I'm not allowed to play the
actual Olympics music.
I think we'll get in trouble.
We'll get hit by the IOC,
but I can whistle it, can I?
Live on the show right now,
from somewhere on the other
side of the planet,
I'll let our guest describe
where he is hanging out.
Jason Stodell, welcome to Orthostatic.
Welcome to the AOPT livestream.
Jason,
where do we get to talk to you from?
I am at Le Golf National.
In Paris, outside of Paris.
Guillaume Court,
I think is how you
pronounce the little town we're in.
Kind of just south of Versailles in Paris,
France.
And if I had a nickel for
every time I was south of Versailles,
I would have no nickels.
So Jason, you're joining us because,
and let's set the stage here.
What is your official position?
What do you do there at Le Golf National?
Yeah,
so my official position is Chief
Physical Therapist for the
golf venue for the 2024
Summer Olympics in Paris.
And then who are you attached to?
Are you attached to the US team?
Are you attached to the facility?
How's this work?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I'll kind of bet to back up.
So I'm with the
International Golf Federation.
Okay.
And the reason that is,
is so I can treat all of our athletes,
Team USA guys, Spain, Colombia,
you name it.
And so to back up,
this is my third Olympics.
I got the, for you,
for you guys that don't
know the golf started back
in the Olympic in Rio in 2016.
So the original plan was
we'd be part of the team USA staff,
but then team USA said, well,
if you go with us,
then you can only treat
four Americans that are there.
So, um,
the guys that I work with week in
and week out on the PGA tour are,
you know, from all over the country,
sorry, all over the world.
So, um,
You know,
going under the IGF banner allows
me to treat, you know,
guys like Nico Echeverria
from Colombia and John Rahm
from Spain and all those guys.
So that way we're not kind
of handcuffed by the
national governing body.
That's great.
All right, so let's start with the big,
and then we'll go to small.
We'll get to the nitty-gritty details,
right?
Yeah, yeah.
But how's the trip been?
Like, you know, this is your third,
but I'm guessing something
like this doesn't really get old.
Yeah, this is awesome.
This is kind of what keeps me coming back,
you know?
So I feel like this is the
first kind of normal
Olympics I've been to, and by that I mean,
you know, Rio golf was new,
so nobody kind of really
knew what was going on.
Um, a brief history lesson.
So golf was in the 1906
Olympics and then it was
kicked out until 2016.
So 110 year absence,
then we brought it back.
So, um,
obviously it was new kind of for
everybody.
It was an awesome experience, but, but, um,
you know,
a lot of room for improvement
and then fast forward, you know,
what ended up being five
years later because of COVID, um,
Tokyo in 2021, um,
I was fortunate to be called
back to work that one,
and that was all about COVID.
I mean,
all of our treatments and protocols
and everything that were in place.
Japan was on full lockdown at the time,
to the point where it was like,
we might not even go.
Maybe the athletes would go
and just compete and not
have access to our services.
So, fortunately,
kind of cooler has prevailed,
and things settled down a little bit.
So, we were in Tokyo,
and I literally was like,
hotel to golf course to
hotel 17 days in a row.
Um, no, uh, no sightseeing,
no other venues,
no other sports to watch.
Um,
so we got the PTs and the doc got to
know each other pretty well.
during those weeks.
And so, you know, fast forward to 2024,
you know, it's been awesome.
A lot of planning, obviously,
that goes into something like this.
But, you know,
kind of really the first
sort of normal Olympics I
feel like I've been to.
Yeah, that's great.
All right, so recording this,
we're talking on August 6th, right?
And the Olympics...
it feels like it's just nonstop Olympics.
Yeah.
Two weeks.
Right.
It's awesome.
Isn't it?
It is.
I'm a geek and I was, I was, I'm,
I'm a complete Olympics geek.
I love, you know, I was a swimmer.
I love triathlon.
I love the, you know,
the sports people know about.
I also love the sports that
like handball table tennis.
Yeah.
Where else?
Where else are you going to
get invested like this on
the edge of your couch from
two people from countries
you've never been to just
wailing away on a table tennis ball?
And it's the Olympics,
and it highlights all the
things that are good.
But because it feels like nonstop,
what is golf like?
Because it's not just one tournament,
right?
It's a couple different formats.
How does it work?
Yeah,
so obviously we cover the men's
tournament, which was last week,
and then –
the women's tournament starts tomorrow.
So it's 60 players on each side.
So 60 men played last week
and then 60 women are teeing up tomorrow.
To be honest, like this again, Tokyo,
no real fans.
This was kind of the first big one and it,
it felt like a Ryder Cup, man.
It was awesome.
Some of the videos I share with you,
maybe we can get to them, but yeah,
there you go.
I mean, it was like, it was ridiculous.
