Next time you watch a Toronto Argonaut player limp to the sidelines with an injury, look closely. You may see a graduate of York’s Athletic Therapy Certificate program at work, including Erin Brooks (right) (BA ‘99), the Argos’ head athletic therapist, and her team of York graduates.
York’s is one of six accredited athletic therapy educational programs in Canada and graduates from the ATC program, administered by the School of Kinesiology & Health Science, work in professional sport, amateur sport, clinics, hospitals and fitness centres. All celebrated National Athletic Therapy Month in June.
At York, faculty members who teach in the Athletic Therapy Certificate Program are certified athletic therapists. In addition, the Goreham-Shore Sports Injury Clinic in the Tait McKenzie Centre is managed and run by certified athletic therapists Cindy Hughes and Tracy Meloche.
Certified athletic therapists focus on the prevention of sport injury and with the assessment, rehabilitation, and return to activity of all levels of active Canadians from Olympians to weekend warriors. All of the Athletic Therapy faculty and staff members at York University have worked both nationally and internationally with amateur athletes including the Olympics, Paralympics, Pan American Games, World Student Games, Commonwealth Games and various world championships.
A look at some of York’s sports therapy specialists
As the team’s head athletic therapist, Erin Brooks oversees all of the Toronto Argonauts physical therapy needs. Brooks was named to her position in August 2002, after originally joining the club in 2001. Brooks earned her Bachelor of Arts in kinesiology and an Athletic Therapy Certificate at York in 1999 and became a certified athletic therapist in 2000. Amit Sindhwani (BA Kinesiology ‘04), is an assistant athletic therapist with the Argos, as was Carmelo Lobue, (BA Kinesiology ‘02), and Tracy Meloche, who joined the Argos during their 2006 training camp.
Frances Flint, professor in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science, and coordinator of the ATC progam is the former president of the Canadian Athletic Therapists' Association (CATA).
Andrea Prieur, a graduate and now instructor in the Athletic Therapy Certificate program, is also the current president of CATA.
Kelly Parr, instructor in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science, is former president of the Ontario Athletic Therapists' Association.
Cindy Hughes (right), manager of the Gorman-Shore Sport Injury Clinic in the Tait McKenzie Centre, served as chief therapist for Canada’s Olympic Team at both the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City and the 2004 Summer Games in Athens. Before that she was head athletic therapist for Canada’s Olympic curling team at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.
Tracy Meloche (far right), Goreham-Shore clinic supervisor, has worked as a therapist for the Canadian women's softball team at the 2000 Olympic Summer Games in Sydney, and was a volunteer therapist with the Argos this year.
Rory Mullin, (BA Phys Ed ‘94) is a therapist for the Toronto Raptors and has also consulted with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the NFL-Europe's team in London, England. He has his own private sport medicine and human performance consulting firm in Toronto as well.
Dom Nicoletta (right), is head therapist for the American Hockey Leagues’s Binghamton Senators, which is the farm team of the National Hockey League’s Ottawa Senators. Nicoletta earned a Certificate in Sport Therapy at York in 2000 and became certified as a Canadian Athletic Therapist in 2001. His first professional job was as an assistant with the Argos during the 2000 season. He became an assistant with the Ottawa Senators in 2002 where he remained until being named head athletic therapist for Binghamton in the summer of 2004.
For more information about York’s Athletic Therapy Certificate program, visit their web site at www.yorku.ca/stherapy.