Tag: Athletic Therapist

Posted on by

Amy Mausser Joins Sting as Athletic Therapist

Article reposted from Sarnia Sting
Author: Sarnia Sting

General Manager, Nick Sinclair announced earlier today that the Sarnia Sting have added Amy Mausser to the club’s hockey operations staff as the new Athletic Therapist.

“I’m thrilled to join the Sting staff and be a part of the program they’re building here in Sarnia,” says Mausser. “With Training Camp getting underway on Monday, it’s a very exciting time and I can’t wait to get started.”

For the last two years, Amy served as the Athletic Therapist, Equipment Manager and Strength & Conditioning Coach with the AJHL’s Brooks Bandits. Prior to that, she was a member of the Kingston Frontenacs staff; working as their Athletic Therapist and Head Trainer.

Her academic accolades include a Bachelor of Applied Health Sciences from Sheridan College in Athletic Therapy, a Massage Therapy Certificate from the College of Health and Technology and a Masters of Exercise Science at the University of Connecticut. She is currently working on her Masters of Exercise Science (Human Movement) through A.T. Still University.

General Manager, Nick Sinclair comments on today’s announcement, “Amy is a highly experienced and educated woman with excellent qualifications. We are excited to welcome her to the Sarnia Sting family and believe that she will be a great addition to our staff.”

After hiring former OHL goaltender, Mark Packwood to fill this role on July 13th, unforeseen schedule conflicts recently arose due to his part-time commitment with a clinic in London while completing a second Master’s degree at Western University. The Sting wish Mark the best of luck in furthering his education and pursuing a career in the hockey industry.

Posted on by

Mary Lalancette enjoys time working with Team Canada basketball

Article reposted from Herald Sports
Author: JOSÉ COLORADO

After 11 years of schooling behind her and countless examinations and preparatory sessions, Mary Lalancette was able to find a perfect landing spot for her talenets.

Graduating from Dalhousie University in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science, Kinesiology and Exercise Science, the 29-year-old quickly vaulted into a career as an athletic therapist post-graduation.

In 2011, she caught the eye of Canada Basketball’s brass and started working as an intern. Since then she’s been involved with the senior men’s national team, development team and cadet and junior rosters.

That marriage has allowed Lalancette to travel to the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Spain, Uruguay and the United Arab Emirates for various international events. Most recently Lalancette was in Formosa, Argentina, for the under-16 (U16) FIBA Americas Championships in mid-June.

Canada came away with the silver medal; losing to the U.S. in a surprisingly lopsided 111-60 final. But in the process the team did qualify for the 2018 U17 Basketball World Cup.

For Lalancette, it was her second time gracing Argentinian soil through the organization.

“I was actually just speaking about this with someone the other day. I get the chance to see different countries and often times we’re going to places you usually wouldn’t be travelling to as a tourist,” said Lalancette, speaking from Toronto, Ont., a few days after landing on home soil.

“It’s made for some interesting encounters. I’ve met some very interesting people but having the opportunity to see the world by doing something that I love to do is an added bonus.”

In September, Lalancette starts year four of her five-year program to become an osteopathic manual practitioner at the Canadian College of Osteopathy in Toronto.

As simply put as possible, the Prospect Bay native described her profession as “looking at how everything in the body operates and how it works together to encourage healing and functionality.”

She’s also a certified massage and athletic therapist but she knows her eventual path.

“After my kinesiology degree at Dal, I went to Sheridan College to study athletic therapy. I was introduced to some great (professors) and different people,” she said. “I knew I was going to go towards the osteopathy route when I was done with athletic therapy.”

That time, however, seems far from now.

With seven years and counting of experience with Canada Basketball, Lalancette, who also played competitive soccer and volleyball, has been named the lead therapist for the program’s youth development men’s programs.

Her current education is flexible enough that she is able to attend many of the summer events without a hitch.

“I work with Canada Basketball year-round but most of the international events come in the summertime. It’s no problem. I’m also working another full-time job.”

Joining the former Tiger on the recent Argentina trip was long-time St.F.X. bench boss Steve Konchalski, who has become a regular with the national team program.

The 40-plus year bench boss acted as a mentor coach to the club, and with Lalancette, the duo made up the lone Bluenosers to make the trip.

