Arturo “Roy” Flores is in his fifth year as an assistant athletic trainer at NYU after spending 13 years as an athletic trainer in NCAA Division I. He worked primarily with baseball and soccer teams before his role at NYU, where he predominantly works with baseball, fencing, and men’s basketball. Flores is an active member of the UAA Staff Mosaic Committee, a group of coaches, administrators, and athletic directors of color.
The UAA “Conversations About Race and Racism” series seeks to lift the voices of people of color and recognize the challenges faced in both athletics and academics at the collegiate level. By sharing personal stories, we hope to elevate the conversation about race to raise awareness and bring about change.
Athletic Trainer Experience as a Young Professional
“My parents are both from the Philippines. I was born in the U.S. in Georgia before moving my way up to New York. People know from my appearance that I am a person of color, but at the same time, I cannot relate to the racial injustices that happen to Black people like the events of last summer,” points out Flores, who has, nonetheless, experienced racial prejudice. “When I was a young professional athletic trainer with Fairleigh Dickinson University, I went with their baseball team on a trip down South. It was just me and two guys on the team who are people of color. The coaches and all the other players were white. We walked into the hotel and the woman behind the desk says, ‘Oh by the way, we’re one town over from where the Grand Master of the Klu Klux Klan lives.’ The first thing the head coach says to me when he hands me the keys is to stay in as much as I can, but if I do go out, to make sure someone goes with me. That was one of my first introductions to understanding how racism works.”
He witnessed another unsettling scene later in his career on another baseball trip. “Of course, the Northeast was full of snow, so we traveled south for spring break. We went to Longwood University in the middle of Virginia. To get to the field, we had to drive on some dirt roads and then the field at this big school just appeared out of nowhere. We were playing on a Sunday and just as we started batting practice at noon, an older gentleman was walking down their only main street (right next to the outfield) with a giant confederate flag,” he recalled. “Everyone on our team was looking around. The majority of the guys on our team were from the northeast and had never seen anything like that. We pulled over one of Longwood’s staff members and asked him what was going on. He said, ‘Oh, that’s just his weekly ritual, that’s just what he does. He flies the flag while walking down the street.’ It was the only time I had seen the confederate flag apart from (the television show) Dukes of Hazzard.”
Gaining Understanding
“In order to understand someone, you have to have a conversation with them. You can’t just use visual appearances to determine who they are, what kind of person they are, and what their interests are. I think opening up a conversation is the ideal thing to do with everybody,” he remarked. “You can’t be afraid to talk to people. If you see me in the athletic training room, traveling, or during games, I like to be the one to open the conversation. I almost make a game of it, saying hello to people walking with their eyes down. Being friendly is one of the ways to open the door to conversations, learning about people and who they are.”
Without the chance to travel during the pandemic, Flores admits he has spent a lot of time on YouTube. “I have been watching vloggers who have traveled to different places. I have been to the Philippines multiple times, but there are still so many different parts of it I would like to see. I enjoy watching all these vloggers and foreigners go to the Philippines and learn about the country, the culture, and the people,” Flores commented. “We have a salad bowl of people and culture here in the U.S., but we don’t seem to understand that concept of getting to know someone of a different culture.”
He learned the art of compromise early in his career. “When I was first starting out as an athletic trainer, my mentor told me, ‘When you are dealing with coaches who are hard-headed and coaches stuck in their ways, try to find a way to come up with a compromise and make it seem like it is coming from them by framing something like ‘What do you think of doing it this way?’ he suggested. That is the same way you can enter a conversation with a co-worker or teammate who may not understand your beliefs,” he suggested. “You can say, ‘Did you see what happened on the news the other day? What do you think about that?’ This gives them the opportunity to state their opinion and gives you the opening to share your takeaways. Opening difficult topics in a non-confrontational way, perhaps even asking if they want to have lunch or go out for coffee, allows each person to know more about each other instead of just jumping into a potentially hostile situation.”
Filipino Culture
Although the Philippines gained independence in 1946, the U.S. maintained multiple military bases, including several major ones, in the country. “A lot of white people in the military came to the U.S. A lot of Filipinos saw themselves as white and would even avoid spending too much time in the sun so they would not get darker. They were emulating what they had seen in white people. That mentality has since changed, but that was the belief system my parents and grandparents grew up with,” he explained. “I don’t think I would be much different had I grown up dissimilarly. I would still be the same person who loves to eat and talk about food.”
