{"id":24,"date":"2021-03-03T03:35:10","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T03:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southtexascollege.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2021-volume-4-issue-1\/pt-grads-open-strength-and-conditioning-business\/"},"modified":"2021-05-02T01:34:28","modified_gmt":"2021-05-02T01:34:28","slug":"the-bio-dynamic-duo-stc-grads-join-forces-to-launch-next-gen-pt-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southtexascollege.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2021-volume-4-issue-1\/the-bio-dynamic-duo-stc-grads-join-forces-to-launch-next-gen-pt-business\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bio-Dynamic Duo STC grads join forces to launch next-gen PT business"},"content":{"rendered":"

As physical therapy professionals, they\u2019ve made it their life\u2019s mission to help athletes run faster, compete harder, and jump higher. Now, South Texas College grads Mike Garcia and Matthew Garza are ready to make their own leap.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Garcia and Garza are the innovators behind Bio-Dynamic Athletics, a new sports therapy and conditioning clinic in McAllen that endeavors to \u201cbridge the gap between physical therapy and fitness.\u201d For the proud STC alums, the budding business represents the culmination of decades of inspiration \u2014 not to mention a new level in a long-standing friendship.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe partnership has developed, and it\u2019s been great so far,\u201d says Garza, who parlayed his STC degree into a bachelor\u2019s degree, and will soon graduate from UTMB-Galveston\u2019s Doctoral Physical Therapy program. \u201cMike is well-accustomed to the business mindset, how to be relevant, and he\u2019s always finding the humor in every situation possible.\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think we both knew we did not want to necessarily open a traditional outpatient clinic,\u201d says Garcia. \u201cHaving [Matt] as the evaluating therapist helps us keep all evals in-house \u2014 that works out extremely well
\nfor us.\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

As classmates in STC\u2019s Physical Therapist Assistant program, Garcia and Garza talked often, usually in non-committal terms, about starting a business together. The more they learned, and the more experience they gained, the more they began to realize the viability of their entrepreneurial objective.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The result of 10-plus years combined hard work and a handful of academic degrees was Bio-Dynamic Athletics, a company that seeks to evolve sports physical therapy with high-tech solutions. Essentially, it\u2019s a highly advanced, highly customized gym offering hybrid fitness\/PT programs tailored to the client athlete.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

A basketball player, for example, might want to add three inches to her vertical leap, or an offensive lineman four reps to his bench press. Through individual and team sessions, Garcia and Garza\u2019s team would develop a program to safely increase capability in a specific sport or movement.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked a lot about trying to be different from other models,\u201d says Garza, who gives credit to South Texas College for inspiring Bio-Dynamic\u2019s patient-first philosophy. \u201cYou have to have that personal effect, knowing we\u2019re here and we care about them.\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Launched just months before the outset of COVID-19, Bio-Dynamic Athletics has had to adapt like any other business that traditionally entails in-person visits.\u00a0Staying on track meant adapting conditioning programs to a remote platform while maintaining the same level of customization, analytics, and customer service. Meanwhile, as a government-mandated essential business, the partners still had to maintain a safe, distanced environment for in-person clients.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

To say that Bio-Dynamic Athletics was <\/b>destiny<\/em> for the fitness-focused friends is hardly a stretch. Though drawn to the profession under very different circumstances, both Garcia and Garza consider physical therapy a calling, inspired not by money or job security, but by organic life experience.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

As a high school athlete suffering \u201cevery injury under the sun,\u201d Garza became fascinated with the technique and technology employed by his own physical therapists. Driven by a will to succeed on his own terms, the former baseball star connected with the Physical Therapist Assistant program
\nat South Texas College, and never looked back.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEarly on I let my professor know I wanted to go for the doctorate PT program,\u201d says Garza. His initiative led him to a bridge program offering credit toward his Doctor of Physical Therapy for coursework and experience already obtained. \u201cI worked really hard to obtain and maintain that 3.5 GPA, it prepared me for the intensity.\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Garcia\u2019s spark of inspiration would happen more suddenly. When his daughter was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, he realized she would require decades of physical therapy, in addition to the usual financial and emotional support required by a child. Where he had previously envisioned himself teaching or working in retail, Garcia now had a singular goal: to become his daughter\u2019s physical therapist.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a father, you want to help your children as much as you can, so I decided the best way to help her was to go back to school \u2026 so I could help her for her a lifetime,\u201d reflects the father of three. \u201cThis profession wasn\u2019t an initial passion but \u2026 it became an addiction.\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

And while they discovered physical therapy on different emotional planes, Garcia and Garza would converge on the same path to success at South Texas College. With the support of Hernandez, her experienced team of PTA Program faculty and staff, and each other, the pair set a foundation for their life\u2019s work in the Physical Therapist Assistant program, earning their associate degrees and going to work as licensed physical\u00a0therapist assistants.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMrs. Hernandez ran a super-tight ship,\u201d recalls Garcia. \u201cThose skills they gave to us \u2026 we turned it into a business.\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

For Hernandez, the success of the Bio-Dynamic duo is just further proof that the affordable, accessible career education offered by STC is working as intended in the community.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey are well-rounded, forward-thinking therapists,\u201d says the instructor. \u201cMike and Matthew took the sound foundation provided by our program and decided to do more.\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Visit<\/em>\u00a0https:\/\/nah.southtexascollege.edu\/pta\/<\/u><\/a> for more information on the Physical Therapist\u00a0Assistant program at STC. Have questions? Contact Diana Hernandez at 956-872-3152.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

A future in fitness: Physical therapy careers are waiting!<\/span><\/h3>\n