2015 Sports Physical Therapy Section Election

This is quite a deviation from my usual blog. 

For one thing, it isn't taken directly from my weekly newspaper column.  This one is written for just one place--this blog. 

Secondly, it isn't intended to inform, educate, or enlighten.  It is intended for the small audience of physical therapists that are members of the American Physical Therapy Association's (APTA) Sports Physical Therapy Section (SPTS) in an effort to convince those members that I am the best candidate for Secretary of that organization.

Oh...I didn't tell you?  Yeah, I'm running for an office in an organization that is dear to my heart.  More on that later. 

Let me tell you about how I got involved with the SPTS.

A long time ago, when I was younger and not so gray, I made friends with Danny Smith.  Danny is a physical therapist and athletic trainer based in Elizabethton, Tennessee.  I really don't recall exactly where or when we first met but it does seem like we've always connected.

We have been great friends many, many years.  We've shared good times, bad times, and too many meals to even try and count.  He's one of those guys that has always been there for me. I can only hope that I've been that kind of friend to him.

About that same time, and mainly because of Danny, I became friends with some really great people that just happened to also be sports physical therapists.  Among those are Tab Blackburn, Mike Voight, Barney Poole, Skip Hunter, Tim Uhl.

We would go to meetings and hang out together, usually rooming together.  In the early days, the Sports Section would get a suite for the big meetings and the guys would crash in one room and the girls in another. 

You can imagine the bonding that came from that.

Along the way, my circle of SPTS friends grew.  Barb Sanders.  Barb Hoogenboom.  Pete Zulia.  Joe Giorno.  Bill Prentice.  George Davies.  Kevin Wilk.  Ron Peyton.  Bob Mangine.  Terry Malone.

Now think about it....these are the elite in our profession.  These folks teach, write textbooks, are widely published, speak internationally.  They've served at all levels from professional teams to 

Olympic teams and everything in between.

And they let this country boy from Maryville, Tennessee, who spent his time in a small private practice and on high school sidelines become a part of what they had.

What they had was phenomenal.  They had a network of contacts and practices that were perpetually cutting edge.  They were the first to know and do everything.  I mean, George Davies practically invented isokinetics.  Most physical therapy students today study a Bill Prentice textbook.

Mike Voight travels the world teaching about sports physical therapy.  Kevin Wilk is...well, Kevin Wilk!  Jim Andrews' right hand man!

The SPTS Hall of Fame Award is named after Tab Blackburn, for goodness sake.

Along this journey, my circle of friends kept expanding.  John Stemm.  Allen Hardin.  Gordon Eiland.  Tim Tyler.  Mark DeCarlo.  Gary Derscheid.  Walt Jenkins.  The list goes on and on.

I'll stop there because I will miss somebody but let's just say that the list just keeps growing.  That's the thing about the SPTS--it is all about inclusivity.  We bring everybody in and take them along for the ride.

Oh, along the way, I've done a lot of good things.  The '87 Pan-Am games. The '96 Olympics.  Speaking engagements of my own both far and wide.  Getting elected to a national office at the APTA.

The bottom line:  My association with the SPTS has given me opportunities and opened doors for me that when I was a physical therapy student in 1976 and joined the SPTS, I could only dream about.  I alluded to that in my campaign statement (https://www.spts.org/elections-2015/joe-black-secretary) but now you know the whole story.

And about that joining the SPTS as a student.  When I inquired about it, I got in big trouble with my program director.  Got called into her office over it.  "You're NOT going to waste this valuable physical therapy degree that we're giving you by working with athletes."

Uh...yeah.  They get injured too.

So I've built my career around it.  I still see patients three days a week, mostly athletes.  I still walk the football sidelines at the high school I've been at since 1982.  BTW, we win more than our share.  Since 1997, we have played in every state championship game except 2, and have won all of those that we've played in except three.  If you're counting, that's 12 state championships in 15 appearances over 17 years.  And I work for the winningest high school football coach in America (George Quarles--look it up).

Yes, I've worn a lot of hats for the SPTS but I've never ran for an elected office.  Until now. 

I've said "it's time to give back" but it's more than that.  Those opportunities and experiences that I've had through these years has given me a skillset that I truly believe can help our Section continue to grow and evolve.

Don't get me wrong--we have the best Section in APTA.  No doubt.  3 publications.  An engaged membership.

But we can be bigger.   Better.  Stronger. 

I'll close with my favorite line of poetry from Browning:

    That low man goes on adding one to one

   His hundred's soon hit:

   This high man aiming at a million

   Misses an unit.

I believe the Sports Physical Therapy Section should aim for a million.  We have the shoulders of giants to stand on so the path is already there.

Vote for me and I'll do everything I can to see that we get there.

Joe Black, PT, DPT, SCS, ATC