Would you like to work in the sporting arena but not sure how to get involved? Want to make it to the holy grail of Olympic or Commonwealth representation, or a world champs team? There is only really one way. You simply need to become as relevant as you possibly can.
What does this mean?
Become Relevant
Everyone has a different start point in sport. You may already have a foot in the door with a local sporting team, you may live in a major city with access to state, national or professional teams, you may know someone in sport (athlete, administrator, sports med team) or you may be in a small country town with little access to any of these options. Depending on where you start, your journey will obviously be different. But the fundamentals are all the same. Get your foot in the door at whatever level you can, learn the ropes, be as complimentary as you possibly can within that environment (this can mean many things within each sporting environment) and become a valued member of that team. You then become relevant within the discussions of a sports med team provider. If there is a team who is after someone to provide the service you offer, you will be in the conversation. You have become relevant in the discussion.
My Journey to Relevance
My journey to become relevant, as an example, was a convoluted one. I was so determined to make it in the sporting fraternity as an athlete, I tried everything to get there. I wasn’t fast enough, strong enough, quick enough or skilled enough to succeed as an athlete. So I became determined to become involved in another way to reach my ultimate goal of being a part of the Australian Institute of Sport and then the Olympics.
In high school I loved studying the human body and how it worked, so the obvious pathway was something in the medical/health field. To get into medicine or physio or similar was a high 90% pass mark in the late 80’s. I didn’t get high 90’s in my year 12 HSC so I settled for a Science Degree in the medical sciences at Melbourne Uni. I graduated with scores good enough to transfer to physio. Before doing so I was able to secure physio work experience with two physio/sports med clinics in Melbourne and immediately fell out of love with it. The thought of spending my days putting machines on people was horrible (in those days the two clinics I went to only used ultrasound, interferential and hot packs). In a chance meeting at one clinic I met the wonderful Rob Granter – that meeting was a major point in my career. I watched what he did, fell in love with it and decided that is for me. I signed up to study Remedial Massage the next day. During that time, Rob was a guest lecturer teaching some sports massage skills. Once again, his demeanour, his enthusiasm, his skill set was inspirational. I wanted to be that person. Rob, many years later would be back in my life. He would eventually give me an incredible opportunity. Some may say it is luck, but I will argue that if it wasn’t for me making myself relevant, I wouldn’t have created the opportunity.
To ensure my Diploma was as ‘appealing’ as possible, I went back to see Rob Granter and asked his opinion where to study. I took his advice, again believing that this would put me in the best position for a future job. He also suggested joining Sports Medicine Australia and completing my Sports Trainers course. While I was studying in Melbourne, this Sports Trainers certificate gave me access to a number of amateur and professional sporting teams. I learnt a lot of how those teams worked. Plus met some influential people that helped me create some opportunities. Again, trying to be relevant and be a part of any conversation that could lead me to my ultimate goal.
I eventually finished that diploma in Remedial Massage, headed back to home to mighty Wodonga and started working with as many local sporting teams that would have me. I’m not kidding, I applied to work with any sporting team I could find. I used my Sports Trainer skills to get me in the door and then offered my Massage skills for recovery, maintenance and injury. I wasn’t sure where the opportunity was going to arise but I was constantly searching and staying relevant.
Then, reading the Australian (that paper had all the big jobs advertised) I noticed an advert for a ‘post graduate scholarship’ for Sports Massage at the AIS. To say the least I think my heart stopped beating for a bit. I couldn’t fill out the form quick enough. I received the phone call that was made of dreams stating that ‘I had an interview’. I flew to Canberra, went to the AIS (heart rate 140 the whole day) and sat with Malcolm Morris (soignner with the Australian track cycling team in Adelaide, Wade Clews who was a Soft Tissue Therapist at the AIS and Craig Purdam who was the lead Physio at the AIS).
I’m not exactly sure why I was awarded the position but I’m relatively confident that having a degree in the Medical Sciences and being a part of a research project at Melbourne Uni (the AIS loves research) was a big part of it. I distinctly remember taking part in the research project (physiology research), thinking, this will come in handy one day. I’m sure that stuck out on my resume and made my appointment more appealing to them. Plus being an ex try hard athlete at just about every sport would have helped. And having worked with a number of sporting teams with references from club presidents would have been a positive. That sports trainers course came up in the conversation and I distinctly remember suggesting it was pivotal in me understanding how teams organised themselves and how I saw myself as a part of a sports med team.