It really felt, and I've worked, you know,
probably,
30 or 40 majors on the PGA
tour and masters and US opens and stuff.
And this was as big or
bigger as any of those.
And, you know,
similar to a Ryder cup type
atmosphere where there's a lot of,
you know,
national pride that we don't get
to see oftentimes in golf.
It was absolutely electric.
And I think, you know,
women are probably be very similar.
They sold just as many
tickets as my understanding
for the women's event.
So, you know,
I'm going to expect more to come.
I think it's been a huge
success for the IOC and for
the Olympics and, and for fans really.
What's something that
surprised you maybe either
at your first Olympic games or now that,
you know,
maybe someone looking at from
the outside and might not see.
Yeah.
You know,
the national pride is something
that we don't always see on the PGA tour.
Um, and to back up, you know,
My main job is with the PGA Tour,
traveling week in,
week out with those guys.
So obviously golf is a very
individual sport.
The other 51 weeks out of the year.
So, you know,
really the sense of national pride.
These guys aren't getting paid to be here.
You know, they're doing it for the pride.
And, you know,
watching Scotty win his gold
medal was spectacular.
So, you know, that kind of, I guess,
maybe not surprised me as
much as just I didn't really expect it.
That was kind of a cool thing.
And probably the fans that
watched on Sunday was as
good of a finish as we've
had on tour in a long time.
It was a loaded leaderboard
and obviously guys are
fighting for medals.
And the big thing I think
with the Olympics is first place is cool.
Gold medal is awesome.
But they're fired like
Hideki won the bronze medal.
He was fired up just to get a medal.
I remember when when Matt
Kuchar won the bronze in Rio, he was like,
man,
this is the most excited I've ever
been to finish third.
You know,
that's the the idea is leaving
with some hardware, you know,
whether it's gold, silver or bronze,
like it's all cool.
Yeah, it's a different stage.
You know, a lot of events, right?
The PGA Tour schedule.
I've talked to someone about this before.
It's it's crazy when you think about it.
But the Olympics only show
up every four years.
Yeah.
So, you know,
that sort of scarcity makes
it even cooler, which is if you got one,
it's like how many shots do
you have in a lifetime to
play for one and win one?
So it makes it a little bit more special.
Yeah.
I mean, on the men's side,
there's literally three
gold medal winners ever.
Yeah.
They're in a very small,
small group there.
All right,
we got a quick video I'm going
to snap up there.
You might need to unmute
yourself if you want to
talk over the video,
if we want to become commentators.
So once I start playing the video,
it might mute you.
So I'm going to play this
tee-off video that you have.
Yeah,
so I think that's Tommy hitting his
tee shot.
So Tommy ended up winning
the silver medal.
Boom.
Yeah, that's a first tee.
That was a bomb.
Yeah, they were hitting bombs all week,
baby.
I mean, these guys are just used to it,
but if I've got two people
with me on the tee box...
I'm nervous I'm going to hit somebody.
These guys got people right down the pipe.
That's around every single
week for these guys.
What's your schedule like as a PT?
Right now, you're in the facility.
We'll take a look at that in a second.
We'll get into the more
nitty-gritty PT stuff.
Are you available the entire
17 days or whatever it is?
Where are you during the
match and all that?
I got here early just
because this is my third one.
I kind of had
I was in charge of making
sure we had what we needed.
Sure.
Um, so again, we'll see,
we'll show you in a minute,
but we're set up in the,
what's normally the French
national golf Academy.
So equipment wise,
they were already loaded.
It's been awesome.
The athletes let it loved it.
We brought a bunch of stuff
ourselves to like, you know,
treatment wise,
but as far as like the equipment goes,
it's been perfect.
Um,
So, yeah.
So my schedule,
I got here two weeks ago today.
Um,
so like a full week before the men
started, just, uh, my wife came with me.
So we got to spend a little
bit extra time in France
and Paris before I had to
really get down to the nitty gritty.
But I started seeing guys on Saturday, um,
a week and a half ago, um,
which is usually a little
bit earlier than what we normally would.
Um,
And again,
just to make sure everything was
set up and stuff.
So starting Saturday,
I started seeing guys and then Sunday,
the rest of the staff got
here and then we were full
go Monday morning.
We started hammering and
hammering guys out and guys
started coming in and work out.
A bunch of our guys actually
played in Minnesota the
week before just because
they're still trying to
lock up their tour card.
So we had one guy, Steven Yeager,
a German player.
He didn't get in until like
he had some flight issues and stuff.
So he didn't get in until
Wednesday afternoon.
Most of the guys were up and
running full go Monday morning.
Um, so then, you know, during a week,
you know,
for us a week is like Monday to
Sunday kind of thing.
