The GFY Podcast
The GFY Podcast
Go Fix Yourself with US Soccer Athletic Trainer Tom Zabielski
🎙️ In this Episode: We dive into what it takes for high-level athletes to heal themselves with insights from Tom Zabielski, an Athletic Trainer with the US Soccer Federation. ⚽️ Tom shares his journey to his current position and the challenges he faces working with elite athletes.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone wanting to understand what truly goes into supporting the best of the best! 🌟 It’s also perfect for healthcare providers or anyone interested in working with top athletes, offering a glimpse into the daily realities of this exciting field. 🏋️♂️👩⚕️
Find us on the Following!
Instagram: @gfy.podcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2B84NqR6XqtXWKFB0M21lA?si=00506e8ff1b34b95
Website: https://thegfypodcast.buzzsprout.com
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh8om-fms2WkX-QQbRo2ieeh4Ruv_ZG9t
Available on all podcast streaming sites!
If you have general questions about pain you're experiencing send us a DM on instagram or email at wellinformed24@gmail.com
Welcome to the Gfy, podcast A podcast by healthcare professionals providing insight on how to navigate your health so that you can go fix yourself, the Gfy, podcast hosted by Mike Bruno, a chiropractor and athletic trainer and me. Michael Stan, an athletic trainer, certified strength conditioning specialist. Although we are healthcare providers. We are not your healthcare provider. We will discuss general health interventions in this podcast but you should not take that as health advice that works in every situation before doing anything on your own or making any lifestyle changes. Please consult with your own physician. This podcast and views from this podcast are separate from our full time jobs and our own opinions. So today, going off from our new format, we got our special guest, Tommy Zibleeski. I don't know if I said that right, but I figure the faster I say it. The.
Michael Bruno:Dude that was crazy. That was sounded like you. Just like, mumbled.
Tom zabielski:Yeah.
Michael Stant:That's kind of what I do with Eddie Dave that I come across, that I really have no clue how to say. I say it as quickly as possible, and then I usually get the same response that was pretty close.
Michael Bruno:Because everyone doesn't want to be like. No, no one wants to hurt your feelings.
Michael Stant:Nice oh, boy! So. Tommy, if you want to do us a favor, kind of go go into your background. Kind of how you got to where you're at now with us. Soccer, spoiler, alert, he works for us soccer and go from there.
Tom zabielski:Yeah, thanks for having me guys. It's been a long time coming, I guess, as Bruno said.
Michael Bruno:Yeah, it has.
Tom zabielski:He's been trying to get this happening for a while, and I kept pushing it all for a while. So I was like,
Michael Bruno:He's here now.
Tom zabielski:We'll get to it. Yeah. So how it started I guess as much as like, I guess everybody is like, you get hurt right somehow in some way. And you how you get into the I guess medical field in some way, shape or form. I got hurt. My junior year of high school, and then from there I I met these 2 guys that who became my mentors, I guess, and then my bosses at 1 point Rudy and Hosh, and then from there they were, part of us soccer already they were. The Rudy was the head of the team back in the nineties. and then pass it on to harsh around. I guess the 2 thousands and then Hosh was there for from 2,000 for a while. I forget exactly when he ended with them. But I went to University of Delaware for Excise science.
Michael Bruno:All hands.
Tom zabielski:Yeah, where I met Brunella initially. And our nice trip to New Zealand. I think that's officially where we met right.
Michael Bruno:Yeah.
Tom zabielski:Oh, so, yeah.
Michael Bruno:That's where our love story started.
Tom zabielski:Yeah. From there. I worked at Elite. Pt, for almost 10 years. Initially. Thought I was going to just do pt. in between. So I graduate from Ud in 2,016 with you guys. I took a about a year off, I guess, to try to figure out if I necessarily want to do pt, fully, or I thought like at the time I was like, Oh, maybe I'll do ats, switch it up, kind of which was a little bit different, because the massive program just started becoming a new thing. As you guys did yours as as bachelors. yeah. And so I took that year kind of trying to decide. And then I was like, I really wanna be with like high performing athletes. And so at the time Hosh told me I was like, Hey, the best way to do that is, get that 80 degree. And then, if you also still want to do the Pt. Do that after so I did. I applied for the master's program actually at Jefferson. so I applied for that. Got in. Did the 2 years master programs there and then graduated. And this was Covid hit exactly when that happened. So there's no jobs in.