And with Canada Basketball’s recent upswing in play (currently ranked third in world youth men’s rankings) and seemingly only getting stronger, many more trips could be in the works.

“Normally, we get some time to sight-see but there wasn’t a lot of time this time around,” she said. “It was more back and forth to the gym, which is also fine . . . I’ll continue this until someone tells me not to anymore. I love it.”

Posted on by

Ottawa RedBlacks Athletic Therapist Marcelo Cuenca

Article reposted from Ottowaredblacks.com
Author: Ottowaredblacks.com

Chris Hofley sits down with Head Athletic Therapist Marcelo Cuenca to talk about how he found his way to Ottawa, what he loves about his job and what goes into keeping a team of football players healthy.

REDBLACKS: Where did the journey to becoming the REDBLACKS’ Head Athletic Therapist start for you?

Marcelo Cuenca: I was raised in Toronto and grew up in Vaughan before heading to school at York University, which was close by. I studied kinesiology initially and they offered a concurrent program in athletic therapy, so I did the combination of the two and spent six years at York.

REDBLACKS: Is that where you got your first taste of working with a pro sports team?

Cuenca: Yeah, in my program at York we did a lot of internships, working with universities and working in a clinical setting. In my last year, in 2010, I worked with the Toronto Argonauts. That’s where I got my foot in the door with the CFL.

REDBLACKS: Had you always wanted to be an athletic therapist?

Cuenca: I knew I wanted to be in health care and work in sports, somehow. Through the program at York, I came to love the profession and realized it was geared towards m own goals. I knew from my first year that the Argos full season internship was a big deal – they take four students for training camp and they kept one on all season. So it worked out pretty well.

REDBLACKS: Can we assume sports played a role in your life growing up?

Cuenca: For sure, but it was mainly soccer and martial arts – karate initially and now Muay Thai. But I didn’t grow up with football, I got into it through my job.

REDBLACKS: So from York University to working for the Argos…how did you find your way to Ottawa?

Cuenca: Getting jobs in athletic therapy is pretty tough and I was lucky enough to get a contract out of school working with Carleton University’s varsity teams. I was also fortunate to work with the Ottawa Senators at the same time. I had these two opportunities that I amalgamated to give me full time work for the year. After the NHL lockout and working in a clinic and at Carleton, Dave Wright was hired as the head of OSEG Athletic Therapy in 2014 and I got in touch and got the assistant job working under Dave.

REDBLACKS: Speaking of Dave Wright, he has moved onto the next chapter of his career and you have taken over the head athletic therapist job. What did you learn as Dave’s assistant along the way to help you prepare for the new responsibility?

Cuenca: Dave taught me a lot in terms of skills, no question, like rehab work, on-field management and in the clinic. But more than that, he taught me the other side of this job, the admin side.

You’re dealing with player insurance and working with all the different specialists, doctors, diagnostics, coordinating all that. Every player that signs with the club has to have medical before stepping onto the field and we regularly have new guys coming in, so that’s a big deal.

REDBLACKS: What’s the grossest injury you have seen in your line of work?

Cuenca: Every season there’s pretty bad knee injuries and bad fractures and they’re always concerning. But one that was really gnarly was a contusion one of our players had on his forehead. When he went to make a tackle, his helmet wasn’t on properly so most of the contact occurred at his forehead.

He didn’t fracture his skull or anything and cognitively he was good, but he had a massive bruise or hematoma above his eye. It was scary because it looked like something had shifted, but it was just the fluid, because your scalp there’s so much pressure that builds there and it’s very vascular, so it literally looked like a tennis ball above his eye. It was instant.

REDBLACKS: What do you like most about your job?

Cuenca: I love game day, no question. We work really hard and long hours for it and it feels like it’s all worth it on that one day of the week. We play a very small role but it is pretty cool when our team – there’s going to be four athletic therapists this season – see everyone’s hard work pay off, like seeing a player come back from a long-term injury.

REDBLACKS: What’s the toughest part of your job?

Cuenca: In pro sports, your time is spread very thin, especially during the season. There’s no days off, so you miss a lot of personal events. That’s the hardest part, no question. up early no problem. The hours are tough but more so I feel bad for my family, my wife. You feel a bit guilty sometimes but I know this is my calling and she supports me.

