AT of the Year 2020-21

2020-21 RRAC ATHLETIC TRAINER OF THE YEAR
THOMAS PRIBYL, HOUSTON-VICTORIA

WACO, Texas -- In the most challenging year ever for college athletic trainers and team doctors, Thomas Pribyl of the University of Houston-Victoria was named the 2020-21 RRAC Athletic Trainer of the Year.

Given annually, the RRAC Athletic Trainer of the Year award recognizes an NATA-certified athletic trainer from the RRAC who has distinguished himself or herself as a model of the profession in personal conduct and professional allied health service to student-athletes. The selection is determined through a peer vote with all conference athletic trainers voting.

In his 10th year on the staff at UHV, Pribyl and his peers across the conference were faced with protecting their student-athletes from a pandemic, creating and following new safety protocols, and constantly monitoring the health of their coaches and players. In addition, all sports were played in the spring which added more time constraints and stretched student-athlete care to the limit.

Pribyl started working on COVID-19 policies and procedures in April 2020, attending webinars and gathering information from other conferences and institutions to create departmental guidelines. He helped the UHV campus' COVID OPS with contact tracing within the athletic department for any positive cases.

Pribyl built the UHV Athletic Training Department from scratch in 2011, creating the school's first Sports Medicine facility and currently designing the second on the campus. He helped the school start a Kinesiology program, and he is an adjunct professor in the School of Education, Health Professions and Human Development. Pribyl is also busy outlining a plan for a Texas Licensure Apprenticeship Program.

"I am humbled and honored to be selected by my fellow athletic trainers of the Red River Athletic Conference," says Pribyl. "It is always a great achievement when you are recognized by your peers. I have to give credit also to my Assistant Athletic Trainer Amanda Rathbun who is here in trenches with me daily as well the continued support that we receive from our AD Ashley Walyuchow, and our Administration. We have a great group of athletic trainers and we all work together facing similar challenges, especially with the COVID-19 restrictions, but always with the safety of the student athletes first. With what the conference was able to do for competition this past year, I think everyone is an Athletic Trainer of the Year."

Before arriving at UHV, Pribyl served as an athletic trainer in the minor league system of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization for 10 years. He also previously served on the training staffs of two minor league hockey clubs, the San Antonio Iguanas and the San Antonio Dragons, as well as the San Antonio Texans of the Canadian Football League. Pribyl earned his Bachelor's Degree in Kinesiology from the University of Texas-San Antonio in 1996 and his Master's of Education in Kinesiology from the University of Texas-Austin in 1999. He has been a member of the National Athletic Trainers Association since 1995.

Pribyl donates much of his free time to St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Victoria as a member of the Parish Council, Lector, Eucharistic Minister, Knights of Columbus member and music coordinator for 10 a.m. mass each week. He is also an active volunteer firefighter as president of the DaCosta Volunteer Fire Department for the last eight years.

RRAC Athletic Trainers of the Year