Michael Stant:Rough. Time. Yeah.
Tom zabielski:Bad timing. yeah, there's no jobs being hired at the time. And then from that point I was like, Well, I don't really have a job opportunity right now. So elite, I was still working at elite the entire time from I guess, for those 10 years, and then they were like, Hey, we'll hire you as an at to just to work in the clinic and stuff during that time I was like, oh, that's awesome opportunity. I'd love to work with you guys. From there. So then After that, I worked for the with them for another additional 2 years. And then the opportunity came where the the Us. Soccer is hiring for all their youth programs. I didn't think I was actually ever gonna leave elite. To be honest, I was great company. I love working with with them and treating patients inside the clinic. But I also still want had that dream of being able to work with high performing athletes and everything. So I went from working inside the clinic. I applied and I got the job, and then from there I've been with us soccer now for about a little over 2 years. and I've gotten to travel the world and see a bunch of different things so far. Hey.
Michael Stant:Tommy, could you go back? Who Rudy and Haj had athletic trainers for you, soccer, or are they something else.
Tom zabielski:So they were bothers and pts for us. Soccer rudy was kind of like the initial person like in the nineties. That kind of was the first, st like I think he was a very I don't know if that's a bold statement to be, it'd be, I think he was the very 1st like et for them. and then hosh also, then came on under him. and then, which is funny now, my current boss was also with them at the same time, too. So it was like those 3, Ivan. yeah.
Michael Bruno:Man shout out, Ivan.
Tom zabielski:Yeah, it was funny. So like they all kind of like interconnected. And then I it was when I was applying, and I was just like I asked Hosh for some advice. And then I was like, I I was like telling about Ivan. I was like he's gonna be in my interview, and he was just like. Oh, he's my guy, like I alright, and I was like cool.
Michael Stant:I'm just happy. Someone gave you the advice of like, oh, you want to work with high performing athletes. You should be an athletic trainer. Because really, that's that's kind of the easier pathway to working with high level athletes as opposed to. If you're a physical therapist working in a clinic like most Pts. Within the outpatient orthopedic clinic, you're getting, not the highest, the highest level athletes. unless, like you specifically market that way.
Tom zabielski:Yeah. And I think that's what kind of like cause like Posh at the time was still with the team till I don't know the exact year that he was with them, too. But he took all the guys would still come into Delaware and see him like throughout the time I was like, oh, this is so cool is how I actually like cause I actually never played soccer growing up. And so it was just funny that I end up now I'm in soccer like fully. It's just like. but at the time it was just like he would just have people come in. And then we started like working with soccer players and stuff. And so that's how I kind of in those 10 years been like, Oh, wow! Like, I really want to do this as my full time, like career profession. and be able to work with them. So.
Michael Bruno:Cool. I'm.
Michael Stant:Leaving it for you, Bruno. I know you're waiting.
Michael Bruno:There's there's a lot of stuff that I can ask you, and we'll keep it. We'll keep it. We'll keep it. We'll keep it easy here for to rev it up. What's the biggest difference that you've seen between working in the Pt. Clinic at elite. comparatively to working with high level soccer players.
Tom zabielski:that's I mean, I would say, like overall, it's just like the the amount of stuff that goes into to the prep. Work of it, all right, I mean. like, it's such a fine oiled machine. I guess if you want to say us soccer, right? We just have all these policies, not policies and procedures, is probably the best, not the best way to put it, but like, if I was to leave, you could take over right. And that's how we like kind of like the thing of the high performance team. Right? I think our high performance team is like, so like you have like a sports performance. You have a nutritionist. You have a doctor. You have, like all these interconnecting of, like what we would want our healthcare system to be like in and like today's world. Right? If you had all this stuff at your disposal. that I think that's like the biggest difference is that you just have all these resources, I guess, is the best. Say. to be able to treat anything or at the time right instead, like you don't have to go through all these hoops of like insurances and like doing all that? so yeah. Did I answer that question?
Michael Bruno:It's it's cool. It's like whatever you need like. They can make it happen like if an MRI is warranted like, guess what's happening that day or the next day, you know, like. it's really the the coolest like expression of like, truly, like unlimited potential in healthcare, where it's like, whatever these guys need like, it's available to them. And it's like there's with that being said, there's nothing wasted. It's not like like an over. It's not overkill where it's like I'll just doing it to do it. It's really just having like full access that in a typical outpatient environment that doesn't exist. It's hard enough to get someone's physical therapist to talk to their surgeon, which is crazy. Meanwhile Tom's over here having like a like, and he's exchanging emails every day. If that's the case, you know, like it's like such a different world.