The REDBLACKS 2017 mini-camp kicks off Thursday, April 27 and all training sessions are open to the public. For more information, please click here.

Posted on by

Thank You Athletic Therapists

Article reposted from Mars’ Hill
Author: MADISON EVANS

They attend every practice and game, set aside time and energy to prepare beforehand, and stay late when they’re needed. Servant-hearted and hardworking, these team players are dependable and do what they are asked without complaint. Who, you may ask, is this most valuable player of the sports world? It is, of course, the athletic therapists.

 

So, what exactly is athletic therapy? The goal of athletic therapy is a quick and safe return to work and play. Canadian Athletic Therapists Association (CATA) notes that athletic therapists are best known for their “quick-thinking on-field emergency care of professional athletes”—treating bone, muscle and joint injuries is all in the job description of an athletic therapist.

 

In varsity sports, the presence of athletic therapy is vital for the success of the team. In the same way as it is said of children, it takes a village to raise a team—not only are there coaches and team managers waiting on the sidelines of basketball and volleyball games—also present on the sidelines are the athletic therapists. They physically pick up athletes when they are down, and put them back together again. An athlete’s quick return to the field, court or rink after an injury is reliant considerably on the skill of the athletic therapy team that athletes are able to make it back out onto the court or field again after sustaining an injury.

 

At Trinity Western University, there are two full time athletic therapists in the therapy clinic, one nearly-certified athletic therapy student completing her practicum, as well as 13 other TWU student-therapists who attend the practices and games of a particular Spartan team throughout the school year. The athletic therapists and student therapists meet once a week on Mondays, and attend a week of extra training before the school year starts. It is safe to say that the schedule of an athletic therapist is nearly as busy as that of the athletes they treat—they attend practices, ready to be on-the-scene of any injury that occurs, and help athletes prep for up to an hour and a half before games start. The time commitment can vary depending on the team, but student athletic therapists can spend up to 18 hours a week with their team—and that is before factoring in the hours spent travelling for games.

 

athletic_supplies

I had the opportunity to talk to Katia, one of the full-time athletic therapists, about her experience as an athletic therapist. After graduating in 2013, she completed her practicum and schooling in 2014. Between herself and Nat Ghobrial, the head athletic therapist at TWU, they can see up to thirty athletes per day—and these time slots fill up quickly! Not every appointment is a new injury assessment, however, and some athletes need regular appointments as they rehabilitate their injuries. Katia explained that, when it comes to determining when an injured athlete is fit to practice or compete, a discussion must happen between the athletic therapist, coach, and player. It is the athletic therapist’s job to provide the best information and argument for the athlete’s optimal road to recovery.

 

“The best part about athletic therapy is meeting people from different backgrounds, and different sports at different levels, and learning how to help them deal with their injuries,” Katia said. “In this field, you’re always learning new information from everyone around you—it’s a field that’s still evolving.” What is the most difficult part of her job? “It can be stressful sometimes,” she said. “Quick decisions can be hard to make, but with experience you get better, and are able to see the best paths to take in all situations […] and I still have things to learn: new ways to help, and ways to grow.”

 

Nicole Boulder injured her knee during a game in early November, and has been in the athletic therapy office almost every day since. “They carried me off the field,” Nicole recalled of the day she was injured. Nat and Sarah, two student athletic therapists, were at the game that day. “I already knew [the athletic therapists]; it was almost comforting, in a sense,” Nicole said. “I wasn’t alone on the ground—I had two people I knew were capable of taking care of me there on the field.” A major injury is a difficult roadblock for anyone to deal with, but Nicole remembers that she was worried about sustaining an injury while away from home. “I don’t have family here,” she said. Athletic therapy has become a huge source of support for Nicole through her knee injury and surgery, helping her out on her road to recovery. “Nat has become a really important person to me. I couldn’t imagine doing this without her and the rest of the athletic therapy team.”

 

If you are ever walking near the change-rooms at the gym, take a look at the bulletin board of the TWU Spartans’ very own gnarly athletic injuries. Bruises and blood are a definite theme, though a few great action shots, celebration pictures and funny memories are also featured. However, even with the relief these other pictures bring, a brief look can leave you with no doubt. Although we pray for injury-free seasons, our Spartan teams need to be taken care of and need responders on-hand for those injuries that could be featured on that bulletin board. Thank you, athletic therapists!

