We're all done

With Janet McLachlan

Core medical team: Darrell Menard, Dawn Haworth, me, Christina Grace and Andrew Marshall

Closing Ceremonies are very different than Opening Ceremonies. The energy is more party atmosphere than protocol and flag raising. There is a short moment when dignitaries thank everyone and comment they were "the best Games ever", lower the Games flag and Toronto's mayor hands it to Lima's mayor for the next Games in 2019 in Peru. Then the entertainment begins. They had Wyclef Jean, a well known entertainer (...I didn't know him) got the athletes bouncing around to great music. The energy carried over to the Village where the organizers had a setup to keep the dancing and petting going. It's pretty hard to get over a thousand athletes from the Americas to not get into dancing and partying. With all the cultures mixed together it only got better.
It took some time to get things really going as many, if not most, stopped at the dining hall and likely many stopped at some drinking places outside the Village before getting to the gathering. I decided not to stay up and wait for it and called it a night around midnight. I think the music kept going past 4 in the morning.

The men's basketball team met their match when facing the US yesterday. What was touted as a tight battle become a routing when our Canadian athletes couldn't seem to get anything going and our shots were missing the mark while it seemed the americans couldn't miss. Disappointing ending but, as for the women's team, a step on the road for Brazil for Rio next year.

Silver medal

Women's WC basketball team

So it's all goodbyes and "see you later" to everyone as we finish taping up our stock and equipment then I head home with Darlene and the kids this morning.

Home at last. Only a little over 2 weeks but it always seems we've been in this for much longer. Being involved in major Games like this is a fantastic experience. Experiencing sport is only part of it. Meeting great athletes and people is a major part of it. The athletes can show us that it's not what is thrown at you but what you do with it that is important. As many keep saying : "See you all in Rio".

as many of the core and team medical staff as we could gather

A selfie with Erica Gavel from the WC basketball team

The final moments of the Paralympic flame

A mosh pit assembling

Silver lining?

The women would have preferred the Canadian National anthem 

The Silver medal

Well. It was not the ending we had anticipated hoped for. It was not a surprise. What I mean by that is the game would be hard, the teams would swing leads back and forth and there would be frustrating moments when nothing goes well only to be followed by moments when the gods are with us and everything flies our way. When it balances out, the team with the more positive moments would win. The reality of team sports found the women WC basketball team on the losing end of an 80-72 game against the USA. They all know each other well as many lay together or against each other being members of Varsity WC basketball teams in NCAA schools like Alabama, Illinois and Whitewater.
It's a great rivalry and they can't all go our way.

After coming out World Champions last year in the same facility with wins against powerhouses like Germany and the Netherlands, the women thought they might have been on the right track to take it to their US opponent. What appeared to easy in the week's tournament seemed to not be going as planned last night. Shots not falling in while it appeared the US couldn't miss. Some interesting referred calls like a foul assigned to the wrong player, Cindy Ouellet (one of our best) put her in foul trouble in the second quarter. This limited her play for the rest of the game. Her role as a feared scorer, playmaker, leader and defender was limited which only added to frustration.

Not many smiles after the game but hopefully we can get something out of this. It's sports. You have to learn from everything. This was but one step on the team mission: the road to Rio, at the Paralympics next year. They had already locked up their spot for next year. This was a qualifier.

The men's team is on the courts at 11 for their shot at Gold. They had a lot of pressure at this tournament. A completely unanticipated failure to qualify for World Championships last year, after being Gold Medallists in London, saw them with their backs against the wall .Sports funding pays close attention to performance. If they did;t qualify for Rio, it would have been 2 major events where Canada didn't qualify and funding from Own The Podium would have been cut. Now they're back and looking good. The rivalry presents itself again this morning: Canada vs USA. It will be a backyard brawl!

What a great day yesterday: my family came to experience the finals and Closing Ceremonies tonight. They will be at the game this morning. I hope Canada comes up with a deserved win. The fans are loud and we need them to have the home court cheer them to victory!

Lukas

Darlene, Gabrielle and ...me

Fewer sports but lots of pressure

It was great to hear that Joel Dembe and Philippe Bedard won a bronze medal in WC tennis yesterday. I have known both players since meeting them a few years ago while working in London at the Paralympics. I was at basketball so couldn't go watch the match. It's been a rough road for the last few months for Philippe who, due to a medical issue, was unable to play at all for 7 weeks until a few weeks ago. He was feeling quite apprehensive, as was his coach, due to the physical and mental deconditioning he was bringing to this competition. He didn't do as well as he wanted in singles, they had a great match in semis where they played many long exchanges and long sets to eventually enter the bronze medal match. As I'm writing this they are featured on CBC sports news this morning. I don't think they are asa rested as they would have liked as celebrations likely did not end early last night.....