Tom zabielski:Yeah, I'd say, just like the communication, like, right? That leads into just communicating with everybody throughout the soccer world, almost like we'll have players from Europe, Spain like right so. and then just around all around the Us. Which is already big enough.
Michael Bruno:Exactly. I mean.
Michael Stant:I I would assume. Not much gets through the cracks, because, like, you know, like, when you go that high performance setting either as well, it's like I'm assuming you guys somewhat meet regularly as well. So even like you also see every athlete. And so all of a sudden, it's like, oh, this guy came in for us. He got a massage. Oh, well, strength conditioning his his Max velocity! Numbers are down as well. Oh, this is happening as well. Oh, he's you know. He's talking with nutrition all of a sudden, and he's not getting enough calories. And do we have something over training as well. I'm assuming that some of the stuff that you guys run into as well. Oh, maybe he's not recovering after certain sessions.
Tom zabielski:Yeah, we'll always have meetings like, kind of with like coaches. High performance. We'll have those meetings to kind of cause again, like we're. It's like a little bit different of a setting, like right? It's always we're in like a tournament setting like we're always go, go, go, go and so you will have those days of like where you like. Start 6 Am. And go till 10 o'clock at night. If almost throughout the entire time you're in camp and At those times we're always having those high performance meetings. We're having those meetings with. The coaches and everybody that just is involved in the players care so that I think that's like where you you recognize everything that's going on. And sometimes I don't know. It's just like it's. It's just an easy way to being like you're everybody's together into a best communication possible because you're you're forced to. You're like not forced to be with everybody. But you're you're with everybody, 24, 7. So you know, everything is everybody's able to talk and continue throughout the day on like as a normal as a fine oil machine, right? Because it just constantly goes.
Michael Bruno:Right like back home. We don't like live with our clients when you see him like.
Tom zabielski:Like.
Michael Bruno:An hour once a week, so very, very different. but what's what's cool about what you said is like talking like strategy and goals like, because it's a tournament setting. It's 2 weeks, and we gotta win these games and like that is a very different mindset than like I've had back pain for 10 years, and I want to be able to walk my dog like you can. Even the the whole plan really really changes, depending on what your goals are, and which is something that we talk about all the time. So. Tom, for you, when there's like either an acute injury versus maybe a nagging injury that you've seen a player have multiple times throughout the the tournaments like different tournaments. What is your strategy and approach compare like comparatively so like playing them or making sure they're like good to go versus like when to push it, when to not things like that.
Tom zabielski:Yeah, so again, like our I can think our motto is always that your soccer is always to return the player better than they came in. So we never want to put them at risk of like another injury or something to further them. Not being able to get back to their club. Cause again. We don't own the players right? So we don't have their contracts or anything with them. So we want always what's best for the player, no matter what
Michael Bruno:Hmm.
Tom zabielski:And so in that timeframe, it's like we discuss on like, do we think that player can get back in time to be able to contribute? Or would it be better to have that player go back home to more resources? Because sometimes in the on the road we I mean, we have a lot of resources, but we don't have everything that you're especially for in South America, or for in like. I don't know. Some other country that's like doesn't have everything right in Mexico, for we were in solaya you always.
Michael Bruno:Oh, yeah.
Tom zabielski:Best things. so like that mindset is. can we get them back in that timeframe? And if not, what can we do to help them get better in that timeframe that we do have, or do we send them home? So it's those questions is like. we always want them to have the best opportunity to return back home healthy? I don't know if that answered the question, for that one.
Michael Bruno:Yeah.
Michael Stant:You do me a favor and describe the structure of, like us. Soccer like kind of like your day and day like, where are the athletes coming from. Because, right, you're like with us soccer. They're only around you certain times a year, like what ages, because right? It's not just like when people think us soccer, they're thinking the national team, maybe. But you have a bunch of younger ages below that. So maybe if you want, if you can just go through the structure of us. Soccer.