Flores noted there is a common misconception that Filipinos are either nurses or postal workers. “That’s one of the big stereotypes in regard to what people of Filipino descent do. Perhaps I was influenced to want to go into some sort of medicine, but I knew I didn’t want to be in nursing even though I was told that is where the money was. The athletic training profession just snuck up on me. I never even knew it existed until college. From that point on, I found it really interesting,” he said.
Harmful Comments
Flores admits he has been guilty of unintentionally saying hurtful things. “I was guilty of that at first before I truly understood. A lot of times, people make a stereotype into a joke either in words or by acting something out. An example of that is when people have what may be perceived as “different” names in a particular culture, others may joke that the name sounds like this word or that word,” he explained. “When I was in college, we used to do that all the time. On one occasion, another student said to me, ‘Roy, that is kind of harsh. You shouldn’t be doing that kind of stuff.’ That woke me up to what I was actually doing. I am a jovial person, but there is a line that you should not cross. People can think about how it would look if what they were saying or doing was caught on camera, which could easily happen.”
He recommends people become much more cognizant of what they are saying. “Think about how something will affect someone else, even if you do not mean harm. Also recognize that at some point, you are likely you to offend someone so recognize what you did. Even in the privacy of our own offices and homes, be aware of what you are saying and what is going on around you,” he narrated. “Be aware of what you are thinking and why. Awareness is the key to understanding.”
Advice for Other Athletic Trainers of Color
“I got interested in athletic training because I liked the medical aspect of sports. I originally thought I was going to be a sports doctor, but then I hit organic chemistry and we didn’t agree, so I switched gears,” Flores laughed. “Athletic training is a place where you can watch sports, while learning and grasping the biomechanics of sport and the body. You get the chance to watch people get better at what they do.”
Athletic trainers often build strong relationships with one another and with the student-athletes they spend so much time with, especially in UAA play with lengthy travel. “One of the most rewarding things in athletic training is seeing someone who suffered a season-ending or serious injury later return to the court or the field. Watching them play again, as if they weren’t ever hurt, is really satisfying,” he communicated. “Knowing that we helped out and seeing them back on the playing surface is like they are showing appreciation to us and everyone who helped them get back.”
He thinks other people of color may be influenced to enter the profession by seeing your example. “When I was part of the Ethnic Diversity Advisory Committee (EDAC) for NATA (National Athletic Trainers Association), we would do service projects at high schools and get a chance to talk to them about our jobs,” he described. “This gives them a chance to say, ‘Hey, that person looks like me and they are doing something in sports that is not between the lines. I can do something like that.’ That was our mission to bring more diversity to our profession, to show young people that athletic trainers come in all different sizes, shapes, and colors.”
Flores relayed the importance of student-athletes being able to relate to an athletic trainer of color through the words of NYU student-athletes Riley Demps and Janean Cuffee, who conducted the interview with him for the story:
- “Going to the athletic trainer and saying that we’re hurt requires being comfortable to be able to have that conversation. Honestly, I think the fact that Roy is of color does make that easier for a lot of people,” Demps said. “I feel really good about coming to him and talking about an injury where it feels like it can be an organic conversation. It’s really beneficial to be able to know that I can come into the facility and talk to someone who understands me.”
- “I think Riley’s right when he says it does happen to do with Roy being a person of color. It is definitely how I felt with Anthony (Jones, who was a part-time athletic trainer). He’s very personable and I just randomly talked to him about things. I think that’s an attribute both he and Roy have. They both provided a very welcoming environment when someone walks in. Roy says hello, is smiling, and engages people in conversation. It’s not just, ‘How can I help you today?’”
Flores notes the importance of finding one or more mentors. “Find a mentor who you can talk to about any aspect of what you are going through. That may be a mentor within your profession or someone who can be a life coach. There are a lot of people you will come in contact with from professors to advisors to coaches,” he suggested. “I also look to my student-athletes to help me relate to what’s going on now as I have been out of college for a while. Having a general awareness is important so don’t hesitate to learn from those who are younger also.”