Posted on by

Athletic Therapist Receives Universiade Games Medal

Article reposted from Recorder.ca
Author: Jonathon Brodie

James Sawchuk wasn’t expecting to get a bronze medal after the Canadian mens’ ice hockey team beat Czech Republic 4-3 at the Universiade Games.

Sawchuk, from Mallorytown, was the athletic therapist for the Canucks and he didn’t get a medal when he held the same job with the national volleyball squad that won a silver in 2007 at the Universiade Games and there was no reason to think he would get one this time around.

The coaching staff and players, which included Prescott-born forward Ryan Van Stralen, received their medals at a ceremony after the bronze game a couple of weeks ago. At that time Sawchuk and the equipment manager were the only ones to not get a medal and then just before they were about to leave they were given bronzes after people from the Canadian delegation pulled a few strings.

“I kind of anticipated that as a staff I wouldn’t receive one this time physically, so to actually get one is really quite exciting,” said Sawchuk, part of Queen’s athletic therapy services. “To get a medal was really very much an honour and really quite humbling.”

Sawchuk is going to try to do something special with his medal and the Canadian jersey he was given with his name on the back of it.

The experience of putting on a medal that you helped your country win is a humbling feeling, Sawchuk said. He went out to Kazakhstan, where the Winter Universiade was held, and did his job to the best of his abilities.

He passes the praise to the Canadian players, though, and modestly adds, “That really in the end, they’re the ones who did all the work.” The Canadian delegation making sure he got a medal might not agree with that comment.

Sawchuk getting named to Team Canada’s staff is a recognition of its own.

Queen’s hockey coach Brett Gibson, from Gananoque, got to pick his own staff and could have chosen anyone to take with him to the Universiade as his athletic therapist, but he selected to stick with Sawchuk, someone he has around all the time with the Golden Gaels.

This was Sawchuk’s second time at the Universiade and it was vastly different from when he went to Thailand for the Games 10 years ago. Last time he went to the Universiade he was working fulltime with Volleyball Canada and knew the players very well for a considerable amount of time.

This year, with only four players from Queen’s on the Canadian roster, Sawchuk didn’t get to meet most of the team until their week-long training camp in December.

“It was different that way in that you were getting to know players and different personalities in what they need and expect from you,” Sawchuk said. “You’re trying to figure out everyone’s needs and see what they like to do before or after a game quicker, so you can make sure you’re on top of whatever they need for prep or recovery versus when I worked with Volleyball Canada I worked with those guys every single day.”

The other major difference between 2007 and 2017 is now he gets to hold onto his international hardware.

Posted on by

Brandon University Athletic Therapist Retiring After 42 Years

Article reposted from Westman Journal
Author: Chris L. Istace

Steve Dzubinski says if you enjoy your profession and your employer gives you the freedom to do it the way you see fit, there’s a good chance you’d also spend 42 years at one job just like he did.

“Brandon University has had a high degree of tolerance and a short memory for me,” Dzubinski lightheartedly said during a conversation with the Westman Journal recently. “They’ve always left me do what I do and I enjoy what I’m doing. It’s rare you get that kind of support from an employer, so I owe them a great deal of thanks.”

Dzubinski, the head athletic therapist at the Sports Medicine Centre and a teacher in the Department of Physical Education at BU, will be retiring at the end of July. The decision will end a career that began in 1975, took him all over the world and ultimately placed him among the elite of his profession.

“It’s time. After 42 years, I feel like I’m ready to move on. My wife has been retired for a number of years now, and I’m looking forward to spending more time together and doing things with her. Plus, having Friday and Saturday nights off will be a real bonus,” he said, referring to his weekly work as a sideline therapist at BU varsity games.

Dzubinski and his wife both love to travel and have been on several cycling tours in Europe the past five summers. He says being retired will also allow for warm vacations in the winter.

He earned a bachelor of physical education degree from the University of Manitoba in 1973, and during his second year at the U of M, professor Gordon Mackie was looking for students to help with the medical, rehabilitative and training needs of their varsity sports teams. Mackie, a founding member of the Canadian Athletic Therapy Association, became Dzubinski’s mentor, which motivated him to follow his career path.

