CEL Story Feature: Closing the Gap for Student Athletes
Name: Leslie Chinenye Omeire
Class: MD/MPH Candidate Class of 2026
CEL Project: Frontera de Salud provides health screenings, vaccines and health education to underserved communities in San Antonio and South Texas by mobilizing student trainees, volunteers, and health practitioners.
Partnering Organizations: The team works with local San Antonio schools to provide free sports physicals and health screenings to underserved students.
Interview with Leslie Omeire
What was the motivation for this project?
Our team was committed to narrowing the gap for our youth who benefit from interscholastic sports participation yet may lack access to that opportunity without a proper sports physical. We worked to provide an accessible means for any eligible student to participate in sports, while also utilizing the time and space as an intentional way to screen for potential physical findings that may impact their overall health. Our sports physicals served as a key point of care because we know that the students’ well-being and academic performance is closely intertwined with their involvement in organized sports and engagement in physical activity.
What made you interested in this project?
As a former high school and collegiate athlete, I can personally attest to the tremendous influence that organized sports had on my life. Everything from the coaches who cared for and disciplined me like their own, to the teammates who became like family, and the lessons learned on court today that I carry with me in life’s everyday challenges. Sports physicals conducted every two years or so, per UIL’s guidelines, served as my golden ticket to this incredible opportunity. Fortunately, I had the necessary support to access a sports physical with ease, but this is not the reality for every student as many may be missing out on something great simply because of the barriers they are faced with when trying to attain these sports physicals.
As you led/participated in this project, what surprised you most?
As medical students we strive for organization and perfection, but often fall short when the reality of life’s inconsistencies meet us in our community engagement efforts — a foreign experience from the exactness we’ve become familiar with in the sciences. We were delightfully surprised by the feedback we received from the coaches and principal which revealed that our efforts had gone far above and beyond what we had imagined. There was grace for shortcomings, and truth in the fact that when perfection is missed in the striving, goodness is still attained where it matters most ‑ in the care provided for the students who truly benefited from willing hearts and able hands. Our efforts are rarely ever in vain.
How has the project impacted you professionally and/or personally?
Our team had the privilege to learn, up front and close, the nuances of protecting a vulnerable population while advocating for their increased representation in the literature to assess the impact of stationary-based sports physicals. We wanted to reflect their communities in the research we practiced. It’s a respectfully fine line to navigate and the fruit of those seeds will take time to bear, but we were grateful for the opportunity to share what animated our team’s work and the potential ripple effect it had in the lives of all who participated.
What are we hearing from community partners?
Coach at a Partnering Title 1 Middle School: Some of our families work multiple jobs to make ends meet. We as a coaching staff, understand how hard it is for these kids at home and we want them to be worry free kids when they are here with us. Most of the students that get a free physical here wouldn’t see a doctor otherwise. We see a ton of our incoming 7th graders that need to go to an eye doctor for glasses because their parents hadn’t taken them since their last required visit. Because they want to play sports, their parents take them and they get the glasses or contacts they need. It turns our students into athletes and helps them in the classroom too.