September 12, 2025 • 23 mins
We sit through classes, sit to study, sit on a couch to relax, and often sit at a desk to work. It’s easier than ever as a busy college student to miss out on the basics: sunshine, fresh air, friends, and movement. Sure, there’s the gym on campus – but what if you’ve never been before? How do you break through the intimidation? Will there even be an activity you like there?
Enter the Rec Sports team – and their director, Rick McGill.
This week, Dr. Ross and student producer Ashley Worley discuss what you might not have known rec centers have to offer with UT Tyler’s Director of Recreational Sports, Rick McGill. From free weights to ski trips, the department has something for everyone. He shares how rec sports engagement impacts the lives of students, helping them stay healthy, build friendships, and even secure unexpected career opportunities.
Whether you’re a basketball enthusiast or an air hockey champ, there’s something about sports that brings us all together. The resources you need are here – and it includes so much more than a gym.
Have more questions about rec sports opportunities? Email us at ADRquestions@gmail.com or leave a comment below. We’d love to hear from you!
Want to stay up to date on UT Tyler’s rec center? Download the app to see the gym’s live occupancy count, register for club sports teams, view upcoming outdoor adventures, and more! Search “UT Tyler Rec Sports App” and find it on Google Play or the App Store.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Stay tuned to the Ask Dr Ross podcast.
It's created to give you infoto succeed at college.
Our hosts are highly qualified.
Dr Catherine Ross is a memberof the University of Texas
System's Academy ofDistinguished Teachers.
She's also a popular professorof 19th century English
literature.
Ask Dr Ross is a communityservice of the University of
(00:27):
Texas at Tyler.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
So today we're interviewing Rick McGill, who is
the head of Rec Sports at UTTyler, and we wanted to find out
a little bit about thismysterious thing called Rec
Sports.
It's this field that a lot offolks don't realize goes on at
colleges, and I think it's awonderful endeavor.
So, rick, first of all, tell usa little bit about yourself,
your background and how you cameto UT Tyler, and then we want
(00:52):
you to tell us everything thatneeds to be known about Rec
Sports.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Okay, that sounds great.
Well, thanks for having me.
So, Rick McGill, I'm originallyfrom Iowa.
I started in the recreationalfield really when I was in high
school, coaching, refereeingyouth sports, and then I worked
for the City of IndependenceParks and Recreation Department,
so that's where I grew up,Started getting more involved in
their recreational side ofprogramming.
It started as a summer job,ended up being kind of a
(01:17):
year-round thing as I gotinvolved with the facility and
the programs.
As I went to college I didn'treally know what I wanted to do
with my you know career and mylife.
So my supervisor at the time,Bob Beatty, he said, hey, you
know, this is a career,something you can go into and
make a living, and so really, Ijust took that and ran with it.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
That was one of the surprises for us is that there
actually is this field.
You think of sports as oh bigtime, college coaching and these
million dollar contracts andstuff like that, and yet there's
so much more physical activitygoing on at schools and colleges
.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Absolutely.
It's maybe a lesser known realmthan collegiate athletics or
something like that.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
But it's probably much more accessible to a lot
more people.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Absolutely, absolutely.
So there are colleges acrossthe nation that offer some sort
of recreation management degreeor you know, sports management
and those type of things.
So I went and I got mybachelor's and my master's
degree in, essentially,recreation management at the
University of Northern Iowa.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Now hold on a minute.
Is there anything like that atUT Tyler that a student
listening to this podcast mightbe able to pursue?
That could help them lead tothis.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, so the closest thing would obviously be within
the kinesiology department, andwe do employ a lot of
kinesiology students to getexperience in our facility as
well.
So I would say that's theclosest thing that we have right
now.
On a little bit of a sidebar, Iam teaching an introduction to
sports officiating class now.
We've done it for threesemesters, so it's another piece
of the sports world that peoplecan get involved in.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
My son helped to pay his way through private college
by refereeing sports.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah, it's a great opportunity for someone to even
take as a career or just a sidegig right to make a little extra
money, and it's something thatwe need officials in every sport
that we have.
So I worked at the Universityof Northern Iowa getting all
kinds of experience in facilitymanagement, intramural sports,
really anything I could get myhands on.
I was a graduate assistant andgot my master's degree From
(03:13):
there.
I accepted a position as theintramural director at Truman
State University, which is innorthern Missouri.
So I worked there for threeyears, mainly in intramural
sports but also helping withfacility operations.
And when I say facilityoperations, I understand people
don't always understand whatthat means, but you know, when
you go to the rec center and youhop on the treadmill and it
works, that's great for you.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
When it doesn't work, Got to go see Rick McGill?
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
And we've got to make sure that the facility is safe
and clean and that we have theproper policies and that you
know we're studying our hours ofoperation, are we serving the
students correctly?
And so all of those things gointo what you know facility
operations really is, and sokeeping the facilities
accessible to students andadding new things and staying up
with the trends to make surethat we're offering the best
(03:57):
things to our students.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
So at Truman you were making sure facilities for all
sorts of intramural kinds ofathletics, but also you were
helping with the sportsthemselves, weren't you?
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yes, so I would oversee all of the referees and
the supervisors for thedifferent sports that we held
there, as well as, yeah, thefacility side of things.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
So how'd you get from Truman to UT Tyler?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Just looking for the next step in my career Ended up
at UT Tyler Thought.
Texas sounded nice and hot.
I was tired of the cold in theMidwest.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Well, I understand.
It's really icy cold in Iowa inthe wintertime, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Yeah, you will not hear me complain about the 95
degree weather today, because Iknow what the 10 degrees feels
like, so ended up taking theassociate director position here
.
My original role was in realsports club sports marketing and
really you know other duties asassigned.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
What exactly are the kinds of physical activities and
sports that you help students?
