The Chiropractor in Trafalgar Square On training to win while studying to be a DC By Maria DiDanieli in conversation with Melissa Tancredi feature I t’s been said, “Work at something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Melissa Tancredi is an athlete and a chiropractic student who has been able to align two of her passions to build a career that will allow her to support many in attaining health and wellness while helping athletes, both competitive and recreational, to reach their goals in sport. Tancredi is a soccer player on the Canadian women’s team and a student at Logan College of Chiropractic – as she looks ahead to a career as a chi-ropractor, she knows that she will not so much be working as developing her skills and knowledge in two “somethings” that she loves. Tancredi is from Hamilton, Ontario. She began playing soccer at four years of age and played in the Ancaster House League until she was 13 years old. She was then called by the neighbouring city of Burlington to play on its Rep Team. Over time, she matured into a formidable player, and was eventually offered a scholarship from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. In 2004, she was called for the Canadian national team where she has experienced several victories, including two World Cups and the team’s most recent achievement, a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. At Notre Dame, she was involved in pre-medical studies and was intent on entering the medical field. However, while at school, “Chiropractic is a great she began to be treated by a chiropractor. model for life and for She was impressed with the effects of chi-wellness, regardless ropractic on her body and began asking her of whether one is an DC questions about chiropractic and the profession in general. His answers piqued athlete or not.” her interest in the field and, eventually, she found herself writing her final pre-med thesis on chiropractic. The next step seemed logical – she applied to a chiropractic training program and began to study to enter the profession as a DC herself. “The appeal,” Tancredi tells Canadian Chiropractor, “was the philosophy of wellness that chiropractic offered.” AN INTERVIEW WITH MELISSA TANCREDI Throughout her chiropractic training, Tancredi had never stopped playing soccer and, before long, she found herself juggling a challenging educational program with elite com-petitive sport. The purpose of this interview – which she graciously agreed to, while taking a post-Olympics break this past summer – is primarily to explore how the symbiosis be-tween chiropractic and athletic competition enhances her experience and performance in both. But the interview is also to celebrate the impressive victory experienced by a member of the chiropractic community and to find out what’s next for this dynamic individual. Canadian Chiropractor: How does your chiropractic training inform your perfor -mance as an athlete? Melissa Tancredi: My training in chiropractic has educated me to understand how the body works and how it needs to be kept working in order to keep all cylinders firing. I’m 30 now – on the older end of the spectrum to be playing in my sport, and yet, I’m still here. Chiropractic also taught me to understand injuries, and how to manage them, in order to prolong my career as a soccer player. As well, I have learned that it’s not only about the body, but what you put into it. The things I have learned about nutrition and supplementation have really helped my 8 • CANADIAN CHIROPRACTOR | OCTOBER 2012 www.canadianchiropractor.ca
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor October 2012: Page 8
