Hello again, Geoff Dakin here, founder of Alignment First Inc. and creator of the Alignment First Protocol.
Today, I want to share a story about how I landed my dream job with a professional sports team, only to realize it wasn't the dream I thought it would be.
Back in the mid-nineties, I was fresh out of massage therapy college, and my ultimate goal was to work with a professional sports team.
Two years after graduation, I got my chance. The Vancouver Canucks had just hired their first massage therapist to travel with the team. When he left after a year, they needed a replacement.
A former college professor, now acting as a headhunter for the team, reached out to me. He heard I had moved back to Vancouver and asked if I would be interested in interviewing for the position. I eagerly said, "Yes, definitely!"
I was soon invited to interview with the team’s head medical trainer, Larry Ashley. The interview seemed to go well, and Larry told me the next step would be to meet with the team’s head coach and general manager, Pat Quinn.
Known as "The Big Irishman," Pat Quinn was a legend in Canadian ice hockey, a larger-than-life figure I had watched on TV as a kid.
Sitting down with Pat Quinn was surreal. I was a little starstruck but managed to hold my own during the interview. Pat assured me that the team would reach out to me on Monday with their decision. This was a Thursday evening.
Very early the next morning, the phone rang. It was Pat Quinn. “Geoff? This is Pat Quinn. Do you still want the job?” Half-asleep but thrilled, I responded, “Yes, sir.” He replied, “I’ll see you at the arena on Monday morning at 9!” And that was it. I got the job! I was ecstatic!
Looking back, that year was filled with memorable moments and a lot of fun. The camaraderie with the players, the excitement of the games, and the social activities were incredible. When the team was home, it was a fantastic job with relatively short working hours.
However, the reality of the job quickly set in. Half the time, we were on the road, with ridiculously long and unstructured hours. Almost all games were at night, and when traveling, we would arrive at the next city at 3am, 4am, or even 5am. We were expected to sleep a few hours and then head to the rink for practice or a game day skate, sometimes for a week or more at a time.
I was not used to being sick, but I had cold and flu symptoms for half the season. The demanding time commitment made it nearly impossible to maintain my relationships with friends and family. I began to understand why my classmate had left after just one season. It also became apparent that many of the training staff I interacted with were divorced and struggling with alcoholism. These things were clear evidence of the challenging lifestyle and not part of my future plans.
In the end, I was only there for one year. Despite “failing” to live my dream job, I had the opportunity to try it and see that it wasn’t the right dream for me.
Even though that was more than thirty years ago, people still ask me what it was like to work with Trevor Linden, Pavel Bure, and Pat Quinn. It was a great, though brief, adventure.
On the bright side, I now see more variety and more interesting cases in one week of clinic work than I did in an entire season with a professional hockey team. My clinical experiences have been invaluable, and without them, I doubt I would have developed the Alignment First Protocol.
Thank you for letting me share this story with you.
I’m sure you have a memory of taking a path that seemed perfect at first glance, that you eventually decided against.
Dear Reader, make sure you are on the right path by leaning on the unique traits of the Alignment First Protocol. Life’s too short to be heading in the wrong direction.
Together, we can age gracefully, not chaotically!
Yours in health,
Geoff Dakin
Founder/CEO of Alignment First Inc.