Speaker 3 (04:54):
to experience.
We have our major sports likefootball, basketball, soccer,
volleyball.
In most of those sports weoffer like an indoor and an
outdoor version.
For example, for flag footballwe'll play seven on seven in the
fall and we'll play four onfour in the spring.
So they're similar butdifferent experiences, right?
So the major sports we do wegenerally have two iterations of
(05:14):
that and we have men's teams,women's teams and co-rec teams.
It's a great experience.
It's a ton of fun.
We see a lot of communitybuilding in intramural sports
specifically.
Right, that's where you meetyour lifelong friends and you
know different things like that.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
How do students get involved in rec sports?
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, so there's a multitude of ways.
When you come to UT Tyler, youpay your fees right on top of
your tuition, and part of thatis a recreational fee, and so
you automatically have yourmembership.
When you show up here, youbring your ID card to our
building, you swipe in and youcan go work out and do all of
that.
So we have, obviously, ourfitness floor with selectorized
(05:53):
equipment, cardio equipment, wehave free weights, we have a
walking and running track, wehave two racquetball courts, an
aerobics studio and then we alsohave what we call a dungeon.
It doubles as the athleticweight room for the teams, but
each night we open it to thegeneral students.
So if you want more of thatfree weight Olympic style lift,
(06:13):
you can get it there.
And then, obviously, we housethe basketball arena as well,
which is open to studentsoutside of practicing, and the
outdoor swimming pool and spa,which is open year-round.
It is heated, so even in themiddle of winter it's 80 degrees
in that water.
There are eight tennis courtsthat we oversee as well, so it's
(06:36):
open for open rec each nightand we do turn the lights on so
you can play after dark.
We have a big group ofpickleballers that play as well.
So we offer open recreation andpickleball.
We'll set up the nets andeverything for it.
Anything recreationalsports-related we offer open
recreation pickleball.
We'll set up the nets andeverything for it Anything
recreational sports related.
We offer the equipment as well.
So you come in, you sign it outand you return it when you're
done with it.
So, a basketball, volleyball,pickleball If you want table
(06:59):
tennis stuff, we have that.
If you want to play our airhockey table, we have those
things.
Foosball, you name it.
Hopefully we have it, and if wewe don't, we're willing to look
into it.
We're just trying to give asmany different experiences as we
can to the students.
So, yes, all of that stuff isoffered.
You know.
You sign it out and you returnit.
It's not like we're chargingyou for the equipment.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Well, now I think I saw some canoes.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Yes.
So we have obviously HarveyLake here on campus and we do
offer canoe and kayak rentalsand stand-up paddle boards as
well.
So one of the other pillars ofRec Sports is outdoor adventures
.
So every semester we take agroup of students that can sign
up and go on different tripsthroughout the region.
It may be a hiking trip, acanoeing trip.
(07:38):
We go skydiving every semesterand so we offer those trips to
students as well.
Now, the outdoor adventuretrips, the weekend trips, the
smaller ones, free of charge tostudents.
Our bigger trips, likeskydiving, we offer them at a
small charge.
But the one trip I definitelywant to touch on, our biggest
trip of the year, is our skitrip to Durango, Colorado.
(07:59):
Oh, wow, yeah.
So we take usually 35 to 40students on a charter bus and we
go skiing, snowboarding.
You can go snowmobiling forfour days in Durango, Colorado.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
That's an incredible resource that I bet a lot of
students don't realize.
How do they find out about it?
How do they get signed up?
Speaker 3 (08:18):
The biggest thing for us is downloading the RecSports
app.
So if you go into the AppleStore or Google Play, search UT
Tyler RecSports and there's anapp that houses everything that
we do, and then our intramuralsports has another app that
works in conjunction with thatapp, called Fusion Play.
So they're both run by oursoftware company called Fusion.
(08:38):
But that's where you'll seeeverything.
You'll see our schedules,you'll see what fitness classes
we offer, you'll see our hoursof operations.
We even have a live occupancytracker on the app.
So if you're sitting in yourdorm and you know you really
like you know the thirdtreadmill is your treadmill you
can look at live occupancy andsee, well, is there 20 people in
the building or is there 200people in the building, right?
(08:59):
And so you can really find outthe good times to go for your
schedule.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
That's amazing.
Now, this is all students useduring their free time.
Right, these aren't coursesthat people have to enroll in,
although, like your, reverie inclass is something, but most of
this is just free and open.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, so we're open 6 am to 11 pm during the week and
then 10 to 8 on weekends.
So we try to be open.
You know, we know students arebusy, we know that they have
classes and jobs and things likethat.
So we try to make sure thatwe're available to the students.
So, yes, this is drop-inrecreation.
When you're available and thefacility's open, come on in.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
How do you do the sports though, Like when you
have games and things?
You've got to have someorganization there.
How does that work?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Absolutely so.
When you sign up for, say, flagfootball, you can select the
days and times that work for youto play.
And so then when we generatethat schedule, if we know Monday
nights from 6 to 9 pm youcannot play, we will schedule
you on Tuesday night or Thursdaynight.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
So you schedule them.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Yes, it's through the app.
Our department consists of sixprofessional staff members and
one of those staff members,tyler Artley, he oversees our
intramural sports, so he'll takeall the registrations, put the
leagues together, put out theschedules, make sure that
everyone gets the same number ofgames and works for their
schedule, and we have refereesready to go.
Yeah, so it's a pretty seamlessprocess.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
How many students in a semester might take part in it
, like in one of these sports,like, let's say, flag football.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Yeah, so flag football, I would say.
Our average registration issomewhere around eight to twelve
teams.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Teams, wow, teams, yes, of seven each.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Yeah, at least seven, because it's seven on seven for
that league.