Tom zabielski:Yeah. So the senior teams, like the the one they mainly see on TV all the time. Right? And then after that, you have 20 threes to our 15 year olds. And so that can be any anybody if you're on there. So 23 is our Olympic team. Typically and then after that goes twenties and then lower. And then we have 2 like 2 World cup teams that are 20 year olds and 17 year olds also have world cups. And then after that, you have a 14 year old level, which is id camps, typically where you have, like the top, 80 kids at at when they're 4, 14 and younger. All come to a regional area, and then they kind of scout them from there.
Michael Stant:Cool. No I just.
Michael Bruno:Took me a while.
Michael Stant:Yeah, like, I've like trying to follow along with all this. I'm just like when cause like I I play soccer and all that. But I I wasn't very good, and like I would never even known all these different levels existed always. Just like for me. I always, until I started working as athletic trainer. Did I start assuming? Oh, there's probably more of a feeder program going into the Us. Soccer that then we know about is there any anything else that would be surprising that you do with us? Soccer like I know you travel all the time like you could even tell us, how much are you? Are you traveling right now? Because, are you actually so? Are you full time in Chicago? Technically correct? That's where us soccer is. Or is that like even that's hard to even say that.
Tom zabielski:Yeah, I'm full time here in Chicago. How much I actually live here. It varies from time to time this year I've actually been here a lot more. My 1st year. I was one that wrote a lot. but it was. It's all always worth it, because it's like into the end of the day when, like you win those like tournaments, or you win those games and stuff and see the guys, how what they've accomplished and stuff. It's like, always like worth that time that you spend away from like friends and family and stuff to be able to achieve those goals. So yeah, eventually, we're moving to Atlanta, though. So that's like coming up but then, because they have built a national training center, which is pretty awesome, and from that, hopefully we continue to grow and expand. the what we do so.
Michael Bruno:Gonna have so much chick-fil-a. I'm excited.
Tom zabielski:Yeah, okay, guys. So I get my points up in the app and stuff for that.
Michael Bruno:And slightly slightly warmer than Chicago in the winter.
Tom zabielski:Yeah.
Michael Bruno:Sounded like. Tom, give us a give us a a funny story from the road. Give us like a funny travel story.
Tom zabielski:I don't know if I have any funny travel stories. That's that's
Michael Stant:Travel just sucks. No, I'm joking.
Tom zabielski:Yeah, sometimes it just depends, because, like, we end up like sometimes on campus, our stuff isn't shipped. We have to carry it all. And so I have some horror stories from that. I could say, that's it's if it was still Halloween that would be a better one. Yeah, but it's just like, yeah, sometimes the travel of with all the pieces of equipment. It's it's kinda astonishing like how well it works. But same time it's just like a lot of pieces going into it. because we'll have like 68 pieces of equipment. We have to move through the airport. and it takes like a whole team effort to get those all through and processed through her house.
Michael Bruno:To paint the picture. I didn't know what a zarg was prior to joining us soccer, but a zarg is basically. I wonder what I ever before, don't you.
Michael Stant:What you're talking about. I have.
Michael Bruno:Exactly.
Michael Stant:Talking about, so.
Tom zabielski:What do you guys use for games when like ud football, or like.
Michael Stant:What is this art? Well, I don't know what I don't.
Michael Bruno:It's just a big. It's just a big metal trunk like when he said.
Tom zabielski:Yeah.
Michael Bruno:8 pieces. It's like it's not.
Michael Stant:Just like.
Michael Bruno:All you have. You're carrying like a bottle of lotion. It's like 68, like giant massive metal trunks.
Michael Stant:Hold on! Hold on!
Michael Bruno:Some of them have wheels, and some of them have the.
Michael Stant:Deals are broken.
Michael Bruno:And some of them. It's crazy.
Michael Stant:So this like, that's the thing with football like. And when I did summer internship, the panthers, like every at had their own trunk like that that was movable. But are you telling me you were taking that apart and going into the airport with it. or like? And you were traveling with that.
Michael Bruno:Yeah. Dude.
Tom zabielski:We travel with all them, and then the goals and balls, and all the like gear we wear. like everything that we have, will go on a plane with us.
Michael Stant:So in football, you, you have a truck and equipment, and you pack a tractor trailer essentially, and they go out ahead of you. You're telling me us. Soccer does not do that. and that's.
Michael Bruno:Fun, fact.
