Massage therapy students from College Borรฉal, as well as graduate students from the program, will be attending the Canadian Open next month, where they will be providing massages to golf caddies.
Yves Charette, College Borรฉal professor, said they were invited by a clothing company called Levelwear, which has a caddie lounge at the open.
โMost caddies donโt get treated well at different tournaments, so one of the guys decided to create a caddie lounge experience where they get treatment," Charette said.
"So, massage therapy, physiotherapy, chiropractics.โ
Students attending the Open said they are looking forward to the experience, especially now that COVID-19 restrictions have eased.
โItโs a huge experience," said grad student Mรฉlanie Trottier.
"A little nervous -- Iโm not going to lie -- because itโs something thatโs totally out of my box going there. The sports therapy aspect is something new to me. During COVID, we were in school, we didnโt really get to experience much of the sports clinic because of all the restrictions we had. So, Iโm really looking forward to it.โ
Charette said a proper massage can have a significant impact in sports and on athletes.
โTherefore if we can push that more and more โฆ to be more sports oriented and to do it with a professional athlete is even better, especially at a student level or at a recent graduate level," he said.
"If you can put your hands on professional athletes or caddies, itโs awesome for them.โ
The Open runs June 6-12. Members of the massage therapy program are also hoping to attend the LPGA in Ottawa in August.