Chasing Excellence 5K

Pfluger Park
515 City Park Rd
Pflugerville, TX US 78660

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If you would like to specifically donate to the Tina Bonci Excellence in Athletic Training Scholarship, please visit:

https://utdirect.utexas.edu/apps/utgiving/online/nlogon/?menu=EDTB&comments=Bonci%20Scholarship

*Note this is not the link to sign up for the race, please see top of the page for race registration

The Tina Bonci Excellence in Athletic Training Scholarship was created in 2014 to honor the life and career of Tina Bonci. During her 29-year career at UT, Bonci served as the Head Athletic Trainer for the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, the Co-Director of Athletic Training and Sports Medicine for the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, and Associate Athletics Director. In addition to her noteworthy tenure at UT, Bonci is remembered as an icon in the athletic training profession and the field of sports medicine. She was a nationally renowned and respected professional who dedicated her life and career to cutting edge health care delivery.

Under her direction, UT developed an interdisciplinary model for health care that focuses on clinical, research and educational initiatives that have preventive, health-restoring and performance- enhancing potential. The model demonstrates how medical practitioners, university academicians and researchers, exercise scientists, coaches, and administrators can be integrated within the framework of higher education to positively influence the health, safety, and well-being of student-athletes. During her tenure at UT, Bonci and her staff were instrumental in maintaining and promoting the health of female student-athletes who claimed 21 NCAA championship titles in seven different sports. In 2010, she received the highest employee recognition bestowed by UT Women’s Athletics – induction into the Athletics Hall of Honor. This award recognizes a distinguished circle of individuals who have made a distinct and lasting contribution to The University of Texas at Austin through outstanding service and exemplary standards of conduct. In 2013, Bonci was honored with the first ever Lifetime Achievement Award during the Longhorn Honors: Women’s Athletics’ Awards.

For her unique contributions and service as an athletic trainer at the national and district level, she was inducted into the Southwest Athletic Trainers’ Association (SWATA) Hall of Fame in 2011 and was recognized as a Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer (MDAT) in 2009. The National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) also recognized her with a MDAT award in 2006.

A noted speaker and lecturer on women’s health issues, Bonci has been published in numerous peer-reviewed sports medicine journals. She was lead author for the NATA position statement that delineated standards of care for detecting, managing, and preventing disordered eating in athletes that was published in the Journal of Athletic Training in 2008. Bonci also served for three years on the NATA Convention Committee, chairing the educational program for its 50th Anniversary Meeting in Kansas City. She served in this same capacity for the SWATA Convention Committee from 2008-‘13. In addition to her clinical and educational contributions, Bonci was a veteran of numerous national team competitions. She was appointed by the United States Olympic Committee to the medical staffs of the boycotted 1980 Moscow Olympics and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. In 1984, Bonci served as head athletic trainer for the gold medal winning U.S. women’s basketball team.

 Bonci earned her bachelor’s degree from Lock Haven State College in 1977 and her master’s degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1979. After graduate school, she held a clinical appointment at the University of Pennsylvania Sports Medicine Center. Her professional endeavors, focused on advocating for the health and safety of female athletes, are complemented by volunteer work with the American Diabetes Association and various cancer survivorship and advocacy programs.