The difference with being involved with team sports is you spend long hours only to find out your placement on the last days. Swimmers and athletics athletes have been raking up medals all week. WI get updates on my phone, as text messages, every time a Canadian athlete hits the podium. It beeps quite often as the pool has medal events daily throughout the day. I have been involved with both WC basketball teams and it is coming down to the big games. The women are playing USA for the gold medal tonight. The men are in semi-finals against Brazil this morning. If they win, they are playing for gold tomorrow. It is fascinating to be closely linked to these teams. Listening to coaches' advice and redirections at every practice and game. Refocusing the athletes as we face different challenges, different teams, different shooters and skills. It was an easy game last night when the women met Argentina in the semis. This might be nice as it is easy to get to the big game but it doesn't prepare the team with enough challenge to meet a fast skilled team as they will see against the US. The women rose to the challenge last year at the World Championships where, entering ranked 6th, they met each team face on and got themselves to the finals. Beating the Dutch and the Australians, the faced Germany, a powerful team who had beaten them 8 times that year already. Germany came to Winnipeg for a week to train with our team and play some friendly games as it is better than simply practicing all the time. They won 7 games in 6 days. Germany also won the game in the round robin. Canada beat them to win gold. The team will hopefully find their championship form and get what they came here for. It will be exciting.
I am thrilled that my family, Darlene and the 2 children Gabrielle and Lukas, are coming for these last 2 days. They will be at the women's final tonight, the men's medal rounds tomorrow and the Closing Ceremonies tomorrow. I' am really looking forward to seeing them again. It feels like I haven't seen them in so long but it has only been 2 weeks yesterday.

Tonight will also see another crazy match between Canada and USA in WC rugby. Since they went into 3 overtime a few nights ago, it will not be boring tonight at 9 pm.

I have included a few pics form football 7s from yesterday....or was it 2 days ago. I don't even remember which day it is lately. They all mix up.

Some people were asking: why call it football 7s? There are 2 types of football (...soccer) in parasports. 7s and 5s. 7s are, as you guessed, having 2 teams of 6 forwards and a goalkeeper. The classification of the sport typically has athletes with various levels of ability with cerebral palsy. Some athletes can be classified in the sport from persistent symptoms and signs from traumatic brain injuries. It was not an easy match to watch as Brazil faced Canada. I hear Brazil has 30 professional teams in their country! We have one amateur team. Many Brazilians had evident CP with disability focus mostly on their upper limbs. You can imagine the challenge when many of our athletes have not only upper but lower limbs deficits. Football is about handling the ball and running...the Brazilians were truly in another league.

Dr Darrelle Menard, having a little chat with our goal keeper. Stopping the ball with your face is not the best idea. He was fine

Beautiful venue, downtown at the University of Toronto

Football 5s is totally different. It is played by athletes who are visually impaired. It is the only sport, other than sailing, I have not witnessed at all the Parapan and Paralympic Games I have been part of. I would love to go and watch but Canada does not have a team so I haven't found the time to go and escape there for a match. The ball has a bell inside it, similar to goalball, and the pitch is boarded similar to a hockey rink. I will have to experience it and get you some firsthand details in a future blog....come back next year when I blog from the Rio Paralympics.

Now let's focus on WC Basketball.

Go Canada Go!!!

Packing ? We're not even done yet.

Dining hall at 10:30 at night.....it's always busy in there!

When I mentioned routine, we are totally into it now.
It seems every day is quite similar to the one before. In the morning, after the Core Leadership meeting, I head to WC basketball practice with the women's team. Andy is lucky as the sitting volleyball teams both practice in the Village at the gym which is actually the Cherry Street YMCA, a great new facility that will be a very nice addition to the community when this is all done. He is able to cover both teams easily. Darrell's football 7s team has played an 11 am game pretty much daily so he's off to the pitch. He then heads to York University to cover the rest of the day in Athletics. By the time I return, I have some time to deal with a few things but never enough to go away and see or cover another sport as I am often on the 4-4:30 bus back to cover basketball games for both men and women. They are usually scheduled one after the other to get more fans in the building. Then it's back in the Village either around 9:30 or closer to 11:30 depending on the time of the last game. Andy has usually moved himself to Mississauga to cover WC rugby.
We all come back to help out in clinic if people need to be seen and we close up the clinic at 11 pm.