Tom zabielski:So yeah, for sometimes we do. Sometimes we don't especially if it's international. it depends on the age group. Right? Different age groups have different like budgets on this little bit. So some of them you'll actually take all the pieces of equipment. Go to line up at the airport and say, Hey, guys, you have my best friend right now. Here you go. We got about 70 68 pieces of equipment to put in there. Thank you, plus everybody's luggage, right to send you also. and everything.
Michael Stant:This is the stuff people never hear about and like for athletic right? It's like, What's your like? I had a question up here. It's like, what's the most surprising thing that common people probably don't know about us soccer, and it's that their employees are just traveling with all the medical stuff with them on airplanes, because no one ever thinks that way, like everyone probably just assumes. Oh, it's probably chartered flights everywhere. Blah blah! No, that that shit's expensive like places. Can't afford that.
Michael Bruno:So think also think about it this way, like. if tournaments in a like a city as an example in Mexico like there could be 3 different tournaments going on, or part of the same tournament like you're playing at 3 different stadiums so that could, depending on how far you make it require you to go to a different hotel. So you get all that stuff to Mexico. You set up. You get all those 68 pieces of equipment into the hotel. You build a training room from scratch in a hotel room. then you win. Great. You break it all down, you throw it on a truck. You drive it an hour. You take it all that in the hotel. You build that up. Then you got to treat everybody. Then you win again. Guess what you break it all down. You bring it to the next place. Dude, you don't.
Michael Stant:Have to work out. It's.
Michael Bruno:It's actually pretty awesome. It's.
Michael Stant:So yeah, that that's a little bit more even in like, when I was in the Nfl a little bit like it for training camp. We did the same thing of all right from. So I was with the panthers from Charlotte, and their training camp was at Wofford College, just over the border in South Carolina we essentially packed up a athletic training room, went to Wofford College. So, even though they had their own perfectly good at room, we needed our stuff in it. So then we just put all of our stuff in it, and then, like, after 4 weeks, we packed it up, and then, honestly, a lot of the similar stuff even happens when you travel, because everyone's like so particular. And they're like, like, I want this here, that there things like that, but doing that day in, day out, like. no. yeah, you won't get paid for us soccer, but it's part of the job.
Michael Bruno:When people when people are like I would love to work professional soccer, you know what I mean, and.
Michael Stant:They don't realize it.
Michael Bruno:Hey? Like? Guess what this is? Part of the gig, and like suddenly sounds a lot less glamorous, but pros far outweigh the cons. Tommy, talk about some cool places you've been because of us soccer.
Tom zabielski:Some of the cool places. I guess me and you both went to Indonesia. You missed out on the bottom.
Michael Bruno:Oh, yeah, you got.
Tom zabielski:Bye.
Michael Bruno:You guys want to hear. Wait, I want to get this on record. This is one of my.
Michael Stant:Get screwed.
Michael Bruno:Tommy, Tommy, you sandbagging son of a no. What happened was. I get a text from Tommy, and he's like, Hey, do you want to go to Bali. and I was like absolutely like that'd be so sick and so like booking flights, planning all this stuff like everything's like set in stone. or and then like half the tournament, like the the the.
Tom zabielski:The pre, the pre.
Michael Bruno:Camp was in Bali.
Tom zabielski:So, yeah.
Michael Bruno:Actual tournament was in Jakarta, which is the most populated city in the world, like 4. A family of 4 on a scooter type deal.
Michael Stant:Like like per capita type of deal.
Michael Bruno:Yeah, like, very, very congested. There's like. you're not really going anywhere outside the hotel. And I didn't really know this until I was like sitting in Newark airport. And Tommy was like, Oh, yeah, we're not going to Bali, like we're we just moved yesterday. We're in Jakarta. And I was like. okay, so and then he's like, Oh, also, by the way, you have to like, connect when you connect in Japan, you have to get off your plane. Get get on a bus, drive 2 h to the other airport, and then.
Tom zabielski:Even I didn't know this on that part of that.
Michael Bruno:That is true. That is true.
Tom zabielski:I was like, huh! That's weird that you.
Michael Bruno:It fell through the cracks. But Bruno, who speaks absolutely 0. Japanese words had to figure out how to navigate Japan in the middle of the night to get from airport to airport. Just see Tommy's shining face in Jakarta. and it was all worth. It is what.
Michael Stant:So, Tommy, are you? Are you in charge of booking all this stuff, too? Because I know that's a common Minor League baseball thing that they actually book a lot of the stuff for the players. Even.
