Sports Therapist Jane Franklin, a member of the Federation of Holistic Therapists was intrigued when she was asked to become part of a unique project to prove that an ordinary member of the public could become an Olympian, for the 2012 games in London.

The day after the closing ceremony for the Beijing Olympics, Natasha Hunt an ‘average’ person from Lewes in Sussex set about on a quest to become a top class athlete. The project, called Elite or Defeat, involves training an ordinary member of the public over the next 4 years – using facilities and equipment available to all – with a view to qualifying for the Modern Pentathlon; running, swimming, fencing, horse riding and shooting, at the London Olympics in 2012. 30-year-old maths teacher Natasha was 27 when she got involved with the project, taking a year to assemble the right team of coaches and facilities. Other than owning a horse, which she rode non-competitively since she was 13, Natasha had little training or experience in the disciplines involved for the Modern Pentathlon and had not done sport in any kind of serious way!

With a team of world class sports people behind her, Natasha is training hard to achieve her goal and it is the work with her Sports Therapist, Jane Franklin, that has enabled Natasha to put in the 5-6 hours per day, 6 days a week to train.
Jane says, “My role involves keeping an eye on Natasha’s training and spotting weaknesses or catching injuries before they cause any real damage. I was trained in a holistic approach to massage, so my first treatment involved giving Natasha a thorough, full body massage to identify any problem areas. This revealed that while Natasha did not have any specific sporting injuries, she did have some weak areas. This included neck problems following a car whiplash injury a couple of years ago. She was also suffering from bad migraines from time to time.

Trying to alleviate these problems became my priority, so I worked hard on loosening Natasha’s neck and shoulder muscles, using a blend of massage oils and some sports amica gel, to warm up the whole area and try to get it to relax. Following these treatments, Natasha has made significant improvements in her swimming – her stroke has improved and her neck is now much freer and easier to move.

I have continued to massage Natasha on a regular, weekly basis getting to know her body and weaker areas quite well and so I’m able to feel early on if there is an unusual area of tightness or tension.”

Continuing further Jane says, “Natasha has recently knocked 13 seconds off her running time, following new running methods, so I have had to introduce massage techniques that deal with tight hamstrings. Fortunately, so far, there has been only one potentially serious moment. Following new stretching techniques Natasha complained of a painful chest. She didn’t look ill and, having ruled out any medical emergencies I suspected it was caused by one or two factors. Firstly, she was pointing at her solar plexus area, so I wondered if she was getting a bit emotionally overwrought with all the training. Secondly I suspected it may have been something as simple as tight pectorals, as she had massively increased her training schedule. After an initial warm-up massage, I started exploratory work on the insertions into her shoulders. As if by magic, and after a relatively short amount of time, the pain started to ease off as I worked gently into the area. It was a very gratifying moment for me as a therapist to see such an instant effect and a great relief for Tash.”

Robert Parsons, Natasha’s personal trainer and the ‘man behind the idea’ talks about how important it is for a Sports Therapist to be involved, “We were quick to enlist the help of Jane, as without her we simply wouldn’t be able to do this project. Natasha needs a Sports Therapist to help prevent and treat injuries, and speed recovery as well as improve her technique specific work. For instance its hard to learn even basic fencing skills if your shoulders are not relaxed. Already Jane has helped nip a number of potential problems in the bud.”

Since becoming involved in the project, Natasha’s life has completely changed. She has now given up teaching maths to concentrate on her dream of making it to the London Olympics. She is now a qualified fencing instructor which obviously helps with the training and teaches this several hours a day. As well as time spent training, Natasha’s weekends are taken up with weekend competitions around the country in the British Trials. With two years left on her training schedule and competitions, Natasha is confident she will make to London 2012.

To find a qualified Sports Therapist near you visit www.fht.org.uk or call the FHT on 0844 875 2022.