One week later I received that magical phone call and I was off the Adelaide to work with the AIS cricket team and Aussie track cycling team. What a dream come true. A young Aussie fella who arrives at the AIS and finding out my room mate was Justin Langer (scholarship cricket coach) and the cricket coach was the legendary Rod Marsh, crazy. Charlie Walsh, arguably one of the best cycling coaches the world has seen, was an incredible source of sporting and physiological knowledge. Wow.
Securing your reputation as a contributor
I knew this position was a tenuous one. If I didn’t live up to expectations then they would look for someone else. That’s the cut throat nature of professional sport. So working with those two sports, I knew I had to learn as much as I possible could about every aspect of their existence. I learnt how to maintain bikes. I learnt how to run gym sessions, recovery sessions, stretching and self massage sessions, drive the bus, cook, read maps, everything! I was always on time and always helping out wherever I saw the opportunity. I asked a lot of questions. The whole time keeping in mind that I need to stay relevant to the coaches and administrators. If I had all these attributes then I may just be seen as someone who can contribute in a positive manner and be offered a more permanent role.
Watch, search and be ready for opportunities.
One year later after an enormous learning curve with Cricket and Cycling, a full time job came up at the AIS in Canberra. Big opportunity. Here’s my chance. Lets go. I had been working for years to be ready for this. My resume was ready. I had talked to and learnt from so many experienced and wonderful people. I had asked many of the senior administrators what they would look for and what questions I would need to answer. What demeanour they expected and what would be my point of difference. The interview went well. Very well as I was awarded the full time role. You beauty.
I was transferred to Canberra where I took up a full time role at the AIS in the Physical Therapies department. I would stay for eleven years working alongside some of the most knowledgeable and dedicated health professionals I have ever met. What a ridiculously fortunate start to a career. The learning started again. The opportunities were abundant if you wanted to explore them and take them. I now founded myself very relevant in the sporting world. The people who made decisions were right next to me. Lets go back to basics. Be a contributor. Participate wherever you can. Be complimentary. Take a proactive approach where it seemed appropriate.
When the opportunity to travel to an Olympic games was afforded to me, Rob Granter reappeared. He was head of service for the Atlanta Olympics. I submitted my CV and was given the opportunity to travel and provide service at the Olympic village in Atlanta. Wow. I couldn’t sleep or wipe the smile of my face. Rob was the most professional mentor and leader I have ever worked with. I’m not sure if he realises how much he mentored me. His critique was something I invited. I wanted to know where I was doing well and where I needed to improve. Rob let me know and I did my best to act in the most appropriate manner within the team.
The next Olympics, Sydney, I was awarded second in charge to Rob Granter. I was even more determined to be the best therapist and contributor I could to help Rob. Moving on to Athens Olympics, Rob retired and I was then given the head of service position. All I could think of was to ensure Rob’s great, ground breaking work for our profession was consolidated and even progressed in whatever way it could be. I was again appointed as head of service for Beijing Olympics and continued in the same vein. The role was an honour and not something I took for granted. After Athens Olympics I decided that I had my share of this incredible journey and passed the position on. I went to the London Olympics in a much smaller role, only working and travelling with one team, the triathlon squad. During this period I was also given the opportunity to be head of service for both the Manchester and Melbourne Commonwealth games. A very fortunate career.
So why is my journey relevant to your career?
Participate. Contribute. Compromise. Persist. Relevant.
So why is my story of any worth? On reflection, I was persistent, if not annoyingly enthusiastic, pushing myself into environments that created opportunities by becoming relevant. I fronted up to organisations and teams and people who I had never met and made myself known. I had to compromise much of my personal life to achieve my goals. If you don’t do this, people don’t know you exist. You have to be known to be awarded a position. You have to be constantly vigilant with potential opportunities and put your hat in the ring.
I believe these five words, participate, contribute, compromise, persist and relevance, sum up my career and how I was afforded opportunities. And this can be extrapolated beyond sport of course.
- Participate.
