Get Your Shit Together

The phone call that pulled me back into ACL rehab — and the moment Rebound Performance actually started

After years of working 6-7 days a week, hundreds of athletes rehabbed and trained, countless phone calls and Zooms with docs, nervous parents, scared and frustrated athletes — the job never felt like it ended.

That was until one morning it did.

It took about a week for the dust to start to settle.

One of the first phone calls I got that morning was from one of my ACL athletes’ dads. He called and said, “I’ll give you a day or two, but Timmy is rehabbing with you. He trusts you, and when he earns that scholarship it’s going to be because of what you guys do.”

I didn’t know what to think. I blacked out most of the phone calls in that 3-hour window. But that one stuck.

If you’ve been in the private sector before, you know it’s not uncommon for people to say, “they’re gonna start up with you soon.” So I didn’t expect much of a follow up.

Then, two days later, my phone buzzes. Tim Longo Dad pops up on the screen. He asked how I was doing, then got right to it.

“Get your shit together. You’re training Timmy tomorrow.”

That was one of the first wake-up calls I had.

For that hour and a half at the field, nothing else mattered. It was a nice sunny fall day. We had a football field to do whatever we wanted on. We were just starting to ramp up our running progression — he had graduated from dribbles, and it was perfect timing to kick off our acceleration work.

We fell right back into routine. Warm up. Prep work. Then the fun stuff. Sitting back, watching each session, tracking the small improvements, seeing how fast he was comfortable sprinting again — it did just as much for me as it did for him.

Over the next month, besides training Timmy, I had to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I was considering options, interviewing at some places, but nothing was the right fit.

One night I was talking to my boss at the gym I also worked at. He planted the seed to start my own business. He’d heard me talk about all the rehab stories and how much work I’d poured into it over the past 6 years.

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

When I got dropped into ACL rehab, I was given no guidance. By the end of it, I was in charge of every high-end ACL rehab in our building — from the NFL players to the top high school and college players.

That didn’t come by accident.

That was years of crash-course learning. Calling coaches. Reading books. Taking courses — Wesley Wang’s ACL course, Lenny Macrina’s ACL course, Alex Natera’s Run Before You Run iso course, Alan Murdoch’s Elevate 360 mentorship. Phone calls and emails with Boo Schexnayder.

So why not help the coaches who want to help more kids?

The young PT who wants to learn more than he ever did in his clinicals. The young strength coach who just watched his favorite athlete tear his ACL and will do anything to help him come back. The gym owner who’s tired of the seasonal schedule and already has the skills and the space to take this on.

I wanted to put together a resource and a space where I could share all my experiences in ACL rehab. The good. The bad. The things I’d do again. The things I’ll never do again. The heart-breaking phone calls with parents. The nervous, anxious conversations with athletes. The Zooms with doctors and college athletic trainers.

Unlike most PTs or strength coaches, I hyper-focused on one thing for 6 years.

I didn’t have to worry about a giant case load of a million different things. I didn’t have to worry about space, insurance, or time. I had a 30 x 30 block of turf that was my own personal lab for any ACL. Sprinting, cutting, progressing back into full dodging and live action.

I wanted to create a resource that helps coaches realize the massive impact we can have on ACL rehab.

That impact doesn’t just affect us and our job status. It helps the kids — which is the reason we got into this in the first place.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been on the phone with a college athlete in the middle of rehab who feels like they have to figure out their return-to-run on their own.

I’ve said it since I started Rebound Performance: the world of sports performance has grown so much in the last 10 years. It’s time to bring that same mindset to our athletes’ rehab.

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If you want to check out a little of what I’ve been working on, I built a 14-Day Close the Gap Challenge. Two weeks. We take a hard look at your personal ACL rehab approach, where the gap is, and how we close it. Daily PDFs, videos, and assignments. Access to the challenge WhatsApp to talk shop with the other coaches in it. And direct access to me to ask any questions.