Stamps nursed back to health

"Bye-bye, bumps.

Bye-bye, bruises.

Welcome back, boys.

The Calgary Stampeders got back to business Monday morning at McMahon Stadium, returning to practice for the first time after a week-long layoff and keeping head athletic therapist Pat Clayton a bit less busy than he’s been in recent memory.

“Patty Clayton was joking that everybody was in (the training room) trying to get healthy for the bye week, trying to get going. It was packed before that and it was empty today,” grinned Stamps fullback Rob Cote, who is primed to return to the lineup after missing four games with a knee injury.

“I think everybody is feeling good.”"

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Pistons announce new Athletic Therapist

"The Pistons are pleased to announce that Chris Mikolajek will be the Athletic Therapist for the upcoming season. 

Chris graduated from the University of Winnipeg with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and Applied Health. As a Student Therapist he has worked with the Team Canada Junior National Volleyball Team, Winnipeg Goldeyes and the Fort Garry Lions Football Team. Chris has also worked with our head Medical Director Dave Blatz at the Eastman Therapy Centre. 

Chris is excited to join the Pistons and looking forward to a good season."

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Park Hotel becomes rehab clinic

"The site of the former Park Hotel is about to get a new lease on life.

Starting in September, what used to be a bar will be open for business as a health clinic, specializing in treating sports injuries and rehabilitation.

Danièle Gervais, who will be running the Optimum Health Center, located at 519 Notre Dame Ave., said she hopes it starts a revitalization of the area.

"It's actually my dad who bought the building. I recently graduated, just in April, and I was looking for a job in Sudbury. I'm from the north and I wanted to stay here, but I couldn't find one, so my dad gave me an opportunity to open up in this space."

Gervais has two degrees, one in kinesiology from Laurentian University and another in athletic therapy from Sheridan College.

For now, it will just be her working in the centre, but she hopes to eventually be able to expand."
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"Gervais is preparing to open the clinic close to two months after Laurentian University announced the closing of its Voyageur Athletic Therapy Clinic, something she says "reflects badly" on the athletic therapy profession.

"I think (opening the centre) means a great deal, because the university just closed its therapy clinic ... For Sudbury, I feel like I'd like to bring something that's already (being done) down south, because I graduated from Brampton and down there even Oakville high schools have athletic therapists on site. I'm hoping that opening this clinic will bring awareness to Sudbury of how sporting events can be dangerous and how I can help with that.

"I think it's going to be a great opportunity and I'm really looking forward to working with athletes in Sudbury.""

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Wildcats set to take on Sea Dogs

"* Wildcats athletic therapist Graham Black acknowledges that training camp is a busy time of the year for him.

"First of all, there's a lot of players," he said. "Secondly, the guys are just getting back into every day ice time and pushing themselves hard with two intra-squad games per day. There's lots of guys with bumps and bruises. It's not major injuries, just day-to-day stuff.

"You try to do the best you can to manage things at this time of the year. You want to take care of injuries now so they don't linger and bother the guys during the season."

Black is also co-owner of the Max Health Institute in Dieppe.

"We'll put all the players through fitness testing on Monday just to get a gauge of where everybody is right now," he said. "It gives us another perspective when we do off-ice testing. It's also a base line to see high we can bring them throughout the season. "It used to be that players came to training camp to get in shape. Things have evolved over the years and now they have to be in shape when the get here for camp. Pretty much all of these guys have their own personal trainer in the off-season.""

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Warriors renew contracts of Weisgerber and Amiot

"Friday, the Warriors announced that assistant coach Trevor Weisgerber will be back for his second season with the team. At the same time the club announced that athletic therapist Curtis Amiot has signed a multi-year contract to stay with the Warriors."

...

"Amiot has been with the Warriors for six years. Prior to joining the Warriors he spent two years with the University of Alberta hockey team and the Okotoks Oilers of the AJHL.

“It’s been a hectic off-season for everybody,” said Millar. “When it comes to Curtis we certainly had full intentions to have him back. He’s a big part of our program moving forward. He’s a young guy with a good future in the game. He’s done a very good job for us in his role as athletic therapist. He wears a lot of hats.”

