Where Champions are Made!

I’m back and I have to say that the trip to treat the Miami Hurricanes was even more intense than I had originally anticipated! Going against all the sleep advice I’m constantly spewing, I probably managed about 6 hours sleep in total over the weekend. Needless to say, it was tiring but very rewarding at the same time.

I have to start off by saying that these athletes are some of the hardest working people out there. We were working from 6:00am to 6:00pm and the players had even longer hours. It was not uncommon to see the same guy coming back for treatment 3 or 4 times throughout the day. They really do breathe football all day long.

The Hurricanes are an amazing group of guys. Some of these players are just beasts – it’s unbelievable how many of the players actually had to slouch down and turn sideways to get through a doorway. I’ve never seen that before! However, it’s really no wonder that they are in such great condition though – their gym facilities are a hundred times better than any of the university facilities in Canada. It’s even more startling when you consider that the University of Miami isn’t even one of the ‘rich’ schools per say.

I was fortunate to treat a few NFL guys as well – former Hurricanes alumni. One of the guys I treated is currently one of the best wide receivers in the league and his was a very interesting case to work on.

It’s astonishing to see how much money and effort is put into the sports programs at the schools down there. They are essentially willing to do whatever it takes to make the team better. While many elite Canadian athletes do utilize performance care treatments, I would love to see more national athletes make use of the services available to them. Canada has some of the best sports chiropractors in the field and more of our athletes really need to utilize our services for that competitive edge – whether it’s hockey, football, track and field, etc. The big difference I noticed is that the American team therapists are more open to working cohesively to treat players and are more willing to learn new techniques.