It’s National Coaches Week! 🏆
At Sheddon Physiotherapy and Sports Clinic in Oakville, we want to take a moment to recognize and thank all of the incredible coaches we have the privilege of working with throughout Oakville, Mississauga and the surrounding communities.
Coaches have an enormous impact on athletes. They help athletes develop skills, build confidence, stay motivated and become better teammates, but they also play an important role when an athlete is dealing with an injury. For an injured athlete, returning to sport is rarely as simple as feeling better and going back to practice.
A successful return to sport often involves a team, and two important members of that team are the coach and physiotherapist.
Why Coaches and Physiotherapists Need to Work Together
The coach understands the athlete from a different perspective. They know the demands of the sport, the team’s training schedule, the athlete’s position, upcoming competitions and what the athlete needs to be able to do on the field, court or ice.
A physiotherapist, on the other hand, brings expertise in injury assessment, rehabilitation, strength, mobility, movement, load management and the physical requirements of returning to sport.
When these two professionals communicate, rehabilitation can become much more specific to the athlete and their sport.
Instead of simply asking, “Is the athlete pain-free?”, the conversation can become:
- Can they safely tolerate the demands of practice?
- Do they have the strength and control required for their position?
- Can they accelerate, decelerate and change direction?
- Can they perform the movements required by their sport?
- Are they ready for the volume and intensity of training?
- How should their return to practice and competition be progressed?
- What modifications might they need while they continue to rehabilitate?
This communication can help create a smoother transition from the physiotherapy clinic to the practice field, and ultimately back to competition.
From Rehabilitation to the Field
At Sheddon Physiotherapy and Sports Clinic in Oakville, we believe rehabilitation shouldn’t happen in isolation. An athlete may make significant improvements in the clinic, but sport places very different demands on the body. Running, cutting, jumping, landing, sprinting, contact, reacting to other players and performing skills under fatigue can all expose an athlete to challenges that aren’t always reproduced during a traditional rehabilitation session.
That’s why the final stages of rehabilitation should increasingly reflect the athlete’s actual sport and position. This is where communication with coaches can be particularly valuable. A physiotherapist can help determine what an athlete is currently capable of doing, while a coach can help integrate that athlete back into the realities of team training.
The goal is to create a bridge between rehabilitation and sport.
OAA: Bridging the Gap Between Rehab and the Field
This is one of the reasons we are proud to have a Sheddon Physiotherapy and Sports Clinic location inside Oakville Athletic Academy (OAA). Located at 505 Iroquois Shore Road in Oakville, our OAA location provides access to a larger athletic training environment, including gym and turf space. For athletes, this creates an important bridge between traditional rehabilitation and the demands of their sport.
Instead of going directly from:
Treatment table → Full practice
we can progressively work through:
Rehabilitation → Strength → Running → Agility → Sport-specific movement → Practice → Competition
Why Is This Important?
Late-stage rehabilitation often requires more space and equipment than a traditional treatment room can provide. At OAA, athletes can progress their rehabilitation into movements that more closely resemble what they will encounter during training and competition.
This allows our physiotherapists to assess not only whether an athlete is feeling better, but also how they are moving as the demands increase.
OAA can be the missing link between rehabilitation and returning to the field, court, ice or pool.
Coaches:
You’re an Important Part of the Rehabilitation Team
If you’re a coach in Oakville, Mississauga or the surrounding area, you may be one of the first people to notice when an athlete isn’t moving normally, is struggling with an injury or isn’t quite ready to return to full participation. You may also be the person responsible for helping an athlete gradually return to practice once they’ve been cleared to do so.
That’s why communication between the coach, athlete, parents, and physiotherapist can be so valuable.
A quick conversation can help everyone understand:
What can the athlete do?
What should they avoid?
What can they gradually progress?
And what does a safe return to full sport look like?
The answer will be different for every athlete and every injury, which is why individualized assessment and communication are so important.
Our Experience Working With Oakville Athletes and Teams
At Sheddon Physiotherapy and Sports Clinic, we are proud to be part of the Oakville sports community. Over the years, our team has had the opportunity to work with athletes and teams across a variety of sports, including Oakville Soccer Club, Future Girls Soccer, Jaguars, Rush Canada Soccer Academy, OAK swimmers, the Oakville Hornets, the Oakville Rangers, Running Room Clinics, and many many more.
These experiences have given our team an appreciation for the very different demands placed on athletes across sports.
Whether you’re working with a hockey player, swimmer, soccer player, runner, basketball player or another type of athlete, rehabilitation needs to eventually connect back to what that athlete actually does.
Our sports injury rehabilitation team works with athletes throughout the season and can coordinate with coaches, trainers and strength and conditioning professionals when appropriate.
Our Team Understands Both Sides
Did you know that several members of our Sheddon team are coaches themselves?
You may even catch some of our staff out in the community, putting their coaching experience into action!
Rachel coaches fitness classes at Gritlabs, helping members build strength, fitness and confidence.
Jenn also shares her passion for fitness and coaching in the community through TYG (The Yard Gym), where she coaches and helps others build strength, confidence, and fitness.
Alicia coaches Rep Dundas Dynamite Softball and Rep Dundas Dynamo Basketball, working with young athletes both on the diamond and on the court.
And you may catch Erin on the football field, coaching Girls UA Flag Football in Oakville and Burlington.
Having team members who are also coaches gives us another perspective when working with athletes. We understand that sport isn’t just about an injury — it’s about practices, games, teammates, competition, performance and the goals that keep athletes motivated.
That’s one of the reasons we value strong relationships with coaches and teams throughout Oakville and the surrounding communities.
Coaches: Have an Athlete Struggling With an Injury?
Let’s work together.
At Sheddon Physiotherapy and Sports Clinic in Oakville, our physiotherapists work with athletes of all ages and sports to assess injuries, develop individualized rehabilitation programs and help athletes progress toward a safe return to sport.
If you are a coach and have an athlete who is struggling with an injury, recovering from surgery or trying to return to sport, contact Sheddon Physiotherapy and Sports Clinic in Oakville to learn how we can work together.
To all the coaches we work with — thank you!
Thank you for the countless hours you spend at practices, games, tournaments and competitions. Thank you for supporting your athletes through the highs and lows of sport, and for being such an important part of their development.
