BRANDON - Schad Richea's "off-season" will be anything but.
The Certified Athletic Therapist for the Brandon University Bobcats will be representing Canada at the Paris Olympics this summer, meaning that this summer will be one of his busiest.
Richea will be joining the Canadian Men's Volleyball National team at the 2024 Olympic games and his duties have already begun. Onboarding, training, and planning are all underway as he prepares to join the team at the Volleyball Canada Centre of Excellence later this month.
Richea has been with the Bobcats guiding injury prevention, medical services, rehabilitation and more since joining the program in summer of 2017.
He also teaches in BU's Department of Physical Education Studies (BPES), and while he has worked at nearly every level of sport, these will be his first Olympic games.
"This is a tremendous honour. Being in a pool of applicants with other allied professionals that have much to offer, to stand out among them is an honour," says Richea.
"I started getting excited about it once Bobcat season ended. I love all sports so I look forward to watching track & field, swimming, soccer, the other events and seeing the other venues. Having grown up watching the Olympics on TV and being a fan of elite amateur sport, it will be a treat to watch the best in the world. It's been a while since I've worn that much red, but I'll adapt."
Paris is a far cry from the farm he grew up on near Dysart, Sask., but working with the men's national volleyball program comes full circle as not only will he be working with athletes he's familiar with in the Canadian university sports scene, but it also has family ties.
"My dad was a volleyball coach for 25 years. I grew up in gyms across the prairies and can remember the smell of gym floors because I slept on them so much as a kid. It's been a little over two years since my dad passed and I think he would've got a kick out of this because we never would have dreamed of this."
After seeing a post online about the opportunity last December, Richea applied and it wasn't long before he was called, interviewed for the position, and was offered the role.
"I'm turning 51 this year and I've been applying to the Olympics for at least 25 years, so to have it happen is very exciting. All the days at the field, the gym, the clinic, all the days that you're here on your day off or Sunday, it just goes to show that hard work and persistence pay off,"
While the opportunity is an exciting one for Richea, it will benefit the entire Bobcat Athletic department.
"Working with the Olympic team program is a great professional development opportunity for Schad and something that will benefit our student athletes tremendously," says BU Athletic Director Russ Paddock.
"The cutting-edge experience in athlete treatment and training methods will compliment his knowledge and experience, so we're all very happy for him and look forward to the experience for him."
Richea believes the experience will benefit both the Bobcats and the BPES program, in which he currently teaches Principles of Sports Injuries and Rehabilitation.
"As Department Chair and a colleague I was thrilled to hear Schad will have this opportunity," says Dr. Scott Forbes, Chair of BU's Department of Physical Education Studies.
"I'm certain that his experience at the Olympics will be brought into the classroom and ultimately engage students and inspire them to see what is possible in the field of Athletic Therapy. It also showcases the talent within our department and demonstrates Schad's professionalism and skillset."
Richea's onboarding with both the men's volleyball national team and Canadian Olympic team has already begun, and there will be plenty of more work to do before he officially joins the team for training in at the Volleyball Canada Centre of Excellence in Gatineau at the end of the month.
The team starts training in person in Gatineau on May 2 before embarking for Paris mid-July.
