Caledon-based therapist joins Team Canada at Summer Universiade

Written By JULIA LLOYD

This summer one of Caledon's own athletic therapists, Andrea Prieur, was selected to serve as the chief therapist at the 30th World University Games, to be held in Naples, Italy  next month.

Prieur is a certified athletic therapist and co-owner of Core Solutions Physio and Wellness, located in Caledon East and Schomberg. She lives in Caledon with her husband and three sons and is the head therapist for all varsity teams at York University in Toronto. 

“This is a huge honour because only one person gets chosen out of not only thousands of certified athletic therapists, but also all of the sport physio people who are certified sport physiotherapists,” said Prieur. 

The games are being held in Italy, the country where they were initiated way back in 1959. The games are being held from July 2 to 14.  Prieur left yesterday to set up the Canadian polyclinic and prepare the athletes for their upcoming competitions. 

Both the medical and therapy teams are volunteer positiosn for the World University Games, however Prieur indicated it was an honour to even be considered by the organizing committee. 

Prieur was chosen as chief athletic therapist because of her “amazing” resume. She is a member of the Canadian Athletic Therapists Association and was an athletic therapist at the last two summer Olympics, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016 and London, England in 2012.

She has also been a volunteer for a number of other major sporting events, having held positions at the 1997 Pan Am Games, 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2007, 2009 University Games. 

Due to her volunteer experience, Prieur has travelled all over the world. 

“You know what? Every location we go to is absolutely unique and has great experiences. So, you heard all the bad things about going to Rio in 2016? We didn't have one bad experience,” she said. 

Even in places like Turkey and Serbia, where the political climate has been volatile in recent years, the games are escalated to a higher level so that everyone enjoys the experience, explained Prieur. 

“Everything about the people, the places we get to visit, the people we get to work with, and the game volunteers locally, they want you to have the best experience ever, so everyone's so willing to help, and they try to do the best they can no matter what sort of statute they are,” said Prieur. 

The athletes that get chosen applied to be on certain sport teams through an application process, or sometimes they will take a whole university team if they win a national or provincial title.  

“The organizers do want across-Canada representation, so they do often host a larger sort of competition that people can apply, and you know, they'll actually try out for these teams,” said Prieur. 

As a young kid, Prieur was constantly involved in sports like hockey, baseball and basketball. 

One year she tore the ACL ligament in her knee. She was inspired by one of the people who helped her get through athletic rehab, and was instrumental in getting her back into sport. 

When she graduated high school, Prieur went to the University of Ottawa for her undergrad in kinesiology, which is the study of the mechanic of body movements. 

After her undergrad she then went to get her certificate in athletic therapy at York University. 

York University and Sheridan College are the only two accredited institutions for athletic therapy in Ontario. 

Prieur will serve as the athletic therapist for 12 different Canadian teams at the 30th iteration of the World University Games. For more information, visit www.fisu.net.