Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/665755
IMPROVING PERFORMANCE Between coordinating specialized trainings for massage therapists, helping prepare athletes for the NFL Scouting Combine, and running his own program at the CORE Institute in Arizona, George Kousaleos is eager to talk sports—specifically, how massage can help sports performance. He has a long résumé of accolades and history in this profession, and is today building a national sports massage team intended to have a presence in every major league, professional sports town. So what does Kousaleos see as milestones in this field? Returning to the Roots "First, for me, would be the 2004 Athens Olympics. I was asked, with four others, to organize a sports massage team for Athens. We wanted a truly international sports massage team, representing the five continents, covering eight to nine languages, and we did exactly that." Over the course of 18 months, Kousaleos and his group selected 170 MTs from 18 countries. "It was the first time massage therapists were part of the Olympic medical team," he says. "Over the course of the Games, we delivered 11,000 massage sessions." It was also a full-circle moment for Kousaleos when he saw his first massage instructor, Benny Vaughn, working on an athlete in the Olympic village. "I was one of Benny's first students," Kousaleos says of his massage school experience in the late '70s. "In Athens, I found Benny working on one of the US track athletes. We're in the bright sun of Athens, and I said, 'Benny, it was exactly 25 years ago when we first worked together; 25 years later, our dream has come true and we're together here in Greece.' That was probably the most amazing moment for me in those 17 days." 66 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k m a y / j u n e 2 0 1 6 The Etiquette of Celebrity In September 2015, LeBron James posted his out-loud musings on Facebook about wanting to hire a full-time massage therapist—and the Internet went crazy. First-year practitioners, grizzled veterans, and even unlicensed massage students posted their email addresses along with eager requests and often outrageous offers to help. It's hard not to get caught up in the celebrity phenomena, but when your role is to administer hands-on, therapeutic work to professional athletes, you should be as far removed as possible from the celebrity fawning James endured as result of his post. If you want to be a sports massage therapist at this level, experts say you need to leave your star-struck status at the door or you'll never get another gig with this type of clientele. As with all client/therapist relationships, working with elite athletes requires a mountain of trust and respect, both between therapist and athlete, and between therapist and athletic trainer. There is no room for anything less than impeccable professionalism. Sports massage therapist Jody Stork, the first female in the Florida Marlin's clubhouse back in 1993, says the number one rule is that what's done or said in the clubhouse or treatment room, stays there. Nothing leaves that safe space. "When people find out you work with professional athletes, they start asking a lot of questions: Is the player married? Where do they live? Would they sign this (item) for me?" Just as with your everyday clients, the highest ethical standards need to be maintained, and these questions are never things you divulge or entertain. Confidentiality is even more crucial when it comes to information about injuries. In fact, there is a fine line when discussing injuries with the players themselves. "When working with the player, discussing your thoughts regarding their injury and how to treat it is not acceptable in the professional clubhouse," Stork says. "Discussion about the player's ability to come back from an injury—to hit, throw, run—is between the team doctor and the athletic trainers. I'm not saying I wasn't informed about the injury and the protocol to follow; it just wasn't my place to discuss it with the player." Success in this environment, she says, requires knowing both your place in the pecking order, and understanding the expectations others have of you and your work. Jameis Winston (right), the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner, credits the bodywork he and the rest of his Florida State University football teammates received from George Kousaleos (left) as being an important factor in his and the team's performance. Kousaleos still works with Winston, who was drafted as the number one pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2015. Photo courtesy George Kousaleos. Photo from Shutterstock.com