So usually teams will consistof, you know, 10 players.
That way if someone can't makeit they can still field a full
team.
But you know, over the last fewyears our average in real
participation has been, you know, recovering from COVID,
obviously, when we were all shutdown, but in general we'll have
somewhere in the ballpark offive to six thousand
participations a year ofstudents.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
That's incredible.
You know, earlier, a couple ofseasons ago, we did an episode
on what your tuition pays forand we mentioned RecSports, but
I don't think I had any idea howrich a resource that is.
And, oh my goodness, I mean Ithink about what people pay to
belong to a country club or atennis club.
Right now, that's a wonderfulresource for students.
(11:19):
Club or a tennis club right now, that's a wonderful resource
for students.
Do you worry about studentsplaying sports, that they're not
ready to play, that they're notfit enough, or is there
anything about fitness that youall monitor there?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
On the sports side?
Not necessarily, but what we dooffer is some entry level.
Hey, I've never been to the gymor I don't know how to do this.
Can you help us?
So at any time, our staff isready to give what we call a
fitness orientation.
We'll take you through theentire building, we'll show you
the different machines, we'llhelp you with anything you need.
We offer spotting all thethings that you need to get
involved.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
You do any like fitness assessment?
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Yeah, you can sign up for a fitness orientation which
will do that.
If you are a beginner, we alsooffer classes like beginners
that lift, so it's a class ofpeople who maybe aren't
comfortable lifting or don'tknow how to get started, and
we'll have a instructor therewho's going to take you through
the process of getting startedwhat you need to do, what does
(12:14):
this machine target?
And actually this semester, ourassistant director, tasha
Cleaver, who is a world-renownedpowerlifter, is going to be
teaching that class, so it's anincredible resource for our
students.
And we also do it in thedungeon area which I mentioned,
so it's a more secluded area,right, we know one of the
barriers to getting involved infitness is I don't want to be
(12:35):
out in the open with all thepeople that know what they're
doing, so it's a really goodplace to start.
The other options we offer.
So we offer personal trainingand one of the first things
you'll do is, with a certifiedpersonal trainer, you'll go
through an assessment or anevaluation to kind of know where
you're at, and then they'llwrite a plan for you and help
you through that process.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Is there like any waiting list to get on that, or
is it?
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Nope, you can sign up online and we do a really good
job of trying to pair you with agood fit for a trainer and make
sure that you know the peoplethat are interested in that
program get what they need.
And then, lastly, if you want amore self-led, you know I don't
want someone telling me what todo, but I need some help to
know what to do.
Almost every machine in ourbuilding has a QR code on it.
In our building has a QR codeon it, and if you scan that QR
(13:19):
code, it's going to play a videoof hey, this is how I use this
machine and this is what ittargets.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
How about that?
Speaker 3 (13:31):
We want to remove any possible barrier to someone
coming into our facility.
Right, we want people to feelcomfortable.
We want them to find theirpassion within rec sports,
whether that be in the fitnessrealm or the sports realm, or
outdoor adventures any of that.
We want to just make sure ourstudents have the proper
resources.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Well, I have to interrupt for just a minute and
say it sounds like you have areally fun job.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Yeah, it is.
I'm very blessed.
I love what I do.
It's something that I truly,truly enjoy no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Well, talk to us a little bit about those benefits
and what you've seen happen,both physically, emotionally,
socially.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
So we know, you know, if you look at fitness or being
active, like we understand mostof those physical benefits
right, being healthy, leading anactive lifestyle, you know,
helps you feel better, it helpsyou live longer, it does all of
those things that you know yourdoctor's telling you you need to
do and it's a great benefit.
But some of the things that Isee from my side that really
(14:28):
drive what I do and make mepassionate about what we do is
the community and the mentalside of things and feeling that
sense of belonging.
So I always talk about, youknow, when we leave college.
You know, hopefully theprofessors, dr Ross, don't get
mad at me, but do we rememberBiology 101?
Or do we remember when we wonthe flag football championship
our junior year?
You know it's those lifelongmemories and building of
(14:50):
community and the people thatyou're going to stay connected
with after college.
And one thing that studentsdon't always realize but when
you get involved in college,whether it be sports or it be
fitness or outdoor adventures,and you find that passion, those
things are lifelong passionsand lifelong benefits that we
know are helpful.
And so every year we do asurvey at the end of the year
(15:11):
for all of the students and theones that you know have
participated in our programsconsistently talk about how it's
one of the reasons I chose UTTyler.
It's one of the reasons Istayed at UT Tyler.
It's one of the things that youknow has changed my life,
because now I understand howmuch better I feel when I go to
the gym three times a week, ornow I'm playing softball in the
summers in my hometown because Iloved it so much at UT Tyler or
(15:34):
whatever it may be.
So we know sense of community,the sense of belonging.
The lifelong friendships andmemories that they make also
have that lifestyle change builtinto them as well.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
You know so many students that come here.
They were involved in sports inhigh school, not enough to be
on the teams, but they were usedto that kind of athletics.
And if they come here and allthey do is study and sit in the
library and it's not good, it'sjust not good and mentally,
physically, emotionally.
(16:05):
It's much better for them tokeep going and I'm so thrilled
to hear about this.
You know, I have a colleague atUT Austin who is a runner.
He invites students every yearin his organic chemistry class
to choose one sport to work onall semester and to report to
him about it, and I think hegives some sort of reward.
Maybe they have fewer questionson their exam or something, I
(16:27):
don't know.
But he has moved on from thatto actually teaching courses in
the science of happiness and oneof the things that he
encountered in that study ofhappiness was the degree to
which our physical activity justgetting out and walking and
breathing air, if not playingathletically and hard and
(16:48):
competing is going to contributeto your happiness.
