Dr. MIguel Benevides
Dr. Miguel Benavides - Athletic Trainer
Dr. Benavides is in his second year at Navarro Early College High School and in his 40th year as a licensed athletic trainer in Texas. The position at Navarro is particularly exciting to him because he believes it is a very real way that he can contribute and give back to the very type of student he use to be. He specializes in Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization like cupping and Técnica Gavilan, muscle energy techniques, myofascial release, the Mulligan Technique, dry needling, and Primal Reflex Release Therapy.
Miguel Benavides served 30 years at Southwestern University and six seasons with the Pirates football team. He has held positions as associate and head athletic trainer, athletic training education program director, and has worked with every women’s and men’s sport offered by Southwestern. One of his major accomplishments was to develop an athletic trainer school and attain national accreditation. He has served on several campus committees and projects most notably Diversity Enrichment, Institutional Review Board (IRB), and the SU community garden.
Prior to joining Southwestern in 1992, Benavides served as athletic trainer at Foy H. Moody High School in Corpus Christi, Texas for 2 years followed by 5 years as a teacher and athletic trainer at Newman-Smith High School in Carrollton, Texas. At Newman-Smith, he wrote the curriculum for an athletic training course and practicum experience that was approved by the school district for physical education credit.
Dr. Benavides was appointed by Governor Ann Richards to the Advisory Board of Athletic Trainers in July, 1993. Benavides proposed rule changes that would recognize a Certified Athletic Trainer by Board of Certification, Inc. and streamline their getting a Texas Athletic Trainer License. Prior to this rule change, well qualified Certified Athletic Trainers could not attend a license to practice in Texas.
Benavides received his bachelor of arts in physical education with an emphasis in athletic training from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1984. He earned his master of education in 1985 from Northeast Louisiana (Monroe) University, where he was a football graduate assistant athletic trainer, and his doctoral degree from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in 2011.
Benavides lives in Georgetown with his wife, Elma, and his youngest son, Wilson. He also has four adult children (Casey, Armon, Greyson, and Julian) and two grandchildren (Rowan and Montana).