At only 23 years of age, a Teeswater athletic therapist has already accumulated a wealth of experience working with both professional and amateur teams.
Drew MacDonald, whose parents live in Teeswater and who attended F.E. Madill for a year, is spending the summer with Canada’s National Junior Baseball team on its summer tour, which includes the World Baseball Championship later this month in Thunder Bay.
MacDonald graduated a year ago from Sheridan College in Brampton, which he attended on a scholarship. He also worked as an intern with the Toronto Blue Jays.
MacDonald was working with the Blue Jays during spring training this year and through the team was able to get the position with the junior national team.
It has been a busy summer already for MacDonald and the team, which was in the Dominican for a summer camp in June. There were stops under the Rogers Centre Dome and in St. Marys before heading to St. Paul Minnesota for the International Baseball Showcase this week.
Following the St. Paul tournament, the team heads for Thunder Bay for the world championship starting July 23 against Australia, Chinese Taipei, France, Italy, the United States, Venezuela, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Korea, the Netherlands and Panama.
With the team of 16 to 18 year olds, MacDonald said the training program is different than it is for older players who are already familiar with their nutrition and conditioning programs.
While the players have a training program to follow, Macdonald says as the only medical staff member with the team, he is responsible for making sure they follow it.
A lot of it is new for the players, said MacDonald, with many of them having never picked up any weights, and he tries to make sure they don’t try to bench press 200 pounds on their first try.
As well as his baseball therapy work, MacDonald has also worked with the Buffalo Bills while they were in Toronto. He noted there is quite a size difference between football and baseball players and added, “Baseball players are also more laid back.”
While he would like to do clinic work at some point, for now MacDonald said he is just trying to get as much experience as possible.