I bet you've seen that all thetime.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Yeah, absolutely.
And one thing that you mentionedthat I haven't talked about for
a pillar of rec sports is youtalked about the athlete who may
have played in high school butisn't playing at the Division II
collegiate level Actually havesomething for them, and so it's
called club sports.
It's really a step aboveintramural sports.
So within intramural sports youplay other UT Tyler students,
(17:13):
right, and you kind of just showup and play the games, probably
not doing a whole lot ofpracticing or training, right.
It's more of a fun atmosphere.
But if you're looking for agood mix with maybe a little
more competitiveness to it, weoffer a club sport program where
you and whoever else isinvolved in that club can
practice here on campus, can gothrough our department to help
(17:34):
with resources, and they cantravel regionally or even
nationally to compete againstother schools.
So we have several active clubshere.
We even have bass fishing andpower lifting, which are
successful, volleyball,basketball, and if we don't
offer a club that you'reinterested in, it's very, very
easy to start a club here at UTTyler and our department will
help you with that process.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Well, I think this has just been a really
interesting.
Ashley, do you have somequestions?
Speaker 4 (18:00):
for him.
I mean you pretty much coveredeverything very thoroughly.
We appreciate you coming in andI know you talked a lot about
these passions that students canfind when they come into
college can stay their passionfor life.
Have you personally seen anystories of students who
graduated and seeing how makinguse of the rec sports
opportunities they had incollege affected their life
(18:22):
afterward?
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Absolutely.
So.
There are two students thatcome to mind immediately and
that is Brandon and Jonna.
I'll shout them out.
So both of them worked in recsports.
So, side note, we employ a tonof students every semester.
Almost everything that we dowithin our department is student
run, right?
The people working at the desk,cleaning the equipment,
refereeing the intramural sportsare all UT Tyler students.
(18:45):
Same thing with teachingfitness classes.
So if anyone has those passions, there's ways to get involved.
You know, make a little bit ofmoney and have a job here on
campus with flexible scheduling.
But Brandon and Jonna bothworked within our department.
They're not recreation majors,that's not their degree, because
you know UT Tyler doesn't havea specific recreation degree.
But they worked within ourdepartment for multiple years in
(19:07):
different positions, right?
Whether it was working at thefront desk, being a building
manager, working in our officeselling memberships or being an
outdoor ventures intern, thingslike that.
They got a ton of experienceand both of them, after they
left college, didn't go into thefield that their degree was in.
They both went intorecreational sports.
And so Brandon's still in Texasworking in the recreational
(19:29):
field and Jonna's actually inIowa.
She moved north after collegeworking at a university up there
.
So I've mentioned to you guysbefore that when I see students
develop that passion and, youknow, wanting to not only be
involved in rec sports but evenwork in rec sports is is awesome
to see yeah, I think that it'simportant for students, first of
all, just to know about thisamazing set of resources.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Now, you did say something about selling
memberships.
What are you talking aboutthere?
Speaker 3 (19:56):
so our building is open to faculty staff as well,
and so we sell memberships tothem, and then the community can
actually be a member to thefacility as well.
And so we sell memberships tothem, and then the community can
actually be a member to thefacility as well.
But the membership alreadybelongs to the students yes,
already belongs to the students,and we limit the amount of
community memberships we sellduring the school year because
we want to make sure that thestudents have space right, but
(20:17):
during the summer, anotherpillar of Rec Sports is youth
programming.
So we run youth summer camps,we run swim lessons.
Now, our students are the campcounselors, are the lifeguards,
so it's a great experience forthem.
But what it allows us to do asa department is make revenue off
the facility when the studentsare gone to then pour back into
the facility for the studentswhen they come back.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
I think that that's such an important thing for
everyone to remember is thatthere's so many different things
you can do while you're incollege that become part of a
resume, part of the things thatshape your ideas about what you
want to do post-college.
It also is really important, Ithink, for having people like
you who have kind of learned howto do it, sharing your
(21:01):
knowledge and your enthusiasm.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Yeah, and the other aspect of being involved and
working within RecSports orreally anywhere is the
connections you make along theway.
So, for example, in ourbuilding, you know you have
students coming in, so you'remeeting students.
You have faculty and staffcoming in, so you're meeting
them.
You have community members thatcome in.
You know it may be yourprofessor or a vice president at
(21:24):
the university that's coming inand swiping their ID every day
and you develop thatrelationship and it really can
open some doors for you right.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
You know, one thing I'm embarrassed to say is I
didn't know that much about whatyou all do, and I would
encourage you to find ways tolet more faculty know, Because I
think you know I figure my jobas an English professor is not
just to teach English, it's toteach humans and to help them
have as complete an experiencein college as possible, and I'm
already thinking about ways Ican send them off to rec sports.
(21:54):
Now Look out McGill.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Yes, we want them all .
It's one of the many strugglesI think we have is just trying
to market everything that wehave and make sure they know
what the opportunities are.
Our building generally willhave 180,000 entries every year,
and that's not including peopleplaying intramural sports or
going out to our adventures.
That's just people swiping into work out, and so if you think
about the amount of traffic,you know that's great, but we
(22:18):
also know that we're not gettingto every student and so we want
to really focus on the studentsthat we're not getting to.
That's why we try some unusualprogramming like drone racing,
or maybe it's a air hockeytournament instead of basketball
.
Sometimes when people see recsports or they think of the
workout area, it may not betheir passion, but we want to
(22:38):
make sure they know there'sother things that we do that we
can also offer.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Well, this has really been eye-opening for me and
very exciting for me too,because as I get ready to start
teaching my classes this fall, Ialways try to talk to my
students about making sure theyhave a full experience, and I
now have another arrow in myquiver.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
We would love to see them all and, as always, you
know, like I mentioned, the appis really where we put a lot of
information.
