"We try to have it so that everyone is really qualified and not to go without, that they're still maintaining their scope," Wahl explained. "Techniques like soft tissue work and cranialsacral. Some of our therapists have training in acupressure, some shiatsu...[and] muscles energies. We make sure they're all registered massage therapists, number one, and [that] they've got a lot of sports training, as well. It gives them a better perspective, a larger scope, to understand rodeo a lot better because it is a really physically-diverse sport."

At present, Wahl works as a massage therapist with teams at the National Training Centre at the University of Calgary and is also a vice president of the Massage Therapy Association of Alberta.

Five registered massage therapists work under her to cover fourteen rodeos from March to November. Most of the massage therapists have full-time practices at clinics during the week, then do massage therapy at the rodeos on the weekends. Everyone who works with sports medicine is under contract and is paid a flat rate of under a hundred dollars per performance. Due to budget constraints, all of the practitioners are paid the same amount--whether they are chiropractors, massage therapists, or athletic therapists.

"There are only so many rodeos that sport medicine will be at," said Wahl, "and there are various people who go to them. It would be nice if we could go to more rodeos throughout the year and have people who are employed full-time doing it but, as it stands right now, we don't have that at all."

Since the massage therapists and other practitioners don't make a lot of money doing the rodeo circuit on a part-time basis, their reasons for doing it are personal and this makes a difference when they treat riders.

As Kawiecki explained, "They do this because they love it; they can make more money staying home. That's the key to our program. The people who are here really want to be and those are the people you want. It's not a money issue, it's the fact that they want to be here because they enjoy what they do. That's the real reason why the cohesive, multidisciplinary approach works: the people who don't want to be here, won't have the best interests of the athlete. That's the key to our really unique program."

A future goal of Canadian Pro Rodeo Sport Medicine is to expand the program to cover a rodeo every weekend. That would double the program. The program costs about $65,000, of which the Canadian Pro Rodeo Association provides $30,000. So the practitioners would have to raise the balance to keep working. In the next decade they plan to raise $5 million for an endowment which would allow them to cover more than one rodeo a week. This would also allow the hiring of more practitioners, including massage therapists, and the purchase of a larger trailer.

The trailer now used was donated by the Cowboy Benevolency Fund but because of the growth in the past few years, it no longer serves the needs of the Pro Rodeo Sport Medicine Team. An ideal trailer would be larger, and not have any sleeping capacity or a stove and fridge which take up too much room. "It is going to be wide so there will be enough for four tables lengthwise--one for massage, two for athletic therapy, and one for chiropractic. So we will have space [and] not be bumping shoulders with everyone," explained Wahl.

Continued...