What is now changing is most sport are not in their round robin but in their elimination matches now.
The men's WC basketball team had a good game against Puerto Rico last night. It seems they were taking things a little too lightly in the first half as PR should have been a much easier game. They got back to their usual selves and got away with a decisive win. They are now meeting Brazil in the semi-finals. The women's team is meeting Argentina today in their semi-final game. It should be a win but nobody assumes anything and they will have they game faces on. The plan is to meet USA in the finals Friday evening. The US is playing Brazil after four game tonight. It would be the same thing for the men. Canada vs USA in the finals for both teams will make for some great basketball.

A big game last night:WC rugby had their own USA vs Canada game at 8 pm. Packed with noisy fans the place was booming. They got there money's worth when the game went into the 3rd overtime only to see the US take a one point lead with 3 seconds left. Unfortunately I didn't get to see any of it other than...the last 3 seconds on the TV we have in our clinic. It has a live game feed and by the time I returned from basketball and arrived a the clinic it was literally in its final seconds.

Many of you wonder how is wheelchair rugby played. Imagining a wheelchair on a grassy pitch is difficult.... It is not played on the grass but played indoors on a surface pretty much the same size as a basketball court. Players have to have a disability in at least 3 limbs. Many, if not most, are quadriplegics. They have  varying levels of ability and can handle both their heavily armoured wheelchair and the ball. They have to carry the ball over the end zone line just like in able bodied rugby. It is easily recognized as the most "violent" sport here. Crashes are part of the sport. A very good documentary was made by the US team years ago and is still recommended viewing for everyone. The title, Murderball, reflects what the sport used to be called before the better term, Wheelchair Rugby, was adopted. Readers are encouraged to look for it. Save some time, I just looked on Netflix and it is not there.

One of the benefit of being near the games as we are getting less busy is to go and cheer our athletes and teams in other sports than the ones we cover. If I had the morning off, I could go and watch Philippe and Joel playing a bronze medal match in WC tennis but I am at the basketball court. Venues are so distant that we can't bounce from one to other quickly. This was the case in London where the massive Olympic / Paralympic Park included most of the venues and you cold go from the Village and cover a basketball game and simply walk across to see, or cover, the cyclists in the velodrome without wasting too much time. Here I can't even get from the basketball practice to the goalball game in enough time as it involves a car ride through Toronto traffic from downtown to Mississauga and I would have to arrive only to turn around and head back again for the basketball game. It could be done if we stared at our watch and literally came on and off courts as the events take place but would spend more time in traffic and vehicles than what would be considered common sense. Many sports accept this and recognize they will not have a physician at their game facility.Therapists are at all venues with teams though. Unless logistically too complicated as we are dealing with today with only one judoka competing in Whitby while our 4 doctors are all committed closer to Toronto. It would be difficult to justify sending a physician to be at the mat for a 3 minute event over 45 minutes away while we have so many teams competing closer to here. That is what we have to do with limited personnel.

Even as we are still helping our athletes stay strong and healthy, we are now planning packing up this place. All the "stuff" I unloaded when I showed up needs to get back in boxes, labelled precisely and put back on pallets. We are going to focus on medical functional areas and with more people it should be easier...I hope everyone helps out. The plan is to do as much as we can so by the time the games end on the 15th, we are almost all packed up and are only using the bare bones of our set up. The only sports left on Saturday morning are gold medal games in Football 7s, men's basketball and men's goalball. If we do things right. We can have everything all sorted out so we can go to Closing Ceremonies and only have the fear of finalizing taping things up on Sunday. Honestly, there's always more than we think and the day after Closing Ceremonies, we are often finalizing the pack up list, manifest, matching numbers on boxes with list that suddenly pop up and, by the time we look at it, it's 9 pm. My goal this year with so many keen members of our team is to get that sorted out early. Let's see if we achieve it.

I encourage everyone to spend some free time checking out great photos of these athletes on the Canadian Paralympic Committee's Facebook page. Our photographers truly put these Games in a fantastic spotlight. We need more fans though. Get tickets and come cheer!!!