“This all kind of happened by accident, “ Dzubinski said about becoming an athletic therapist. “Gord was a wonderful human being. By going to a meeting (with Mackie), I got an opportunity to work with one of the varsity teams and in my final year, I got the same opportunity. I had a wonderful experience with Gord and that opened my eyes to athletic therapy as a possibility for a career.”

Not long after that experience, Dzubinski found an article in the Winnipeg Tribune announcing that Sheridan College was starting a sports training and management program and decided to apply.

“When I mentioned Gord’s name, it was like a key that fit into a lock. It went a long way towards my entry into the program,” he said. “I’m very fortunate to say I graduated from there and started a job within a few months.”

He signed an eight-month contract as an athletic therapist at Brandon University in both 1975 and 1976 before going full-time in 1977. He ultimately became the head therapist.

Since that time, Dzubinski has travelled throughout Canada and the world as part of the university and Canadian national medical teams. He has worked a total of 15 provincial, national and international events including three Olympic Games. Locally, he’s been involved in pro rodeo events, figure skating competitions and curling bonspiels.

Dzubinski’s resume as an athletic therapist is long and impressive. In fact, he finds it hard to choose any one specific experience as a highlight of his career.

“There are so many things I’ve had the opportunity to do over my career, it’s impossible to say, ‘this one thing is the highlight’,” he said. “Working at Brandon University itself is a highlight. It’s been wonderful. Being a part of championship teams here is a highlight. Being selected to national and international games as part of the medical team is a highlight. All these things are on a pretty even plane for me.”

What he can do is describe the rewards of his profession. He has always found it fascinating to have an athlete come to him with an injury where he could assess and determine what the problem was and then provide the necessary treatment to rehabilitate them. He also was keen on determining how a muscle imbalance can throw off an athlete’s technique and correct it to improve their capacity to play with less pain.

The interest in rehabilitating and improving athletic performance has sustained his ability to hold one job for more than four decades at a time when some people make wholesale changes in careers seemingly on a whim.

“The people of my era embraced things professionally and held them close to their hearts. Maybe it’s just a personal quirk, but there’s an element of dedication we have where once you’ve got something to work with, you carried on with it,” he said.

“I have been asked on several occasions why I didn’t work with a professional team and my question back is always, ‘Why?’ Not to denigrate pro teams, but the demands at that level throughout the year are exceedingly high. Here, I have had a wonderful balance with a seven-month season, practice during the week and games on the weekends – and I rarely have to travel. It’s made for a wonderful experience.”

Dzubinski’s dedication to athletic therapy has paid off with respect and honour from the highest levels of the profession. In 2015, he was inducted into the Canadian Athletic Therapy Association’s hall of fame.

Although his career is coming to an end and he has intentions on travelling, Brandon will still be home for Dzubinski and his wife.

“We’ve been here for a long time and both of us think Brandon is a great place to live,” he added. “We’ve been a part of this city’s growth for the past 40 years, so we intend on staying.”

– See more at: http://www.westmanjournal.com/news/local-news/after-42-years-it-s-time-to-move-on-1.9715407#sthash.7ecoE0zV.dpuf

Posted on by

Oil Kings athletic therapist ready for World Juniors

Article reposted from Inews 880
Author: Reid Wilkins

For most, it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  For Brian Cheeseman, it’s old hat.

“It’s a huge honour to be selected once, let alone twice,” says the Edmonton Oil Kings athletic therapist, who for the second year in a row will work for Team Canada at the World Junior tournament.

Last year, Cheeseman was at the tournament in Finland.  Even though Canada didn’t win a medal, the sights and sounds will be with Cheeseman forever.

“It was an absolutely awesome experience,” he recalls. “To see how many fans made the trek from Canada watch the games is incredible. The atmosphere was amazing. It was so loud.  It didn’t matter who we were playing the round robin, it almost felt we had that home ice advantage.”

Canada actually will have home ice advantage this season, with their round robin games in Toronto and playoff games in Montreal.

Cheeseman, 35, grew up in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland. Even though he didn’t play hockey, he knew he wanted to be around the game.

“I always had a fascination with injuries, how they happen, why they happen, how to rehab them,” he says.

