Those pesky docks and DOLPHINS!!!

Well we've reached hump day on the training trip, and so far I have been amazed that its been pretty dare I say uneventful. I have been enjoying sitting under the tree with my table, bonding with the local squirrels, reading ( Blood, Bones and Butter is a pretty awesome book, and I would highly recommend it.....) and of course working on athletes. But I have long since learned that uneventful NEVER lasts, especially with rowing. Many people seem confused or not understanding as to what an Athletic Trainer who works with rowing actually does. "Do people get hit with oars? Do you have to follow them in a life boat? They can actually get hurt rowing?" Believe it or not those are actual questions I have been asked in my time working with rowing. It is not a traditional sport in the sense of what most people associate with Athletic Training, I don't tape ankles,  Rowing is like cross country running, but full body. 90% of what I see is overuse, with the women mainly rib cage and upper spine/shoulder pains, with the men low back and hip pain. The other 10% is due to the fact that rowers are rowers for a reason, put them in a non-rowing activity that requires movement (i.e walking, running, playing other sports) and they usually find ways to fall down (Sorry to all you rowers out there, but sadly you know its true.....) Today however, we had a rower sustain an acute, traumatic injury while doing something actually rowing related. Aside from an Ejection Crab (Yes catching a crab is not referring to a venereal disease, but an actual rowing term when the blade of the oar gets caught in the water, causing the handle to come back and knock your @ss over. Watch the video paying special attention to 0:12, its awesome, and even awesomer it happened to a Buckeye. Sorry Erin : ) or falling while carrying a boat, its rare to have an actual acute rowing related injury. Today, we had an athlete dislocate their shoulder while docking the boat. Thankfully, it reduced on its own and the athlete will be just fine. Also thankfully, today is everyone's afternoon off, so as it has become tradition on Florida trips, afternoon off for me = ERIN TIME!!! Mrs Myers was oh so kind as to drive the hour and a half from Orlando to come fetch me from the hotel, and we spent an awesome afternoon out on a pier on the other side of Tampa Bay. It was a beautiful afternoon, and as we were walking down the pier we saw dolphins!! Like 4 schools of them!!! We proceeded to spend the majority of the time going paparazzi on them, but only managed to get a couple pics. I promise you there were a lot, and some were even jumping out of the water!

Soooo cool. We also had the pleasure of watching dozens of pelicans throughout the afternoon. Weird looking birds, and contrary to what "Finding Nemo" showed me, they DO NOT gracefully swoop just above the water level and scoop up a mouthful of fish. They legit dive bomb and crash into the water. I also tried in vain to photo document this, but the marine life around here was wise to our attempts to catch them in action. 

Don't be fooled by the majestic flying, he's moments away from a less than graceful crash into the water

Although it was only a few short hours, it was great to spend some time with Erin as always. We were treated to a pretty sunset on our walk off the pier, and thanks to Erin having longer arms than me we were able to grab a few pictures.

Back to the hotel I go, grab some dinner and then work on some athletes. Tomorrow starts the final leg of the trip, 2 rows thursday, 2 rows friday then 1 final early saturday morning, load the trailers and were headed back north. Lets hope the weather keeps staying awesome!!