Tom zabielski:No, thank God! Our team admins. We have team Admins for every like trip that we do, and they take care of all that stuff for all of us, which is awesome because I would not be able to do that. I I kinda I plan for again the eaps the emergency things. But I'm not a big planner ahead of that, you know. I don't plan the my vacations. I kinda just if I go somewhere for vacation. I just go and figure it out as I go along. You know I don't do any of the actual planning, so Bruno would have been like going around the world, probably 2 or 3 times. But if I was planning that, you know, I'd have been like that, whatever you'll figure it out eventually.
Michael Bruno:Funny side story to this. So Tommy sends sends me a text, maybe a week or 2 before the trip. and he's like, hey? They don't have some stuff in the Us. That we need in Indonesia, so can you like throw it in your suitcase and bring it. And I said, Sure, what do you need me to bring? He goes all right. We need hair dye. We need peanut butter, and we need compression stockings. I was like, Okay, he's like, don't even worry like I'll I'll like mail it all to your house so you can just throw it in your suitcase. Thinking it was gonna be like. I didn't really know. I didn't really know what to expect. So this box comes, and it's not like a jar of peanut butter. It's 10 pounds of peanut butter, and then, like 40 compression stockings, for, like the entire team. So I was like, alright, so glad I have a pretty big suitcase, and I don't need a lot of stuff. So I'm worried about this peanut butter exploding in my bag, so I'm wrapping it up in bubble wrap and tape and stuff, and I'm looking at it in my suitcase like this looks like a bomb. I am gonna get flagged so hard I get like I get through fine like, and then I'm in Japan like transferring all my luggage. And I look at the lady who's in charge of like directing people. She speaks no English, and she does a big sign above her. It's like no food or perishables, or whatever I was like, hey? Is peanut butter. Okay? And she looked at me and was like peanut butter like she's never heard of it before, and I was like, All right, if I'm going to Japanese prison. So be it at this point. So I just kind of roll through. No one says anything to me, and I got safely to the other side, so everyone can have their protein power bites. Yeah.
Michael Stant:Everyone got their protein, their fiber, and their threes. I think.
Michael Bruno:Yeah, the the chef.
Tom zabielski:Can't I.
Michael Bruno:Yeah, this. Yeah. The hair dye was.
Michael Stant:Yeah, wait. Yeah. Yeah. We forgot about the hair. Dye.
Tom zabielski:At least your mustache sweatshirt. There you go.
Michael Bruno:Yes, the so the hair dye was for because it was November we were doing. We should actually talk about that. Mikey is Movember, but all the coaches and staff did mustaches for the for the month. And there is this one kid, or one admin who was like really blonde, so he couldn't really see his mustache, so we bought him black hair dye so he could dye it.
Michael Stant:So, yeah.
Michael Bruno:He just but like the entire trip, like he wouldn't actually do. He's like, Oh, I'll do it tomorrow. We'll do it tomorrow. Finally, like the the last day of camp.
Tom zabielski:That. Yeah, we lost.
Michael Bruno:Really the last day.
Tom zabielski:Closing me.
Michael Bruno:We're out of the tournament. It's just like we're sleeping. We're all leaving the next day, and we have our final like closing meeting. and he's not there. And we're like. where is this kids? Everyone's like texting him. He was mid dying. His mustache.
Tom zabielski:Start the meeting till he gets there.
Michael Bruno:Yeah. So now he's like, like he's like he runs in like covering his face like this because he has dye all over his face like obviously doesn't know how to dye a mustache And he's just so embarrassed sitting there the whole time like, What are you doing like black dye running down his face. It was so funny, so funny.
Tom zabielski:Most ash came out. Great though afterwards it looked you should.
Michael Bruno:He was.
Tom zabielski:Earlier.
Michael Bruno:He looked good. He looked good. He should have done it for the whole camp. It was. It was great. But you you have a like. It's a lot of hard work, but you have a lot of fun.
Michael Stant:So, Tommy, any any. So actually, I do have this because, like even from an athlete standpoint, you get young athletes that like that's an aspiring goal for them. For the what? What do you feel like is the biggest difference, you see from the athletes or the Nash, like the people that make it all the way to the top compared to the people who maybe make it that U 14 team. And then you end up. Never seen them again, or they end up falling out like, is it something that they're doing? Is it? You know, everyone, always, I think, professional baseball. Sometimes it's just like dumb luck, like when they end up kind of getting like they end up hitting like a Oh, my God, they're doing really well. They're really hot for like 6 months, 2 guys ahead of them get hurt. And the next thing you know, they're in major League baseball, and they get there. So just curious on like what you've seen from.
