Who Am I As an Athletic Therapist?
Athletic therapy isn’t just my job; it’s something I've been immersed in since starting school in 2013 and becoming certified in Canada in 2017. Here’s a look at my experience, education, and the principles that guide how I work with people.
Placements were an integral part of Sheridan College’s athletic therapy program, with mornings in class and afternoons in the field working with college and university sports teams. Centennial College offered me a variety of experiences with the women’s soccer, men’s volleyball, and badminton teams. Much to my surprise, it was the badminton team I enjoyed the most— they’d never had a dedicated student therapist before, so they certainly made the most of having one. At this stage, I was still a newbie, but my next placement with Ontario Tech University’s women’s hockey team was where I really started to hit my stride. I had become more confident in my assessments and clinical rehab, and I felt part of the team. I particularly enjoyed the rush of pre-game preparation with the excitement and anticipation of the game.
By far, though, the best and most memorable school placement was with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2016— the deciding factor in choosing Sheridan’s program, since other schools did not offer this. It was a crash course in what life in professional sports is really like. At times, it felt surreal being in the same room with the players I watched on TV, or telling people I was in the clubhouse for all 81 home games. But it was also an invaluable look into the high standards and daily demands of pro athletes. It confirmed that the professional sports lifestyle was not for me, but I still wanted to be involved in baseball, and it helped shape how I practice today.
Just two months after becoming certified, I started working with Baseball Canada’s Junior National Team for the WBSC U18 Baseball World Cup. It was a long three weeks of training camp and competition, which resulted in a loss in the bronze medal game, but it was the start of six years with the program. I’ve been fortunate enough to follow many of those players through their careers, several of whom are now in the MLB. My involvement in baseball expanded from there: organizing athletic therapy field coverage for Baseball Canada’s 2019 U15 Ray Carter Cup, providing field coverage for the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Academy Canadian Futures Showcase, and covering a couple of training sessions for Softball Canada’s Women’s National Team.
Since 2018, most of my day-to-day work has been in the clinic— a different world from dugouts and benches. Here, it is about understanding someone’s pain problem and building a progressive plan around their goals, capacity, and desired activities. This balance of acute care on-field and clinical rehab has given me a full view of the injury and rehab process— a unique perspective that athletic therapy brings.
My formal education in athletic therapy, which I supplemented with becoming a registered massage therapist, laid the foundation, but it has been a combination of working with patients and ongoing learning that has shaped how I practice today. Naturally drawn to baseball and shoulder injuries, Jared Powell’s three-part shoulder course deepened my understanding of how to assess and manage the many variations of shoulder pain. But the most influential courses I’ve taken were Greg Lehman’s Reconciling Biomechanics with Pain Science and Running Resiliency courses. These courses take a more broad approach to understanding assessment and rehab and have really helped me reflect on these aspects of my profession. I also like to stay on top of current best practices by reading a variety of research and journal articles.
Through all of my experience and education, a few principles have stayed constant:
1) The body is not fragile nor broken, but rather adaptable when the loads are appropriate.
2) Rehab should be active rather than passive; the right loads drive change, and engaged patients recover better.
3) Education is key— understanding your injury gives you the confidence and control to move forward.
What this means for you is whether you’re an athlete, physically active on your own, or just someone who wants to move without pain holding you back. My approach is grounded in over eight years of experience across every level of sport, combined with a commitment to evidence-based rehab to help you build resilience and confidence in your activity.