But, yeah, stop by and see us.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Rick, this is so cool .
I'm so glad you came to UTTyler from freezing Iowa.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Well, thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, all righty.
Well, I guess that's abouteverything we need to know for
the time being.
We'll hopefully be seeing youout there in the field somewhere
in the school year.
Thank you so much for coming in.
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
And if anybody has any questions for Mr McGill or
the RecSports team, you canleave a comment under our
YouTube channel or you can sendus an email at adrquestions at
gmailcom.
Thank you.
Stay tuned to the Ask Dr Ross podcast.
It's created to give you infoto succeed at college.
Our hosts are highly qualified.
Dr Catherine Ross is a memberof the University of Texas
System's Academy ofDistinguished Teachers.
She's also a popular professorof 19th century English
literature.
Ask Dr Ross is a communityservice of the University of
(00:27):
Texas at Tyler.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
So today we're interviewing Rick McGill, who is
the head of Rec Sports at UTTyler, and we wanted to find out
a little bit about thismysterious thing called Rec
Sports.
It's this field that a lot offolks don't realize goes on at
colleges, and I think it's awonderful endeavor.
So, rick, first of all, tell usa little bit about yourself,
your background and how you cameto UT Tyler, and then we want
(00:52):
you to tell us everything thatneeds to be known about Rec
Sports.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Okay, that sounds great.
Well, thanks for having me.
So, Rick McGill, I'm originallyfrom Iowa.
I started in the recreationalfield really when I was in high
school, coaching, refereeingyouth sports, and then I worked
for the City of IndependenceParks and Recreation Department,
so that's where I grew up,Started getting more involved in
their recreational side ofprogramming.
It started as a summer job,ended up being kind of a
(01:17):
year-round thing as I gotinvolved with the facility and
the programs.
As I went to college I didn'treally know what I wanted to do
with my you know career and mylife.
So my supervisor at the time,Bob Beatty, he said, hey, you
know, this is a career,something you can go into and
make a living, and so really, Ijust took that and ran with it.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
That was one of the surprises for us is that there
actually is this field.
You think of sports as oh bigtime, college coaching and these
million dollar contracts andstuff like that, and yet there's
so much more physical activitygoing on at schools and colleges
.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Absolutely.
It's maybe a lesser known realmthan collegiate athletics or
something like that.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
But it's probably much more accessible to a lot
more people.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Absolutely, absolutely.
So there are colleges acrossthe nation that offer some sort
of recreation management degreeor you know, sports management
and those type of things.
So I went and I got mybachelor's and my master's
degree in, essentially,recreation management at the
University of Northern Iowa.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Now hold on a minute.
Is there anything like that atUT Tyler that a student
listening to this podcast mightbe able to pursue?
That could help them lead tothis.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, so the closest thing would obviously be within
the kinesiology department, andwe do employ a lot of
kinesiology students to getexperience in our facility as
well.
So I would say that's theclosest thing that we have right
now.
On a little bit of a sidebar, Iam teaching an introduction to
sports officiating class now.
We've done it for threesemesters, so it's another piece
of the sports world that peoplecan get involved in.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
My son helped to pay his way through private college
by refereeing sports.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah, it's a great opportunity for someone to even
take as a career or just a sidegig right to make a little extra
money, and it's something thatwe need officials in every sport
that we have.
So I worked at the Universityof Northern Iowa getting all
kinds of experience in facilitymanagement, intramural sports,
really anything I could get myhands on.
I was a graduate assistant andgot my master's degree From
(03:13):
there.
I accepted a position as theintramural director at Truman
State University, which is innorthern Missouri.
So I worked there for threeyears, mainly in intramural
sports but also helping withfacility operations.
And when I say facilityoperations, I understand people
don't always understand whatthat means, but you know, when
you go to the rec center and youhop on the treadmill and it
works, that's great for you.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
When it doesn't work, Got to go see Rick McGill?
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
And we've got to make sure that the facility is safe
and clean and that we have theproper policies and that you
know we're studying our hours ofoperation, are we serving the
students correctly?
And so all of those things gointo what you know facility
operations really is, and sokeeping the facilities
accessible to students andadding new things and staying up
with the trends to make surethat we're offering the best
(03:57):
things to our students.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
So at Truman you were making sure facilities for all
sorts of intramural kinds ofathletics, but also you were
helping with the sportsthemselves, weren't you?
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yes, so I would oversee all of the referees and
the supervisors for thedifferent sports that we held
there, as well as, yeah, thefacility side of things.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
So how'd you get from Truman to UT Tyler?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Just looking for the next step in my career Ended up
at UT Tyler Thought.
Texas sounded nice and hot.
I was tired of the cold in theMidwest.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Well, I understand.
It's really icy cold in Iowa inthe wintertime, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Yeah, you will not hear me complain about the 95
degree weather today, because Iknow what the 10 degrees feels
like, so ended up taking theassociate director position here
.
My original role was in realsports club sports marketing and
really you know other duties asassigned.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
What exactly are the kinds of physical activities and
sports that you help students?
Speaker 3 (04:54):
to experience.
We have our major sports likefootball, basketball, soccer,
volleyball.
In most of those sports weoffer like an indoor and an
outdoor version.
For example, for flag footballwe'll play seven on seven in the
fall and we'll play four onfour in the spring.
So they're similar butdifferent experiences, right?
So the major sports we do wegenerally have two iterations of
(05:14):
that and we have men's teams,women's teams and co-rec teams.
It's a great experience.
It's a ton of fun.
We see a lot of communitybuilding in intramural sports
specifically.