Day 4: Routine in progress

Cindy working on some chair skills

If we were in a snow globe, you would see all the little flakes settling dow, This is typical in multipart major Games like this, from all sorts of points of view.
The beginning, as you have read, is a chaos of boxes, crates, room setting up, computer and technology organization for all aspects of the support system to function.

Then the teams and athletes show up and whatever was done is updated and amended as all best intentions seem to not always work well. This is when so many meetings take place between the core leadership. Transport seems to be reviewed or certainly team schedules are improved so they can get to practice facilities without losing valuable time in training. Medical rooms are changed to allow better flow. We were not only lucky but so thankful to have the luxury of some extra rooms available for our Canadian delegation. I quickly scooped a full apartment which includes 3 "rooms" where we set up an extra 3 treatment locations, each with 2 treatment tables, to get all team therapists some pace to work and take care of their athletes. We would have been overcrowded in the small space I had been given initially. I find the people working for these Games, many are CPC staff, vey good to work with as they are very focused on athlete performance and allocating medical space is always accepted...if they have it. That's when so many hours are spent, in the first few days, dealing with sorting all our schedules and task assignments. I spend a fair amount of time trying to get to as many venues as possible. See teams train. See what the venue medical set ups are like and also to assess transport time.

Transport ducts a lot of what we can do. Certain Games, London being a perfect example, had an expansive Olympic / Paralympic Park, where the Village was annexed to a very large access restricted venue park. WE can leave the clinic in the Village and walk to the Velodrome, the Athletics stadium, the pool, the gyms where WC basketball, goalball or rugby was taking place. Here it involves a shuttle system. Although we would love to be at court side for all teams, especially during competition, we simply cannot be at the Tennis Centre in Scarborough, get to the Mattamy Centre downtown for WC basketball, a little further northwest at the University of Toronto filed for football then head to the Velodrome in Milton. This means we have to make choices and this is discussed with teams and they fully understand.

After this initial period settles, we get closer to Opening Ceremonies which signify the time to get busy for a different reason for an athlete perspective. We can also feel a different energy. My schedule, with my team members, changes to focus on competition. Athletes also get in their routine: daily practice/training, game or competition interspersed with rest, nutrition and recovery.
An example of our limitation as physician trying to be everywhere at the same time is today's schedule which has men and women sitting volleyball, men and women WC basketball, WC rugby, men and women goalball all competing between 3-8. This doesn't even take account of Athletics who are competing in various events starting at 2:30 and going until about 9-10. We only have 4 docs so we cover the events where we may be needed more: Wc basketball, WC rugby, athletics (especially the events including long distances of wheelchair races which will have chairs crossing lanes like the 5000m for example) and cycling.

Today, I'm presently writing this while at courtside with the women WC basketball team, Andrew is at sit volleyball practice, Philippe is at the velodrome and Darrell covers the clinic. I will return to the Village around lunchtime only to return here for the women's game at 4:15 and will stay to cover the men's game at 6:45. Andrew is heading to cover goalball late afternoon then moves to rugby wile Darrell is at track and field.
It looks confusing but is very relaxing. We simply move from area to area with the teams and is the time at these Games when routine allows a sense that we are up for many hours but aren't "working" hard. I call it "being present a lot". This is different  than 8 hours doing an ER shift.

What is also noticeably quieter is my phone. Unless we have serious health issues or injured or ill athletes in hospital, it gets much less stressful than always dealing with 2-3 things at the time with phones /emails /texts.

I have sadly not been taking any pictures yesterday. I'm trying to save a few for the next few days at the courts as I'm worried I'll be told by some person who assumes an authoritative stand that I'm not allowed to use my camera at the court unless I have a "media accreditation"....

I did take a small pic of the women's moose. The players decide, after each game, who amongst them is the most deserving player. Good supportive and recognition type of moment. Better than at a recent tournament where an ugly green hat was the prize....

The Moose: highly sought after

Maude owns the Moose until after the game tonight

Day 3: My day in pictures

I have been thinking of doing this at all the other Games and have never been organized enough. So yesterday, I decided I was going to do it. 

It is difficult as most pictures are ridiculous, silly and, especially, people think I'm weird asking to take a picture of me getting coffee, getting in a bus or a selfie in front of a sign.

So I engaged some poor colleagues, Christina (our Chief Therapist) and Sheila (the women's WC basketball therapist) to be the dedicated picture takers when I wasn't trying some bad attempt at selfies.

Did you know taking a selfie requires some skills...