He studied kinesiology at Memorial University, then completed an athletic therapist program at Sheridan College.  He worked for the Tri-City Americans and is now in his seventh season with the Oil Kings.

“I don’t consider it to be work. It’s a great place to come every day. We have great players, great coaches and staff,” says Cheeseman.

He knows fans often see him helping an injured player on the ice or on the bench, but he feels what he does behind the scenes is just as important.

“You’re almost in the position of being a big brother,” Cheeseman explains. “These guys are teenagers.  They’re away from family and friends and their normal, comfortable environment.  Our office doors are always open if they want to come in and talk about how their day is going, how life is going.   There’s more to the job than the injuries and the equipment and everything else.”

Cheeseman will head to Quebec Thursday for the Canadian team selection camp.  Canada’s first tournament game is Boxing Day against Russia.

Hear more from Brian Cheeseman on Inside Sports with Reid Wilkins from 6-8pm Wednesday night. (jrw)

Posted on by

Athletic Therapist Andrea Prieur Taking Care of Team Canada in Rio

Article reposted from Caledon Enterprise
Author: Matthew Strader

And Andrea Prieur’s a veteran.

The Caledon East based athletic trainer, and co-owner of Core Solutions Phsiotherapy and Wellness, is a member of the Core Health team, tending to Canada’s highest level athletes at the 31st Olympic Summer Games in Rio.

Prieur is attending her second Olympic Games, having performed similar duties at the London Olympics in 2012, and has three world university games and two Pan Am games under her belt as well.

In Rio, she’s keeping up an every two day journal, as much as she can, with The Caledon Enterprise and reporter Matthew Strader, to report to her hometown on everything Olympic, and everything Rio.

MS: What are your duties? Descirbe who you are to the athletes for the reader and what exactly you do.

AP: I am a certified athletic therapist that was chosen as part of the Health services team to render therapy and medical care to just our Canadian athletes. There are host medical/therapy services available but we like to ensure that our athletes are receiving the best and similar care to what they would receive at home. So, it is my job to attend their practices and games and provide therapy services – pre-preparation stretching, post preparation ice and recovery massages and I also provide emergency care if the need arises on the field of play – from everything to bandaids and covering blisters to anything more serious if it occurs. We have two athletic therapists, and two massage therapists as well as seven physicians that take care of the Canadian team. And each of us covers a variety of teams to ensure that our athletes medical and therapy needs are met. The other side of coverage is providing therapeutic clinical services so when the athletes are back at the village they have access to treatment, recovery options and massage anytime they need.

MS: What’s your favourite part of that?

This is what I trained for; it is what I do everyday. The best part is now there is recognition by providing care to our country’s top athletes.

MS: What’s the coolest thing you’ve seen so far as the fan of the sport you are looking after? (Coolest play, something with the crowd, venue, ec.)

AP: Beach volleyball is the most well known sport here in Brazil. Approximately 12,000 people pack the outdoor stadium that is set up right on Copacabana beach. The fans are wild and anytime we are not playing against Brazil – Canada is a favorite to the people. Surprisingly, our beach athletes have a huge family and friends contingent that are coming out to each game, wearing their red and white pride and losing their voices cheering for their favorites. I think one of the most interesting will be seeing Canada play Canada in women’s play tomorrow…for elimination of one of our teams. Our men’s team came back last night in the lucky loser draw and won in two sets and they played strong.

MS: Have you had any MacGuyver moments yet where a lack of, or unfamiliarity with something has found you innovating something that’s going to always remind you of your time in Rio?

AP: Unrelated to therapy we have been innovative with small things. We have used athletic tape in multiple different methods. Affixed a toilet seat; there are no plugs for the sinks to do laundry but athletic tape works well. I think we are going to write a book on 100 uses of athletic tape; a spin off of the duct tape phenomenon.

MS: Whether at the venue and on duty, or off duty while you’re spending time on your own, what is always going to be, “so Rio….”

AP: The people. One of the coaches said to me yesterday during a practice, “that is the third person that has come to talk to you directly- is something wrong?” I replied, no, the people are so nice and so accommodating that each and every Brazilian volunteer I have met checks in with me daily to see if Team Canada needs anything!

That is what the games is about….countries helping countries.

