The "ME" in TEAM

I'm back from Phoenix and too bad you can't see me because I am glowing! I had a great time and I was really able to narrow my focus and prepare with a bit more urgency for the season ahead. 

There is something about being around other elite people, not just athletes, but individuals that are the best at what they do. I really appreciated the environment I was in and have to give a shout out to the best medical team anywhere. Canada has world class clinicians, and I've been around the block world a few times, so trust me when I say that no one is better.

Compression therapy during AC training camp
 Phoenix January 2011

I saw the entire staff work around the clock to make sure as athletes our needs were met. I felt bad at times when I realized they hadn't eaten on schedule, if at all! Each one put our needs before their own.  I am grateful that this is the team that will be heading into London 2012 with me.  How lucky am I!

Last year I was asked to address students at The Canadian Chiropractic College, I had the floor for an hour and wasn't sure how best to fill that time. I don't use notes when I speak but give a lot of thought to what I want to say to any audience days in advance. I hate to sound rehearsed and speaking from my heart is the only way I know how to share a message. I'll share with you in this blog, what I told them.

You have to care about the person first. Period.

Their status, power, your praise or recognition, must have nothing to do with why or how you help somebody. You must genuinely care about them for who they are, not what they have or can bring to the table. I believe that should be at the moral core of every person.

Out for dinner w/ Dr. Kelsick @Olympic Trials Windsor 2008
I was injured during the trials and Olympics but guess who still had my back!

As an athlete this is especially important since what we do is an emotional roller coaster. You have to trust the people around you.  Doubt can't ever seep in when it comes to their motives and reliability, there is too much to stress about on this journey. The people you surround yourself with shouldn't be a source of concern.

Some of my most candid conversations or admissions have not been with my mother, sisters or BFF. But with someone on my team. Laying on a massage table at the end of a season and admitting that my spirit felt defeated….

Canadian Champs Ottawa 2006 Dr. Carm sticking his acupuncture needles in my flesh

Or getting that last hug before I depart to the final of a World Championship. Except this hug is tighter, the final reassurance that we had done the work, that extra squeeze just meant: Go prove it P...

You need to be able to face your team on any given Sunday and know that they will be there waiting. With no judgements, needing no explanations. 

Infield of the World Championship warm up track AKA The rendez vous point
2007 Osaka, Japan

Whether it’s three hours after your first world title and the warm up track is desolate and dark. With no one insight, except for them sitting in that infield, right where you left them, patiently waiting for you…

Or the same scenario a year later, except this time everything has come to a jarring hault. If nothing made sense that day, the one thing that would be true was they’d be there. In that infield. Patiently waiting for you….

@ the polyclinic Athens 2004 shock wave therapy after the final
The most painful therapy I have ever experienced

And because I believe in these people and they are my friends, I know no matter what happens on the track I can hold my head high and walk back to meet them and feel safe, loved, human.


I’m so glad that all these years later,  I still know they love me for me. Medals, jumping sticks quickly and of course my angelic aura are just an added bonus or three! ;-)

Medals: The great and tangible symbol of how hard we've worked  as a team
But I must say the roller coaster journey as a family is greater!

Hopefully they took that message to heart and will be fabulous Chiropractors one day. However, I believe the heart of the message boils down to being a wonderful human being first.

Take Great Care!

Perdi