Tom zabielski:I would definitely say, it's their talent overall, like right? It's the commitment and their talent. But then there's also the opportunities to right for them, because it's by. It's not by chance, I would say, but like the opportunity, like sometimes we'll have player like somebody gets hurt during camp right? We send somebody home that wasn't initially supposed to be there, and then they come in, and then they perform. They get recognized, and it's just like they take advantage of those opportunities. I think that's kind of like everything in life, almost right. It's like you just take advantage of those opportunities and excel at them when you get the chance, and then from there you stay in that and that like system right? I guess once you get. Take that advantage of those opportunities. You see, a little bit of here and there of like some guys early on, will realize of how to take care of the bodies. But then it's also. I think that's where we come in. A little bit, too, is like teaching them how to like, continue on and on, but at at the early ages it's just like it's that that the more of them teach. I think that you're in high school right now. And it's like developing those yeah habits of like good habits, right of teaching them how to like, recover how to do like these little things that will help you later on in your career. I don't know if that necessarily continues them on in our process necessarily. But again, it's just I think them of their talent and their opportunities, that they take advantage of.
Michael Stant:Are there any habits you feel like you have to break the people who 1st get in out of like? I'm trying to like some of the stuff I kind of deal with. So even from like a wound, care standpoint, there's a lot of people that throw hydrogen peroxide on everything. And it's like, okay, maybe initially. But please stop doing that after after the 1st time you do it, you're just like you're not helping helping. At the end of the day. Don't know. There's something commonly that you end up seeing on your side.
Tom zabielski:Not so much. I don't know, I can't. I can only speak for the guy side, so I only work on the men's side. All the men's side now pretty much are coming through the Mls. Or the pros, or like somewhere in the Usl. Like.
Michael Stant:So.
Tom zabielski:So they're having full time like these, these guys aren't really as much in school like going to a normal school anymore. Right? They're in the Mls academies, where they're doing soccer all day and then doing online schooling, or the Mls. Provides schooling for them. So they're having. Like all they're essentially they're in a pro life already where they're getting at 1st hand. So they're coming in with good habits. Typically, so we just kind of try to expand on them a little bit, and each guy's a little different, like some of the guys will want treatment every day, like, even at like the 1516 age group. And some guys are like, Yeah, I'm good. It's just, I think it's individual, right? And that's how recovery I think always is. You have this individual set for each guy, and it's like what works best for you. And how how do you respond to like some guys love ice best. Some guys don't right. And it's always just like what works best for you. It's kind of. So I think there's nothing to like break with them. or try to, but just establishing what we can do better for you, or what you need. In a way.
Michael Bruno:A 100%. It's very. It's very unique, especially at the youth level, that they are legitimate professional athletes. But then you also have to remember sometimes that they're 16 like it shows up in different ways. But you're like, you're talking to this kid about a lot of like, really, you know serious things, longevity, all that type of stuff. And then it's also like.
Tom zabielski:They still want to eat candy, you know.
Michael Bruno:Yeah, in his free in his free time. He wants to chug gatorade games. So like you have to be able to like respect both sides that he's a professional athlete and still a kid. So the the thing that Tommy does so well, and a lot of the other guys on staff that I've met are they're able to have those conversations in the appropriate context. So it's like, Hey, I can. I can be like a friendly face, because if if Tommy's just like the hardo, that's like, oh, like medical blah blah blah.
Tom zabielski:Like.
Michael Bruno:They're not. Gonna they're not gonna inherently trust him where it's like, hey? If I have something like that's a small injury. or like, I don't think it's that bad. I'm still gonna tell Tommy, because I know he has my best interest at heart at the end of the day. If Tommy was like a hard on. It's like every time like something happens, you stub your.
Michael Stant:Don't!
Michael Bruno:Like you're out for 6 weeks like these kids want to play. So being able to like, be that trusting professional. And, you know, like teammate in a way like staff Member is is really really cool. Tommy does very good job. Right? Yeah.
Tom zabielski:Appreciate that.