To be considered you simply have to participate. To participate you need the necessary qualifications - the best you can achieve. Then use them to be involved, participate, in any environment you can to ensure you are seen to be relevant.
- Contribute.
When you are offered an opportunity, contribute. Contribute in all sorts of ways. Drive the bus, run the water, clean the bikes, cook the BBQ. Learn everything you can within that environment to be seen as a great contributor.
You have to be dynamic and be able to read the room to understand what role you play and how to contribute. As an example, my first international trip was with Track Cycling. I was the only medical person on the trip. We had two coaches, a manager, a mechanic and myself. I had to look after 11 athletes. When you travel with cycling you are termed a soigneur – a role specific to cycling. I had to drive the bus, make breakfast, lunch and dinner, wash bikes, organise maps, run errands, buy food (in numerous languages) and at the end of the day, treat the athletes. As the only medical person I also had be take the role of all health related areas. Hence before I left I had to ensure I had good contacts with the Sports docs back in Australia so I could communicate any time of the day. I had to patch wounds, administer medications via the docs directions, keep solid records, assess and treat all kinds of injuries (not too many in cycling other than wounds) as well as my main role which was physical preparation, maintenance and recovery.
My second major trip was with cricket. We had two coaches, a manager a bio-mechanist sports doctor and myself. My role was significantly diminished. I warmed the athletes up for training and games. I monitored their ‘screening issues’ ( a set of assessments specific to that sport that determined potential injury or performance issues), assessed any injuries and the usual preparation, maintenance and recovery roles (which included ice baths, stretching groups, self massage and nutrition which was pre set by the dietician back in Adelaide). I had to coordinate much of this so I had to learn where and when this was most suited to the team. I had to learn to contribute in different ways.
My next trip was with swimming, a big sport with lots of money and lots of support crew. Many coaches, numerous managers, physios, sports docs, dietician, psychologists, physiologists and Soft Tissue Therapists. Wow. It was a travelling sports med clinic. My role was very small. In fact all I did was recovery massage and some preparation massage, all day, every day. There was constant communication with all involved and a great learning environment. Those athletes were incredibly well looked after. To contribute in this team was to follow protocol and stay focused on where my role started and finished. Don’t step outside the lines but be ready to contribute wherever the opportunity arose.
The important take home point here is to be as complimentary to the environment as you can. It may mean a lot of communication to understand where the sports med team and administration see your role and then fulfilling those expectations. Every team, every environment is different, however there are always means to contribute.
- Compromise
If you want to work with sport then you will have to compromise.
I distinctly remember missing out on a lot of social adventures when I was young as sport was often played at times that weren’t complimentary. Your evenings, early mornings, weekends, sometimes for many, many years, will be interrupted. Sport isn’t 9-5 and to be involved you have to acknowledge this and accept it. As a family person, this will also be difficult. I missed birthdays, big family gatherings, major events, just to stay involved in sport.
You may have to pack up and move cities for an opportunity. Moving away from loved ones and friends.
You may have to get used to living out of a suit case.
Financially, sport generally doesn’t pay well or pay consistently, so get used to that. I would suggest you look at sport as the cream on the cake, definitely not the cake (although there are some sports who have enough money to pay you appropriately). There is a lot of voluntary work involved, even the Olympics is a voluntary role. Hence you need to consider the financial burden this may have if you want to realise your sporting aspirations.
You may have to be prepared to downgrade your expectations with regards to your skill set. If you are with a big team, your role might simply be recovery massage.
There are many compromises you need to consider. For me, it was all worth it.
- Persist
You may miss out a few times, but your name will become familiar. There are many Therapists that are already involved in teams and doing a great job. It is unlikely they will just stand aside and let you take their role. So you will have to wait your turn, bide your time. Stay relevant.
There are only about ten Therapists that are afforded the role to an Olympic Games. Hence your journey may be many, many years in the making with such events. You really do have to persist. Be ready for knock backs and get straight back into participating, contributing, compromising and staying relevant.
Find a mentor
If you don’t know where to start or how to navigate all this, find a mentor. Call them. Communicate with them. Jump on FB sites that support Sports Therapy. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. In fact, if you don’t ask questions then you probably won’t make it. The more questions you ask, the quicker you learn, the more valuable you become, the greater your reputation, the greater your relevance.