This semester has been a difficult one as I have once again accepted the challenge in coaching cross-country/track & field at St. Benedict’s Prep while being a full time graduate student at Seton Hall. Here is a short update on the happenings in my life…
Cross-Country
I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t disappointed with how this season turned out. With the losses of some of our top guys, we had a young cast step up which saw 5 of our 7 guys step in as new varsity runners. I’m proud of how they didn’t quit despite not always having the consistent race results that they hoped. When all was said and done, 6 athletes broke 18 minutes with every single athlete achieving personal bests for the 5000 meter race distance. The best part though is that we had no major injuries throughout the year!!!
PT School
There are parts of this semester that I have enjoyed and others that I could have done without. My favorite class, musculoskel has prepared us to take full shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip/pelvis, knee, and ankle examinations. We also added many new treatment techniques to our toolbox. I’ve taken an extreme liking to the lower extremity stuff (really the low back and down), particularly as these are most of the problems that will occur within the daily running population that I hope to see in two years!
I can’t help but get excited to think about how in just over two years, I can independently work on my own patients in the comfort of my own clinic! Perhaps I will start with a small room; but in this small room I will help all walks of life to live and function pain free!
Elite Last Chance Showcase
The entrepreneurial bug bit me hard a few years back and along with going back to school for physical therapy, one of my passions had always been to organize and put on track&field/running events. This past summer, Justin Wood (Head Coach at Steven’s Institute and a good friend of mine) and I put together two track and field showcase events at Newark Schools Stadium. We were thrilled with the overall response, and this winter we are excited to announce that we will host another event, the Elite Last Chance Showcase at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Facility in Staten Island on March 18, 2017! We are excited to provide another opportunity for high school track and field athletes to take part in a meet with competitive events, a beautiful facility, and in front of colleges coaches once again from around the country! If interested, check out eliteTFshowcase.com for more info!
For now, I’m going to buckle down and end on a strong note in these five classes. At the culmination of the semester in three weeks, I will write a post about all of the new things I learned and how I will implement these in a little over two years as an independent autonomous physical therapist!
Thank you for reading!
Dave
dalfano12@gmail.com
Coach, Runner, & Physical Therapy Student. 