Right, that's where you meetyour lifelong friends and you
know different things like that.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
How do students get involved in rec sports?
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, so there's a multitude of ways.
When you come to UT Tyler, youpay your fees right on top of
your tuition, and part of thatis a recreational fee, and so
you automatically have yourmembership.
When you show up here, youbring your ID card to our
building, you swipe in and youcan go work out and do all of
that.
So we have, obviously, ourfitness floor with selectorized
(05:53):
equipment, cardio equipment, wehave free weights, we have a
walking and running track, wehave two racquetball courts, an
aerobics studio and then we alsohave what we call a dungeon.
It doubles as the athleticweight room for the teams, but
each night we open it to thegeneral students.
So if you want more of thatfree weight Olympic style lift,
(06:13):
you can get it there.
And then, obviously, we housethe basketball arena as well,
which is open to studentsoutside of practicing, and the
outdoor swimming pool and spa,which is open year-round.
It is heated, so even in themiddle of winter it's 80 degrees
in that water.
There are eight tennis courtsthat we oversee as well, so it's
(06:36):
open for open rec each nightand we do turn the lights on so
you can play after dark.
We have a big group ofpickleballers that play as well.
So we offer open recreation andpickleball.
We'll set up the nets andeverything for it.
Anything recreationalsports-related we offer open
recreation pickleball.
We'll set up the nets andeverything for it Anything
recreational sports related.
We offer the equipment as well.
So you come in, you sign it outand you return it when you're
done with it.
So, a basketball, volleyball,pickleball If you want table
(06:59):
tennis stuff, we have that.
If you want to play our airhockey table, we have those
things.
Foosball, you name it.
Hopefully we have it, and if wewe don't, we're willing to look
into it.
We're just trying to give asmany different experiences as we
can to the students.
So, yes, all of that stuff isoffered.
You know.
You sign it out and you returnit.
It's not like we're chargingyou for the equipment.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Well, now I think I saw some canoes.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Yes.
So we have obviously HarveyLake here on campus and we do
offer canoe and kayak rentalsand stand-up paddle boards as
well.
So one of the other pillars ofRec Sports is outdoor adventures
.
So every semester we take agroup of students that can sign
up and go on different tripsthroughout the region.
It may be a hiking trip, acanoeing trip.
(07:38):
We go skydiving every semesterand so we offer those trips to
students as well.
Now, the outdoor adventuretrips, the weekend trips, the
smaller ones, free of charge tostudents.
Our bigger trips, likeskydiving, we offer them at a
small charge.
But the one trip I definitelywant to touch on, our biggest
trip of the year, is our skitrip to Durango, Colorado.
(07:59):
Oh, wow, yeah.
So we take usually 35 to 40students on a charter bus and we
go skiing, snowboarding.
You can go snowmobiling forfour days in Durango, Colorado.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
That's an incredible resource that I bet a lot of
students don't realize.
How do they find out about it?
How do they get signed up?
Speaker 3 (08:18):
The biggest thing for us is downloading the RecSports
app.
So if you go into the AppleStore or Google Play, search UT
Tyler RecSports and there's anapp that houses everything that
we do, and then our intramuralsports has another app that
works in conjunction with thatapp, called Fusion Play.
So they're both run by oursoftware company called Fusion.
(08:38):
But that's where you'll seeeverything.
You'll see our schedules,you'll see what fitness classes
we offer, you'll see our hoursof operations.
We even have a live occupancytracker on the app.
So if you're sitting in yourdorm and you know you really
like you know the thirdtreadmill is your treadmill you
can look at live occupancy andsee, well, is there 20 people in
the building or is there 200people in the building, right?
(08:59):
And so you can really find outthe good times to go for your
schedule.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
That's amazing.
Now, this is all students useduring their free time.
Right, these aren't coursesthat people have to enroll in,
although, like your, reverie inclass is something, but most of
this is just free and open.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, so we're open 6 am to 11 pm during the week and
then 10 to 8 on weekends.
So we try to be open.
You know, we know students arebusy, we know that they have
classes and jobs and things likethat.
So we try to make sure thatwe're available to the students.
So, yes, this is drop-inrecreation.
When you're available and thefacility's open, come on in.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
How do you do the sports though, Like when you
have games and things?
You've got to have someorganization there.
How does that work?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Absolutely so.
When you sign up for, say, flagfootball, you can select the
days and times that work for youto play.
And so then when we generatethat schedule, if we know Monday
nights from 6 to 9 pm youcannot play, we will schedule
you on Tuesday night or Thursdaynight.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
So you schedule them.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Yes, it's through the app.
Our department consists of sixprofessional staff members and
one of those staff members,tyler Artley, he oversees our
intramural sports, so he'll takeall the registrations, put the
leagues together, put out theschedules, make sure that
everyone gets the same number ofgames and works for their
schedule, and we have refereesready to go.
Yeah, so it's a pretty seamlessprocess.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
How many students in a semester might take part in it
, like in one of these sports,like, let's say, flag football.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Yeah, so flag football, I would say.
Our average registration issomewhere around eight to twelve
teams.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Teams, wow, teams, yes, of seven each.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Yeah, at least seven, because it's seven on seven for
that league.
So usually teams will consistof, you know, 10 players.
That way if someone can't makeit they can still field a full
team.
But you know, over the last fewyears our average in real
participation has been, you know, recovering from COVID,
obviously, when we were all shutdown, but in general we'll have
somewhere in the ballpark offive to six thousand
participations a year ofstudents.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
That's incredible.
You know, earlier, a couple ofseasons ago, we did an episode
on what your tuition pays forand we mentioned RecSports, but
I don't think I had any idea howrich a resource that is.
And, oh my goodness, I mean Ithink about what people pay to
belong to a country club or atennis club.
