If you’ve played sports you’ve likely to have had some form of injury; maybe small and short lived, maybe major that kept you out of action for weeks or months and even required a formal rehabilitation process. This show focuses on providing sound advice for becoming mentally smarter and tougher during rehab. Advice, when followed, highly increases the odds for returning to action both physically and mentally stronger. My guests are Pat Venditte*, AAA level Yankee pitcher and Chris Gradoville*, four year catcher with the Rangers organization and now a successful Active Release Techniques (A.R.T.) physical therapist. Both know this topic first hand. In spring training last year, Pat suffered a right shoulder torn labrum. After ‘pitching through it’ a few times this injury sidelined him for the season. As a result he has learned a ton about his injury, himself and the Yankee’s excellent rehab training process. (You may also know of him for this reason: he is the only active professional switch-pitcher. He is at the AAA level in the Yankee organization. He will also pitch-from his left side only -for the Italian World Classic team.) Chris, a catcher, has really learned how to tell the difference between being sore and being hurt. Among his ‘hurts’, and we know catchers take punishment, were two broken vertebrates, one in college and another in pro ball. Today Chris represents just what the Physical Therapy profession needs. He is a smart, trustworthy and forever-learning therapists with clients ranging from 12-81 years of age. Whether you are a coach, athlete, sports parent, tuning into this show will be a great benefit. Why? Having listened, you’ll be more knowledgeable to confidently take more personally responsibility for making a recovery process long term effective and as safely efficient as doable. *Chris and Pat were All-Conference teammates at Creighton University when I had the opportunity to provide sports psychology services with the team. We’ve also talked about the mental game one-on-one. They also have been my guest before. The show with Chris was How I Used Mental Game Skills in my 1st year of Pro Ball which aired Sep 16, 2008. The show with Pat was Lessons from a Guy Who Throws from Both the Left and Right Side. Both can be heard by going to www.webtalkradio then search for my by either Jim Meier or Championship Thinking in Sports. Click on the archive tab, scroll down to those shows, click on the tile and it will play.