Hired in February 2008, Armando Rivas enters his fifth season as the Galaxy's Head Athletic Trainer. A native of Yucaipa, Calif., Rivas joined the Galaxy after spending seven years in with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim organization.
Rivas began his career in athletic training in 1999 as a student trainer with the Cal State-Fullerton men's soccer team. One year later Rivas spent a season with the Angels, serving as a training intern during the 2000 Major League Baseball season.
Following his internship with the Angels, Rivas was hired by UCLA where he spent one year, working with the men's soccer team during the 2000 season and the baseball team for the 2001 campaign, before re-joining the Angels organization later that year.
Over the next seven years Rivas worked with various teams in the Angels minor league system, including the Arkansas Travelers, Cedar Rapids Kernels and the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. During the 2006 and 2007 seasons, Rivas was the athletic trainer for the Angels AAA affiliate, the Salt Lake Bees.
In addition to his work with the Angels organization, Rivas spent offseasons working at the Sports Medicine Institute in Orange, Calif. which specializes in athletic training.
Rivas graduated from Cal State-Fullerton in 2000 with a degree in Kinesiology with an emphasis on athletic training. In 2004, he earned a Master's Degree in Kinesiology with an emphasis in exercise physiology from Cal Poly Pomona. He is currently certified in active release techniques (upper and lower extremity) and is a performance enhancement specialist certified through the National Association of Sports Medicine.
Armando Rivas, MS, ATC, PES
Los Angeles Galaxy
Athletic Trainers
A native of Rochester, Mich., Kurt Andrews is in his first season was the Galaxy as the club's Assistant Athletic Trainer. An athletic training intern for the Galaxy in 2010, Andrews was hired permanently by the club in January 2012. His primary role is to assist the club's athletic trainer with all of the club's training and health related matters while also handing the athletic training needs of the Galaxy Reserves.
After graduating from Stony Creek High School in 2003, Andrews attended Oakland University in Michigan, where he majored in Exercise Science and worked with the men's soccer and women's volleyball teams before graduating in 2008. He then went on to the University of Arkansas, where he earned his Master's Degree in Athletic Training. During his time in Fayetteville, Andrews worked with the Razorbacks football, women's soccer, women's basketball, men's and women's track and field teams as an athletic training student. That opportunity allowed him to work with some of the nation's top track stars and a number of current and future NFL stars.
Andrews received his certification in both Functional Movement Screening and Selective Functional Movement Assessment in 2011 while at Arkansas. He uses these to assist and help implement rehabilitative exercises to better develop the players in there movement process to avoid possible injuries that can accrue during the season.
Head Athletic Trainer
Assistant Athletic Trainer
Kurt Andrews