Posted on by

Rugby Player Turns Injury into a Wedding Date

For a minute, it just looked like David Jones had fallen, injured on the rugby field. He collided with two other players and hit the ground.

It was all a ruse to get his girlfriend Terri Burns, an athletic therapist working the game, to run out and check on him. When she did, he pulled out a ring and proposed marriage.

It was the culmination of a rugby romance at the Cardinal Newman Secondary School field in Stoney Creek on Saturday. Jones plays for the Stoney Creek Camels men’s team. Burns, an athletic therapist who works with Team Ontario rugby, plays for the Stoney Creek women’s team. The pair live in Burlington.

‘I was starting to get worried that someone would let the secret out of the bag, or I’d get injured for real.’– David Jones, newly engaged rugby player

Their relationship has always included rugby in some way. They met when Burns worked at the Ontario Summer Games and Jones brought an injured rugby player to her for treatment. They celebrated their first anniversary of dating by traveling to Lake Placid to play in a CanAm rugby tournament.

David Jones and Terri Burns

David Jones and Terri Burns got engaged during a rugby match in Hamilton on Saturday. He faked an injury and she was the athletic therapist on duty. (Photo courtesy of Terri Burns)

Burns also does athletic therapy at a clinic in Mississauga, while Jones runs KidsPlay Sports in Burlington. He also coaches rugby at Westdale Secondary School.

Burns doesn’t usually do athletic therapy for her boyfriend’s team, but Jones arranged for the usual therapist to call in sick. Just before the halfway point of the game, Jones, 38, hit the ground with an apparent knee injury. Burns, 28, ran out to help.

She got to her knees, which she does to get level with the players she’s helping. He told her to stand up. When she did, the referee handed him the engagement ring.

‘Are you f–king kidding me?’– Terri Burns, in shock over her boyfriend’s wedding proposal

“I’ll be OK if you spend the rest of my life with me,” he said. “Will you marry me?”

“Are you serious?” asked a stunned Burns. “Are you f–king kidding me?”

Several friends took video of the moment, which has been shared hundreds of times on social media.

Jones is glad it was captured. He spent more than a year planning the proposal.

“I was starting to get worried that someone would let the secret out of the bag, or I’d get injured for real before I could do it,” he said. But “everything went off without a hitch.”

CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Posted on by

Wady Joins the Calgary Stampeders

Over the last four seasons, the Virden Oil Capitals have advanced ten players to NCAA or CIS College hockey, while another two are currently committed to the NCAA Division I ranks in the near future.

However, its not just the on ice talent that has been noticed by teams at the next level. Former Marketing Manager Lindsey Gullett is currently plying his trade with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, while the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders recently hired former Athletic Therapist Stephen Wady.

After three seasons with the Oil Caps and two summers with the Winnipeg Goldeyes, the Birtle, MB native finally got his big break.

“The Calgary Flames hired an AT from the Stampeders which created an opportunity and I was lucky enough to get a call,” said Wady.

Wady, joined the Stampeders as the newest Assistant Athletic Therapist in March, and has begun working on a handful of Stamps players as they get set to open training camp.

“There are a few Canadian guys currently getting rehab. Rookies and veterans will report in mid-May and that’s when things will pick up in a hurry,” added Wady.

When it comes to job differences between hockey and football, the clubs first ever Athletic Therapist says it’s all very comparable.

“There are certainly similarities between hockey and football. You’ll see a lot more acute injuries in football such as broken bones or torn ligaments. That’s just based on the violent nature of the game.”

Although the Junior A Lifestyle isn’t glamorous, three years in the Oil Capital certainly paved the way for this University of Manitoba grad to reach the professional ranks.

“I was able to gain very valuable experience in Virden.  It allowed me to advance my medical knowledge working with a great group of guys as well as learning everything on the equipment side of things.”

As for advice for any up and coming Athletic Therapists trying to follow in his footsteps, the 27 year old says it’s all about taking risks and working hard.

“You might have to make sacrifices, like moving out of your home city to chase a job, it is also important to learn the equipment side of things because that may be needed at the next level.”

“Working in the MJHL gets your foot in the door and you gain valuable experience. It’s a great league to get your start.”

The Oil Capitals would like to congratulate Stephen on his accomplishments and wish him the best of luck with the Calgary Stampeders.

CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL ARTICLE