Right now, that's a wonderfulresource for students.
(11:19):
Club or a tennis club right now, that's a wonderful resource
for students.
Do you worry about studentsplaying sports, that they're not
ready to play, that they're notfit enough, or is there
anything about fitness that youall monitor there?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
On the sports side?
Not necessarily, but what we dooffer is some entry level.
Hey, I've never been to the gymor I don't know how to do this.
Can you help us?
So at any time, our staff isready to give what we call a
fitness orientation.
We'll take you through theentire building, we'll show you
the different machines, we'llhelp you with anything you need.
We offer spotting all thethings that you need to get
involved.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
You do any like fitness assessment?
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Yeah, you can sign up for a fitness orientation which
will do that.
If you are a beginner, we alsooffer classes like beginners
that lift, so it's a class ofpeople who maybe aren't
comfortable lifting or don'tknow how to get started, and
we'll have a instructor therewho's going to take you through
the process of getting startedwhat you need to do, what does
(12:14):
this machine target?
And actually this semester, ourassistant director, tasha
Cleaver, who is a world-renownedpowerlifter, is going to be
teaching that class, so it's anincredible resource for our
students.
And we also do it in thedungeon area which I mentioned,
so it's a more secluded area,right, we know one of the
barriers to getting involved infitness is I don't want to be
(12:35):
out in the open with all thepeople that know what they're
doing, so it's a really goodplace to start.
The other options we offer.
So we offer personal trainingand one of the first things
you'll do is, with a certifiedpersonal trainer, you'll go
through an assessment or anevaluation to kind of know where
you're at, and then they'llwrite a plan for you and help
you through that process.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Is there like any waiting list to get on that, or
is it?
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Nope, you can sign up online and we do a really good
job of trying to pair you with agood fit for a trainer and make
sure that you know the peoplethat are interested in that
program get what they need.
And then, lastly, if you want amore self-led, you know I don't
want someone telling me what todo, but I need some help to
know what to do.
Almost every machine in ourbuilding has a QR code on it.
In our building has a QR codeon it, and if you scan that QR
(13:19):
code, it's going to play a videoof hey, this is how I use this
machine and this is what ittargets.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
How about that?
Speaker 3 (13:31):
We want to remove any possible barrier to someone
coming into our facility.
Right, we want people to feelcomfortable.
We want them to find theirpassion within rec sports,
whether that be in the fitnessrealm or the sports realm, or
outdoor adventures any of that.
We want to just make sure ourstudents have the proper
resources.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Well, I have to interrupt for just a minute and
say it sounds like you have areally fun job.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Yeah, it is.
I'm very blessed.
I love what I do.
It's something that I truly,truly enjoy no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Well, talk to us a little bit about those benefits
and what you've seen happen,both physically, emotionally,
socially.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
So we know, you know, if you look at fitness or being
active, like we understand mostof those physical benefits
right, being healthy, leading anactive lifestyle, you know,
helps you feel better, it helpsyou live longer, it does all of
those things that you know yourdoctor's telling you you need to
do and it's a great benefit.
But some of the things that Isee from my side that really
(14:28):
drive what I do and make mepassionate about what we do is
the community and the mentalside of things and feeling that
sense of belonging.
So I always talk about, youknow, when we leave college.
You know, hopefully theprofessors, dr Ross, don't get
mad at me, but do we rememberBiology 101?
Or do we remember when we wonthe flag football championship
our junior year?
You know it's those lifelongmemories and building of
(14:50):
community and the people thatyou're going to stay connected
with after college.
And one thing that studentsdon't always realize but when
you get involved in college,whether it be sports or it be
fitness or outdoor adventures,and you find that passion, those
things are lifelong passionsand lifelong benefits that we
know are helpful.
And so every year we do asurvey at the end of the year
(15:11):
for all of the students and theones that you know have
participated in our programsconsistently talk about how it's
one of the reasons I chose UTTyler.
It's one of the reasons Istayed at UT Tyler.
It's one of the things that youknow has changed my life,
because now I understand howmuch better I feel when I go to
the gym three times a week, ornow I'm playing softball in the
summers in my hometown because Iloved it so much at UT Tyler or
(15:34):
whatever it may be.
So we know sense of community,the sense of belonging.
The lifelong friendships andmemories that they make also
have that lifestyle change builtinto them as well.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
You know so many students that come here.
They were involved in sports inhigh school, not enough to be
on the teams, but they were usedto that kind of athletics.
And if they come here and allthey do is study and sit in the
library and it's not good, it'sjust not good and mentally,
physically, emotionally.
(16:05):
It's much better for them tokeep going and I'm so thrilled
to hear about this.
You know, I have a colleague atUT Austin who is a runner.
He invites students every yearin his organic chemistry class
to choose one sport to work onall semester and to report to
him about it, and I think hegives some sort of reward.
Maybe they have fewer questionson their exam or something, I
(16:27):
don't know.
But he has moved on from thatto actually teaching courses in
the science of happiness and oneof the things that he
encountered in that study ofhappiness was the degree to
which our physical activity justgetting out and walking and
breathing air, if not playingathletically and hard and
(16:48):
competing is going to contributeto your happiness.
I bet you've seen that all thetime.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Yeah, absolutely.
And one thing that you mentionedthat I haven't talked about for
a pillar of rec sports is youtalked about the athlete who may
have played in high school butisn't playing at the Division II
collegiate level Actually havesomething for them, and so it's
called club sports.
It's really a step aboveintramural sports.
So within intramural sports youplay other UT Tyler students,
(17:13):
right, and you kind of just showup and play the games, probably
not doing a whole lot ofpracticing or training, right.
It's more of a fun atmosphere.
