NHI’s Sports Massage Team Gives Back to the Community
In our continued efforts to give back to the community that supports our students and graduates, National Holistic Institute is proud to share the success of our Sports Massage Team. Sports Massage is a growing profession that focuses on the application of a variety of massage techniques and stretching exercises to enhance athletic performance. The NHI Sports Massage Team was formed in response to student requests to provide massage therapy for the community. The team is run on a volunteer basis, and all massages given to the community by NHI students at sponsored events are free of charge.
In 2010, we were active in 40 Outreach Events throughout California. Over 300 students and graduates were trained in sport-specific sports massage and volunteered their time and skills at these events to perform over 8,000 complimentary massages! We have developed relationships with amazing organizations such as Diabetes Foundation, Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, Team In Training, MS Society, Best Buddy International, and the American Heart Association. We would like to thank them for their support and all of the positive work that they do.
In 2010, the team also touched smaller populations such the Native American Indian population at an annual Pow-Wow; a family whose daughter was critically injured in a car accident and a local rotary club who was raising money to fight diabetes. Our program has been extremely successful and this has shown through high praise that students have received from event coordinators like Tri-Cal, Finishline Productions, Avanti Sports, LA Marathon and Kaiser Permanente, to name a few. The students developed a supportive, proactive team and succeed in promoting the benefits of massage.
The Sports Massage Team not only benefits the public, but the students who volunteer are exposed to new and exciting situations that are only possible in real-life experiences. They are exposed to a high volume of clients for an extended period of time and learn how to work together in a setting that many students have never been a part of. Many students took it as a chance to look at their own fitness and began training for similar events and becoming involved in some of the charities that they had been benefitting. They also gained an understanding of how their participation in sporting and charity events can help them develop their careers as Massage Therapists and how important community outreach work is to their personal as well as professional lives. We hope to be even more active and work with more wonderful organizations in 2011!