This past week I took a 40-hour NCBTMB & NYS Board approved course through a company called SportstretchUSA. I first learned of the Sportstretch technique this past December (2017) from it’s founder, Christy Swiatkowski, when she connected with me via LinkedIn. Christy is a highly accomplished NYS LMT who is certified and/or highly proficient in several different massage and fascial/myofascial techniques, in Thai massage, in stretch techniques, and has spent her entire 17+ year career working with elite athletes. Between my love of learning and my strong desire to do more work with athletes, I was intrigued enough to sign up for the class after exchanging several messages and phone calls with Christy. Once I paid for the class, and despite the fact that I have worked with athletes as well as I actually teach massage classes at New York Institute of Massage, I began to have doubts. What if I am too old to do this? What if I do not have the right personality? What if, what if, what if…? Well, here is a break down of my week:
Day 1: We had a thorough review of all the stretch techniques that I know and teach. My confidence started to rise. Christy demonstrated the lower body (anterior) stretch we would start with. I watched her perform it effortlessly, I analyzed it in my head (it’s all physics, so I felt good about it), and thought all would be well. Then each of us had to try it on each other. Not so good. Nothing about it felt natural to me. I could not get the sequence straight, I felt uncoordinated, and I started to lose confidence. Quickly. After lunch we headed to the XPE Sports facility in Ft. Lauderdale, where NFL hopefuls were training for the NFL Combine and Pro days. I immediately got chosen to go first (randomly), and my mind went blank. How do I do this again? What goes next? Ugh. I felt every minute of my 53 years! The athlete was wonderful as I fumbled through, and I finished with what I had learned. But I did not feel confident at all. I then approached another athlete and offered to stretch him. He was hesitant and a little aloof towards me because he was hoping to get one of the more experienced therapists, but I talked him into it. Well, I shouldn’t have. I totally lost confidence and ended up stopping after the first stretch. I was embarrassed and frustrated. Christy was very encouraging, but reminded me that I had to NOT show my discouragement because of the importance of the stretching to each athlete’s successes. I decided to just observe for a while, and I tried to get out of my head. The day went on, and I finally managed to make my way through the routine by the end of the day. I knew I needed to lay low during the evening and collect myself. I had four more days…
Day 2: I woke up refreshed, and somehow I knew I could perform the routine we had learned the previous day. At some point during the night, after reviewing things in my head, I was able to organize the routine in a way my brain could process it. I went to class and all was well. I just had to get out of my head. Christy demonstrated the remainder of the lower body stretches (the side and posterior), and all seemed to flow nicely for me. I could perform the routine on my classmates. An added bonus was a visit from Mason Schreck, a graduate of my alma mater (University at Buffalo) and a player on the NFL team Cincinnati Bengals. He was kind enough to allow us to practice our newly acquired skills on him before we headed over to the XPE facility. He was not only friendly, but encouraging and understanding of our novice status. We headed over to the facility after lunch and each of us in class was able to perform the routine on the athletes numerous times. Though I did refer to my notes at times, I started to get into the flow.
Day 3: We went right to the Ft. Lauderdale XPE facility in the morning and got to work. Christy added the upper body routine into our repertoire, thus completing the full-body stretch routine. With each athlete I worked on I gained more confidence. After lunch we went to another XPE facility in Boca Raton. At the Ft. Lauderdale facility we worked on athletes who were tight ends, wide receivers, running backs, defensive backs, etc. At the Boca Raton facility we began our experience working on the athletes who were on the offensive line, the defensive line, etc. They were much larger guys than at the other facility. Luckily, the Sportstretch routine lends itself to all body types. Regardless of therapist size, he/she can perform the stretch routine successfully on any size athlete if done correctly. Christy is a stickler for good body mechanics, so she constantly reminded us the importance of doing the routine properly each and every time. As a stickler for good body mechanics myself, I appreciated that a lot! That afternoon I was thrilled when Mason Schreck walked into the Boca Raton facility, pointed at me and asked me to work on him. Afterwards he told me how great my technique was as well as how great he felt. I felt like a million bucks, and I like to think he came up to that facility solely to seek me out (because of our UB connection and because he wanted to see how I would do). He also told me how impressed he was that I had memorized the whole routine already. My day was complete!
Days 4 and 5: Each morning we did a thorough review of all the muscles and muscle groups in the body, including origins, insertions, actions, etc. My inner nerd/educator loved it! Then each afternoon we went to the Ft. Lauderdale facility and worked on the athletes. Some of the athletes from the Boca Raton facility came down to our facility so they could benefit from the stretch routine. By this time my classmates and I had each connected with a few of the athletes who sought out each of us for stretching. The athletes were from various D1 schools throughout the country and were all hoping for one thing: to make it to the NFL. On Friday, our final day, I had the added privilege to work on Austin Appleby, Florida Gator alum and member of Dallas Cowboys. As I went through the routine, I kept thinking of how awesome it was to be where I was at that moment, and how glad I was that I had decided to take the class.
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I completed the certification course, despite my initial fears and doubts. I stepped a little out of my comfort level at first, but I overcame the fears and doubts. I owe many thanks to Christy for her excellent teaching and unfailing confidence in her students, to the athletes for letting us work on them, and to my classmates for being true teammates as we traveled down this new path! I am now very confident in my abilities and, by mid-March, will excitedly be adding Sportstretch into my massage menu as both a stand alone treatment as well as an add-on to a traditional massage session. Christy has created a comprehensive stretch routine that can be used not only on elite athletes in various sports, but also on athletes who are training for Ironman competitions, runners, swimmers, etc. The athletes who receive regular Sportstretch treatments have said their running times have decreased, their overall performance in their various positions has improved, and their flexibility makes it possible for them to achieve more productive training sessions. If you are an LMT reading this (or better yet, one of my former students!) and plan to work on athletes, I highly recommend you take this course! Christy is offering it weekly until March 18, 2018, and class sizes are limited. The website to check out is www.sportstretchusa.com.