But if you're looking for agood mix with maybe a little
more competitiveness to it, weoffer a club sport program where
you and whoever else isinvolved in that club can
practice here on campus, can gothrough our department to help
(17:34):
with resources, and they cantravel regionally or even
nationally to compete againstother schools.
So we have several active clubshere.
We even have bass fishing andpower lifting, which are
successful, volleyball,basketball, and if we don't
offer a club that you'reinterested in, it's very, very
easy to start a club here at UTTyler and our department will
help you with that process.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Well, I think this has just been a really
interesting.
Ashley, do you have somequestions?
Speaker 4 (18:00):
for him.
I mean you pretty much coveredeverything very thoroughly.
We appreciate you coming in andI know you talked a lot about
these passions that students canfind when they come into
college can stay their passionfor life.
Have you personally seen anystories of students who
graduated and seeing how makinguse of the rec sports
opportunities they had incollege affected their life
(18:22):
afterward?
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Absolutely.
So.
There are two students thatcome to mind immediately and
that is Brandon and Jonna.
I'll shout them out.
So both of them worked in recsports.
So, side note, we employ a tonof students every semester.
Almost everything that we dowithin our department is student
run, right?
The people working at the desk,cleaning the equipment,
refereeing the intramural sportsare all UT Tyler students.
(18:45):
Same thing with teachingfitness classes.
So if anyone has those passions, there's ways to get involved.
You know, make a little bit ofmoney and have a job here on
campus with flexible scheduling.
But Brandon and Jonna bothworked within our department.
They're not recreation majors,that's not their degree, because
you know UT Tyler doesn't havea specific recreation degree.
But they worked within ourdepartment for multiple years in
(19:07):
different positions, right?
Whether it was working at thefront desk, being a building
manager, working in our officeselling memberships or being an
outdoor ventures intern, thingslike that.
They got a ton of experienceand both of them, after they
left college, didn't go into thefield that their degree was in.
They both went intorecreational sports.
And so Brandon's still in Texasworking in the recreational
(19:29):
field and Jonna's actually inIowa.
She moved north after collegeworking at a university up there
.
So I've mentioned to you guysbefore that when I see students
develop that passion and, youknow, wanting to not only be
involved in rec sports but evenwork in rec sports is is awesome
to see yeah, I think that it'simportant for students, first of
all, just to know about thisamazing set of resources.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Now, you did say something about selling
memberships.
What are you talking aboutthere?
Speaker 3 (19:56):
so our building is open to faculty staff as well,
and so we sell memberships tothem, and then the community can
actually be a member to thefacility as well.
And so we sell memberships tothem, and then the community can
actually be a member to thefacility as well.
But the membership alreadybelongs to the students yes,
already belongs to the students,and we limit the amount of
community memberships we sellduring the school year because
we want to make sure that thestudents have space right, but
(20:17):
during the summer, anotherpillar of Rec Sports is youth
programming.
So we run youth summer camps,we run swim lessons.
Now, our students are the campcounselors, are the lifeguards,
so it's a great experience forthem.
But what it allows us to do asa department is make revenue off
the facility when the studentsare gone to then pour back into
the facility for the studentswhen they come back.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
I think that that's such an important thing for
everyone to remember is thatthere's so many different things
you can do while you're incollege that become part of a
resume, part of the things thatshape your ideas about what you
want to do post-college.
It also is really important, Ithink, for having people like
you who have kind of learned howto do it, sharing your
(21:01):
knowledge and your enthusiasm.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Yeah, and the other aspect of being involved and
working within RecSports orreally anywhere is the
connections you make along theway.
So, for example, in ourbuilding, you know you have
students coming in, so you'remeeting students.
You have faculty and staffcoming in, so you're meeting
them.
You have community members thatcome in.
You know it may be yourprofessor or a vice president at
(21:24):
the university that's coming inand swiping their ID every day
and you develop thatrelationship and it really can
open some doors for you right.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
You know, one thing I'm embarrassed to say is I
didn't know that much about whatyou all do, and I would
encourage you to find ways tolet more faculty know, Because I
think you know I figure my jobas an English professor is not
just to teach English, it's toteach humans and to help them
have as complete an experiencein college as possible, and I'm
already thinking about ways Ican send them off to rec sports.
(21:54):
Now Look out McGill.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Yes, we want them all .
It's one of the many strugglesI think we have is just trying
to market everything that wehave and make sure they know
what the opportunities are.
Our building generally willhave 180,000 entries every year,
and that's not including peopleplaying intramural sports or
going out to our adventures.
That's just people swiping into work out, and so if you think
about the amount of traffic,you know that's great, but we
(22:18):
also know that we're not gettingto every student and so we want
to really focus on the studentsthat we're not getting to.
That's why we try some unusualprogramming like drone racing,
or maybe it's a air hockeytournament instead of basketball
.
Sometimes when people see recsports or they think of the
workout area, it may not betheir passion, but we want to
(22:38):
make sure they know there'sother things that we do that we
can also offer.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Well, this has really been eye-opening for me and
very exciting for me too,because as I get ready to start
teaching my classes this fall, Ialways try to talk to my
students about making sure theyhave a full experience, and I
now have another arrow in myquiver.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
We would love to see them all and, as always, you
know, like I mentioned, the appis really where we put a lot of
information.
But, yeah, stop by and see us.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Rick, this is so cool .
I'm so glad you came to UTTyler from freezing Iowa.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Well, thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, all righty.
Well, I guess that's abouteverything we need to know for
the time being.
We'll hopefully be seeing youout there in the field somewhere
in the school year.
Thank you so much for coming in.
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
And if anybody has any questions for Mr McGill or
the RecSports team, you canleave a comment under our
YouTube channel or you can sendus an email at adrquestions at
gmailcom.
Thank you.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.