Michael Stant:Yeah, I was. Gonna say, it's very common, even for me, for me at the high school side a lot of times. It's just me telling a kid, hey? You're okay. You can go like you could go back in. This isn't something that you should not practice for a week, for like. Now, obviously my level of athletes are very, very different than your level of athletes, Tommy. But that's something I always have to do, and I'm sure you probably come across that decent amount as well, and you rather them tell you all the things as opposed to. hey? By the way, my shin's been hurting for like 4 weeks like it really kind of hurts to walk around. Next thing you know, you got full blown stress fracture that they're that you're dealing with, but sorry. not not speaking from personal experience.
Tom zabielski:Yeah, we try to, I, I think, try to keep it like a open approach to where they can come and tell us anything right? And I think that like helps with all the guys cause they they wanna perform right. It's not like sometimes like they wanna I don't think anybody ever wants to sit out of a Us. Soccer like training camp or a game tournament like, right? So all those guys always looking to get better. And so I think, having that open door where they can just kind of come in talk and explain the stuff, because again, we just always want them to play, and I think that also goes with long with staff, like right bringing people like Bruno in and stuff that they also all feel comfortable with, and I think good people make it a lot easier for that to happen. So props to Bruno, too, because all the guys love him when he comes in.
Michael Bruno:It. It really shows when, like, we have treatment times, especially like after practice, like people like sign up for time slots. And half the teams in there, anyway, because they just like hanging out like. That's how you know that people feel comfortable around like the medical staff, because it's like they can hang around you and and be themselves, which is pretty cool.
Michael Stant:So do you have to like communicate with parents every time as well like the under 18? Or is it like pretty free phone that you don't have to contact them unless it's like major injury happens.
Tom zabielski:Yeah, it's more of a major injury. Like prior to camps or they come in. We have a waiver that that's the most. I kinda almost talk to parents unless a major injury happens. If it's minor also communicate with the parents. But it's more dealing with the clubs. I get back to the Mls. Clubs and stuff, and I'll try to communicate as best with them about what's going on. What's happening if somebody does get hurt. But for the most part, it's all yeah. It's just with their clubs and just having the parent be like, okay, I know what's going on just to have that update.
Michael Bruno:Yeah, yeah, but.
Michael Stant:Nice.
Michael Bruno:Layer of trust. It's important. Mikey. Talk about your mustache before we wrap up for the day.
Michael Stant:Oh, so this is Movember men's mental health awareness. Through we we go, I mean, Bruno. You're the one who 1st found this to the Movember Foundation. I think they're technically are. But you know, right? Just trying to raise awareness for men's not just mental health, but a couple of other health issues as well. So it's actually prostate cancer and testicular cancer as well. You know. So we me, Bruno Tommy, now, because we told him to. A couple of our friends are going to be rocking mustaches here soon, and generally we all have a physical activity goals around it as well. So you know I'll be running a hundred miles this month. I run a marathon at the end of the month. As well. So just trying to, you know, raise support, raise money to help support men's mental health. Also quick, Stat. You know, men are out of all the suicides that occur in the Us. It's 80% men. So you know, where are the resources that for us to kind of help make sure that they have access to it. So that's 1 of the things that we're trying to bring awareness to. We have stuff on our Instagram, our socials, if you want to support helps. Come on and support giving out free 4 week strength conditioning programs, free 4 week running programs. If that's something that you're interested in. Just DM, us, your email through our Instagram page. Anything else you want to add? Bruno.
Michael Bruno:Great cause. Great fashion. Facial hair looks good, it looks real good. My mustache gets crazy, so everyone be prepared.
Tom zabielski:When are you shaving.
Michael Bruno:I can twirl the ends of it.
Tom zabielski:What are you?
Michael Stant:I've already like you should already be shaped. I'm trying to grow out my facial hair because I usually don't have it.
Michael Bruno:Oh, man, see, I'm just keeping you on your toes, man. All right, Mikey. Would you like to take Tommy? Do you know how to take us out. Do you know how to do it? You just have to yell. Go, fix yourself as loud as you can.
Tom zabielski:Is that? That's it.
Michael Bruno:It'll get out there.
Tom zabielski:I feel like there needs to be like a little bit more of a build up to it than.
Michael Bruno:All right, I'll I'll build you up, hey, Tommy? Thank you for coming on today and talking about us soccer and all the cool things that you do, and helping the listeners.
Tom zabielski:Go, fix yourself.
Michael Bruno:Yeah.
