By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
RIO HONDO — Technology and social media are playing important roles in the lives of coaches and athletes during this time of social distancing.
The Rio Hondo Bobcats and Harlingen High Cardinals have transformed their Twitter accounts into tools for learning and motivation. They’re bringing competition into the fold as well, and using videos posted to the social media site to highlight the drive displayed by their student-athletes.
For the Bobcats, it all started with the “see 10, do 10” Twitter trend that challenged users tagged in a video of someone doing 10 pushups to post a video of them doing the same. Rio Hondo athletes and coaches — and even high school principal Asael Ruvalcaba — got involved.
“I don’t normally do that stuff, but I said, ‘Look at the situation we’re in, why not come out of it a little different?’ and that’s how it started,” said Andrew Carmona, Rio Hondo’s varsity wide receivers coach who also works with the JV boys basketball team and junior high track & field program.
He and Mario Rodriguez, who works with the baseball, freshman football and JV boys basketball teams, run together every day and saw an opportunity in the response.
“When kids saw their coaches working, they realized, ‘Hey, I have to work, too.’ It triggered a reaction from the kids, and then (softball coach Brett) Esparza wanted to keep that going … so we transitioned to Rack Performance,” Rodriguez said.
Rack Performance is an app many East Valley athletic programs are using because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The app allows coaches to create and distribute workouts, and tracks the progress of the athletes as they follow along. Rio Hondo has seen high school and middle school athletes participating, and some have gotten their siblings or parents involved.
The Bobcats coaches have seen tires and buckets filled with various items used in place of weights. Since they’re catering to a variety of athletes, Carmona and Rodriguez communicate daily with each other, students and a few other coaches to keep the workouts effective but not too difficult, so no one gets discouraged.
Esparza created a strength and conditioning Twitter account to help motivate the Bobcats. He highlights the athletes completing the Rack Performance workouts and recently started choosing one boy and girl athlete of the week to reward for their efforts.
“We miss the kids, so we wanted to find a way we could see them and from the coach’s side make sure they’re working out, but most importantly check that they’re doing OK and in good spirits,” Esparza said. “We’re blown away with the cooperation. We’re featuring athletes of the week and they do videos encouraging their teammates to continue working hard, and that just fuels itself.”
Harlingen High strength and conditioning coordinator and running backs coach Mike Aguilar also is ramping up his Twitter activity to keep the Cardinals active and competitive. He posts videos of himself doing workouts using household items like packs of bottled water, small ice chests and even bed sheets to show his athletes creative ways to stay active.
The Cardinals participate in “competition Saturdays,” during which Aguilar will post a video of himself doing a timed workout and then challenge Harlingen High athletes to do the same workout and post their best time to see who comes out on top.
“Our program is built on competition, and I got with some of our coaches and came up with an idea to keep that mentality. I always do (the workouts) first and let them see it, and they always kick my butt,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar encourages and highlights the many Cardinals posting their workouts on Twitter to keep the team chemistry strong. He and other Harlingen High coaches are striving to provide normalcy for their student-athletes by having regularly scheduled Zoom calls to stay connected and keep them on top of their studies.
Harlingen High football coach Manny Gomez has his position coaches checking in on their athletes through Zoom and the Remind app, but the Cardinals also are staying in touch as a team. Aguilar said they had a Zoom meeting April 8, and almost 75 players and 12 coaches checked in.
The dedication being shown by the Cardinals through Twitter and the team meetings represents the culture of the program and is something Aguilar said will be instrumental when things get back to normal.
“During this time that we have to be apart, we’re trying to be as close as possible with them. It’s a trying time, but we’re keeping our relationships as strong as possible,” Aguilar said. “When their number is called, our kids respond, it doesn’t matter if it’s football, basketball, track, tennis or something else. That’s the culture that’s been built at Harlingen High School.”
Harlingen South’s football Twitter account also has been posting workouts daily. Hawks strength and conditioning coordinator Daniel Cortez sends the workouts via the Remind app, but he also uploads videos of his son completing them on social media.
Cortez talks the Hawks through the warmups, workouts and cool-down stretching. He highlights South athletes who upload videos of their regimens, including one that showed sophomore Caleb Davis pushing a vehicle to emphasize lineman techniques.