So it's a little bit different this week.
Um, but we've been 7am to 7pm, you know,
pretty much all the way through.
We stagger a little bit based on, you know,
some of us got tickets to
go to see some other stuff.
So, you know, we stagger and stuff, but.
basically 12 hour days for
seven days in a row.
And then the ladies are
playing this week and we
can go through our staff
here in a little bit, but yeah,
there you go.
There's John Rom.
Yeah.
There are guys.
Yeah.
So those are,
those are our three physical
therapists that were here last week.
Myself there on the left,
then Pete Mitchell from UK.
He's from Scotland on the European tour.
and then John,
and then Corey Hugg is
another therapist from our staff.
So Corey actually went home.
There we go.
There's Scotty.
Who's this?
Winner, winner, baby.
Look at that.
Look at that hardware.
Yeah, so, yeah, it was awesome.
Scotty lit it up.
I think he shot a 62 on Sunday or 63, 62,
I think, to win it.
I shot a 71 last week.
Then I played the back nine.
Right, there you go.
I mean,
you've got to worry about muscle
strain just from his facial
muscles walking around
smiling because he's going
to take a million pictures, right?
Yeah, I know.
He did,
and he sought us out afterward to
make sure we got our pictures in.
Oh, that's great.
You know, we're a small cog in the wheel,
but we feel like we were
involved and won that gold medal too.
We actually,
there was a great tweet by Missy Elliott.
You didn't think I was going
to connect the Olympics.
Missy, Miss Demetra Elliott.
Did you see?
Okay, the tweet.
I did not see it, no.
Somebody was side stage.
Somebody on Missy Elliott's
team was on side stage and
videotaped her physical
therapist sort of doing
just this crazy dance along.
And I think it highlights that I think
golf professional athletes
they recognized hey having
my physical therapist
having a team physical
therapist was terribly
valuable now missy elliot
is saying I want to stay on
tour how do I do that she's
got a pt on tour so these
pts they I mean he's
seeking you out to make
sure you you get a little
you know gold medal time
we're past the point where
they understand the value
right we're past that
absolutely I think you know
is obviously golf has
gotten more and more
athletic as the years have
gone on with the tiger
effect everything we can
talk more about that too but
Um, you know, the,
the more athletic it gets,
I think the bigger role we
play in their daily routine, you know,
so a guy like Scott or Xander, um,
I think I counted,
we saw like 48 out of the 60 guys, um,
over the course of the week.
So, you know, it's pretty much, you know,
if you're a top player, you're,
you have a team around you of which,
you know, we're a small part, but, um,
yeah.
I think the reliance on
services like we provide
are becoming more and more important.
And you got the outliers,
the John Daly's of the world,
but we won't,
but some people just are
naturally can do whatever.
No, John, John needs this too.
Yeah, I bet.
So let's talk nitty gritty.
So we've seen like a fraction.
I'm we on purpose.
If you're watching the video
and not just listening to the podcast,
you're sitting in the area
where you have everything
that you would probably need.
So can we just take a look
at what's behind you?
So let me, can I flip it around here?
yeah how's that look that's
great like all right so
I'll do a little walk-in
tour here we'll we'll see
everything but yes like I
said this is french
national golf academy and
this is as good access for
junior golfers as you're
going to find anywhere in
the world probably so I was
talking to the head guy
here um they have a
physical therapist on staff
full-time normally you know
when we're not here um
They have two trainers and
then I think four coaches.
The French kids are here.
They live here, I think,
and they go to school here and stuff.
This is about as good as it
gets facility-wise.
We moved our treatment stuff up here too.
squat racks.
I'm seeing a heavy bag.
I'm seeing speed bikes.
I'm seeing rowers.
You know, this is not your,
this is not your grandpa's
golf conditioning.
This is a, I mean,
what's the difference
between this and some NCAA
D one football facilities.
There's not a whole lot of difference.
Right.
You're not kidding.
And if you'd have been in here, you know,
Saturday, Sunday morning,
when our guys were trying to win medals,
you'd see the racks getting used.
You see guys back squatting
two 25s and throwing these
kettlebells around, you know,
Um,
just getting after it with medicine
balls and everything else.
And a lot of people are
surprised that to hear that the golfers,
you know, lift as much weight as they do,
especially the week of a tournament,
but it's real.
I'm telling you, it's really changed as,
as it's gotten more athletic, you know,
the guys feel like if
they're not doing it,
then they're probably getting laughed.
Yep.
All right, so we've seen inside.
Can we go back and take a look?
I mean, we want to see.
Gold is nice.
We're looking at green.
I want to see some green.
So I'm going to walk around.
So we got our coverage here.
There you go.
That's happening down the street.
Yeah, exactly.
And we'll walk around this way.
