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Tracey Fontenot, PT

What is your specialty?

Pediatric Physical Therapy

What was the most valuable lesson – inside or outside the classroom – you have learned at UT Health San Antonio?

This is a difficult question because I truly learned so much during my time at UT Health. I guess I would say it was through listening to the experiences of my professors and during my clinical rotations where I watched and learned from physical therapists and other professionals in the community that I learned that forming meaningful personal and professional relationships are keys to success! In both the field of physical therapy as well as in gaining meaningful experiences in both professional and personal life, relationships are the foundation of that. I feel fortunate to have learned and observed this early in my professional life, and it has had a positive impact on both my personal and professional life leading me to feel a high level of happiness in both at this stage in my life.

What inspired you to want to become a physical therapist?

I have always been active in sports and interested in the amazing intricacies of the human body, in particular the muscular-skeletal system. I grew up thinking I wanted to become a physician, but after working in a hospital one summer after my freshman year in college, I was exposed to the field of physical therapy and immediately became completely hooked. I also was attracted to being able to form relationships with patients, learn what motivates them, and use that information to help them achieve their goals.

What do you remember most vividly about your time at UT Health?

Those were wonderful years! I have so many fond memories of my time at UT Health! The friendships and the faculty stand out the most to me. Coming from a large university, I had grown accustomed to large classroom learning environments and less personal interaction time with professors and teachers. When I started the physical therapy program, I immediately was impressed with the personal relationships and the faculty-student relationships. The faculty were not only there to teach, they were there to help mold and shape students to reach their own potential. They were helpful in and out of the classroom and really took the time to get to know students’ motivations and backgrounds and then created a very successful classroom and lab learning environment. The class size was perfectly conducive to allowing students to form wonderful friendships and create a tight-knit community. Being in a setting where everyone was working toward a very common goal – to be a great PT – made those bonds even stronger.

What is your greatest professional achievement?

My greatest professional achievement is co-founding a non-profit organization called Kinetic Kids. In 2001, after realizing the scarcity of sports programs for children with special needs in this community, Kacey Wernli, PT (Class of ’94), and I started a baseball team of 12 kids with special needs from our physical therapy practice. These kids yearned for and dreamed of participating in sports like their siblings and peers. Today we serve more than 2,300 children a year in 17 different sports. We have removed the stigma that kids with special needs cannot be athletes, and we are proud to be the only therapist-run sports-directed program for children with special needs in this state! We currently serve children 18 months to 21 years in a variety of team sports, allowing ALL kids to get off the sidelines and onto the playing field!

What advice do you have for current students?

Think outside the box for your clients and patients. Whether it’s a certain exercise they might need, a varied use of a modality, or a new program or organization that might benefit your patients, think outside the box for what is best for them!It keeps you dialed in as a therapist and always thinking and that makes being a physical therapist even more fun and rewarding! Do your homework, research, reach out to others, and go for it!