're going to class and then you show up again in the afternoon. From the start of the day to the end of the day, they're doing more than most kids do and they're appreciative of it. The success comes from their accomplishments.”

Even the athletes and coaches recognize the student athletic trainers’ efforts. What might seem unusual at first — being treated by a peer — often turns into trust.

“The coaches have conversations with our students as professionals,” Flores said. “They’ll ask the student AT what he thinks and then I'll follow up with a coach about the conversation they had and sure enough, that kid was right on the money with what they were talking about. Even the coaches have that confidence in the students. It takes a lot of work for that to develop because most coaches don't even give us the time of the day sometimes.”

For Gallegos, that trust begins with mentorship — and grows through experience.

“Those programs are strong and those students are strong just because we have really good mentors,” Gallegos said. “The students see everything from concussion to ACL rehab in here right now, all sorts of things that happen throughout the day and these guys demonstrate what that looks like on a daily basis so those students can then have a really good shadowing experience.”

And that experience — the early mornings, the long days, the responsibility — is what stays with them.

Long after the tape is torn and the games are over, the lessons remain: how to show up, how to handle pressure, how to care for others when it matters most.

For many of these students, the training room is where they first learn not just how to work — but who they are becoming.