We have a cold plunge.
We actually have two cold
plunges for the guys and the girls.
The guys use the heck out of these.
So walk around the corner here.
This thing is cold, bro.
Yeah.
So it's at 7.7 degrees Celsius,
whatever that converts to,
like probably in the 40s.
And then walking around here,
treatment area.
One athlete's getting treated,
so I can't show you in the air.
That's okay.
And then here's the
tournaments for won and lost right here,
bro.
Wow.
There's the range.
Oh, you're standing where the – oh,
there's the range outside.
That's fantastic.
Yeah, so they can hit –
when it's Academy time,
they can hit off these mats here,
but our players are hitting
from down there.
There's nobody on there right now,
but yeah, it's still,
you can see all the dividends and stuff.
Wow.
That's fantastic.
Yeah.
You'll see the signage.
Um,
so then the golf course is right up
above the little hill there.
How long until, uh,
how long until tee off for the next, uh,
for the, for the, for the, uh, women?
Yeah, they tee off tomorrow morning.
So I think first off is nine o'clock,
I think is what I saw.
That's fantastic.
They tee off between nine and one,
something like that.
What else didn't we get a
chance to talk about?
You think other PTs,
typically when they find out who you are,
what you get to do,
what are maybe their questions?
We're like, hang on a second.
What about this?
Yeah, I don't know.
That's a good question.
Um, so I've gotten to see,
we've gone to a field hockey,
some of the other events,
some people are interested in hearing, um,
I got tickets, I'm fired up.
So I have three kids and they all,
they're all super all in on water polo.
Yeah.
So they play,
they play club and high
school water polo.
So I'm going to watch team
USA play the quarterfinal
match against Australia tomorrow.
Um,
they win that and they're in metal
contention.
So,
I'm fired up about that.
Yeah.
I think we're going to try
to try to swing over to see
beach volleyball,
which if you haven't seen that venue,
that is absolutely
spectacular with the Eiffel
Tower in the background.
So I think we might try to
go see that on Friday.
So those are the events I'm
trying to get to.
Good for you.
Yeah.
Trying to think what else
what else do PTs want to know?
I mean,
I think you've covered a lot of it.
I think they'd want to know
equipment and schedules,
and we talked about that.
Jason,
last thing we do on the podcast from
AOPT is called, wow, words of wisdom.
If someone was out there,
maybe they were a PT
student or they're early in
their career and they're saying, yeah,
what do I need to do?
What little practice drill
do I need to do now as a PT
to get to LA or several Olympics beyond?
What are some things you
typically suggest?
Yeah.
You know, I think, yeah,
number one for a new grad PT is,
is work hard and don't stop learning.
You know, I,
I think as a new grad PT myself,
like I kinda, I don't know,
I don't know if I was too cocky or what,
but I sort of figured like, all right,
I'm done with PT school.
I'm ready to go.
And then you kinda,
you don't really know what you don't know,
you know,
until you get out there and
start seeing patients.
And for me, it was, um, you know,
I went back and did the
orthopedic residency, um,
after I graduated, you know,
a couple of years after, but, um,
Don't stop learning.
I can tell you if I happened
to have gotten hired on the
PGA Tour without doing the residency,
I would have been lost.
I probably would have lasted
half a season.
Just keep learning.
Go to conferences, network,
do that kind of stuff.
As far as professional sports going,
I give a lot of talks to PT
students and new grad PTs
about professional sports.
It's not for everybody.
The hours, like I mentioned,
they're a bear.
The travel's a bear.
It sounds cool and stuff, but
you know,
when you're missing connections
in Detroit and stuff,
it's not as glamorous as you might think.
But yeah, I mean,
if you're willing to put the work in,
just, you know, network and,
and get on LinkedIn, you know,
you and I are linked up on
LinkedIn and get to know people.
And I, you know, I try to,
I try to answer as many
students questions as I can
on LinkedIn and I don't get
to all of them all the time, but you know,
just keep networking and
the opportunities will come, you know,
and don't be afraid to work hard,
you know, keep your head down and,
and get the work done and
put the time in and,
The athletes will appreciate it.
And next thing you know,
you're on the tour for 16 years like me.
Love it.
Jason Stoddall,
live from La Golf Nationale
just outside of Paris.
Appreciate the time.
Good luck to the second half
of this competition with
the females teeing off tomorrow at 9 a.m.
Yeah.
Thanks, man.
And, uh, yeah,
I think that's like one o'clock and, uh,
or no, maybe no midnight on the East,
on the West coast where I live.
So yeah, they do a little tape delay,
which is good.
Right.
That's perfect.
Perfect.
Hey, check them out.
Thanks so much for the
insight and a little peek
behind the scenes for us.
Yeah, for sure.
Thanks.