While Amiot does a lot of work behind the scenes and logs long hours, that was compounded this summer as the team prepared for their big move to Mosaic Place.

“He’s been really instrumental in our transition and move into the new rink when it comes to upgrading all of our facilities — the medical and fitness area,” said Millar."

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Clock ticking on Ottawa weightlifter’s Olympic dream

"Winners’ circle: Brogan Engbers of Cumberland and Dontaye Whittaker of Ottawa helped the Eastern Canada youth soccer team defeat Western Canada 2-0 last weekend in Toronto, and will represent Canada at the 2011 Danone Nations Cup Oct. 6-9 in Madrid ... Eganville’s Carla Brash, who works at the Kingston Athletic Therapy Centre in Kingston, is the head therapist for the Canadian men’s team at the 2011 Rugby World Cup, which is Sept. 9 to Oct. 23 in New Zealand ... Ottawa River Runners’s Michael Tayler won the K1 senior men’s title at the Canadian downriver and slalom canoe and kayak championships in Chilliwack, B.C. Katrina Van Wijk was second in the women’s K1, while Julian Potvin-Bernal took the men’s C1 championship ahead of brothers Liam and Cam Smedley. Cam Smedley and Ben Hayward took the C2 final. Aleisha Grieve was second and Alex McGee placed third in the women’s C1."

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Change can ease the pain

"By late October I was ready to start running, but only on the treadmill, alternating between one minute walking and running. Over the next few weeks I slowly increased my running intervals until December, when I was up to 30 minutes of consecutive running on the road, but no hills.

During this time, I was seeing osteopath Xanthi Gazetis every two weeks along with occasional tuneups from Leslie Larson, a specialist in Hellerwork (a deep-tissue, handson therapy). This was followed by a core and lower-body strengthening routine designed by strength and conditioning specialist Fayez Abulraman."

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Women's soccer training camp opens with fitness testing

"The WolfPack women’s soccer team opened training camp on Monday (August 15). The first two days were fitness testing. Heres how things looked.

Kevin (Brechin) works on Chloe McAuley"

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Finding the root of foot pain

"Facing drastic surgery with no guarantee of success, Fulton was intrigued to learn Nelson is now one of 10 places in Canada — and easily the smallest — with access to a 3D gait analysis system developed by the University of Calgary’s running injury clinic."
...
"One day last month at Nelson’s OPTM Athletic Therapy, Fulton put on the reflectors and went for a jog. Ferber says it doesn’t take long to get a picture of what’s going on."
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"Therapist Shauna Leduc of OPTM says she heard about the technology while attending Mount Royal College in Calgary and was excited to bring it to Nelson.

“People are coming in and feeling everything’s wrong. But they see the report and [realize] ‘I’m doing some things right!’ That’s a great message,” she says.

Leduc says the system removes a lot of guesswork and helps clients understand why solving a foot ailment may actually require working on a different body part.

Although the unit will be the only one in the Kootenays, she says it isn’t restricted to her own clients.

“We want to create a referral network for the most difficult patients. [Other therapists] can send them to me and I will do the report for them and give it back. We’re lucky to have this tool. Let’s all find a way to use it.”"

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Newcomer Roman Will of Czech Republic has impressive resume

""I know that nothing is for sure," said Thibeau. "Being an 11th round pick, I can never afford to be complacent about anything. I definitely have to keep improving. The game is all about improving.

"I try not to worry about it too much (that the team drafted a European goaltender this summer). It's not part of my thought process right now. I obviously want to be the starter, but all I can do is focus on playing my best in camp.

"I had a busy summer training with (Wildcats athletic therapist) Graham Black (who owns the Max Health Institute in Dieppe). It was an every day schedule with good diversity. It was a combination of on- and off-ice training. We worked on things like agility, power and balance."

Moncton hit the ice yesterday with practices for goaltenders only. There will be 43 players - rookies, free agents and some veterans -- on hand for the start of evaluation camp today."

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