The goal was to try and "show" more than describe what a typical day looks like. This can't compare to other days when I'm back and forth from the Polyclinic, seeing athletes in the consultation room, dealing with injuries at the road race course or on the side of the court. Yesterday was relatively quiet without too much running around. I'm sure someone truly following me in all my duties as the hours go by would be interesting.

So here it goes, with minimal writing: what my day was like yesterday.

The day starts with early coffee. I usually prefer around 6:30 but these days I go around 7:00. Bring it back to clinic where I get on my computer and do some charting from the day before. Might get some time to get some of this blog written...

Promoting hand hygiene before entering the dining hall

Every time you enter...they have to confirm your accreditation allows you past that checkpoint

First of many coffees...

Breakfast choices

This place is busy all day. 5:30 am or past midnight it is packed. 

Can't bring bags in the dining hall. How many volunteers does it take to check them in? 

Heading to the Tennis centre to see Philippe and Joel compete this morning.

Unless anything happens, I move around watching elite athletes compete. The athletes recognize that our presence, me and the therapist, means we will handle any health or medical issue while we are there.They appreciate our presence. Likely some peace of mind. Especially when we are in other countries.

Have a chat with Christian the coach and Christina our Chief Therapist...and official blog photographer

...and find the athlete's lounge where I can always find coffee

Check in at the Venue Athlete Medical station where Joel is getting some fine tuning before competing

Not Joel, but Philippe Bedard on Centre Court

You can see the effort he puts in. 

Can't stay at tennis longer. After Philippe's match, I had to call for a vehicle from our CPC Operations desk to get me to the women's basketball practice downtown at the Mattamy Centre. Taking the usual Game's shuttle would eventually get me to the Village where I would have to take another shuttle to the gym. Too much wasted time.

This is the entrance for fans. I have to find the Accredited entrance

Always check to see if anyone needs coffee before coming in.  Sheila, the team therapist, is also my second official blog photographer

Doesn't take long before my phone rings to deal with other issues occurring all over the place

 Once in a while one needs to take the Coach's pulse. Just to make sure everything is under control

Double photo bomb by Assistant Coach Michael and Jamie  

Sheila catches me at my second "occupation" getting pictures 

Turned out OK. Maude working on free throws as Michael annoys her

Got back to Village using the shuttle, then straight to the Dining hall as it is late afternoon and we will likely not have time for dinner before leaving for the Game on the  6:30 shuttle.

Since it is 3:30, we can call this lunch

I think this is pretty healthy

The World AntiDoping Agency (WADA) always has an athlete education booth in the Dining Hall. They give fun gifts for filling out online questionnaires and even a nice baseball hat for the sinking 2 out 3 putts....

First I get the nice sunglasses for the quiz

Got my hat after this amazing shot

Didn't get any pictures of some more clinic work (more administrative), which is hard to stay away from as I pass right in front of the clinic's entrance as I walk to my room. 

Since it is around 5:30 and the bus to the game is in an hour, I have time to seek to the gym for a little bit of exercise.

Just 30 minutes can make a difference in the day. I try to get to it at 6 am but at one point, I need sleep.

A small pre-game meal with the team. We won't see food again until we return around midnight.
I learned Maude really loves bananas!

As usual, many meals are eaten join the run. On the shuttle to the game

Since we get there very early. Allows time to see the game going on ahead of us. The US women's team is eplaying Peru

Lots of fan support. That board will show 80-27 for Canada at the end of our Game

Pre Game instructions from Bill

Got a chance to go bug Courtney, from Wheelchair Basketball Canada, here with a Media pass

Before every event, I meet with the host medical services who run athlete medical  services at the Venue.
We tell them they can enjoy the game as we will deal with our own injured athletes. We will signal them if we need further assistance and EMS

Finally, back at Village around midnight. I get a chance to enjoy a  little wine with others from our team who are available.
Tonight, either not visible or taking the picture, I'm here with Andy, Sheila and Christina. 

That was yesterday. I didn't take pictures of every time I was on the phone dealing with issues, keeping track of ongoing problems, communicating with some of our medical team members about athlete situations or the Village Polyclinic who update us on lab and imaging results and all medical concerns from some of our athletes who are requiring more advanced care at that centre or in hospitals. That's why my phone needs recharging more than once per day.

Every day is different. 

Tomorrow comes fast when 6:30 starts all over again.

Hope you enjoyed my little picture essay.