Physiotherapy - Rowing Australia

Senior Sports Physiotherapists – Phil Cossens & Tristan Shipsides

Phil Cossens is a Specialist Sports Physiotherapist based at the Reinhold Batschi Men’s National Training Centre in Canberra. Phil’s primary role is to provide day to day servicing to the Reinhold Batschi NTC.

Tristan Shipsides is an APA Titled Sports Physiotherapist providing day to day servicing of athletes at the Hancock Prospecting Women’s NTC in Penrith.

Phil and Tristan’s responsibilities include:

1) Working closely with coaches and support staff to minimise time missed to injury and to identify and address areas for performance improvement.

Phil Cossens

2) Developing a comprehensive and skilled network of physiotherapists throughout the country to deliver physiotherapy services in each state institute or sport (SIS) /state academy of sport (SAS) program.

3) Working with domestic physiotherapy providers to provide the best possible support to all ARTeam athletes so that injury time is minimised and areas for performance improvement are addressed.

4) Allocating physiotherapists to the Australian Rowing Team at the Senior, Under 23, Under 21 and Under 19 levels.

Tristan Shipsides

5) Maintaining awareness of, and statistics for, all injuries affecting ARTeam rowers.

Physiotherapy Network

RA has a network of Physiotherapists providing services to our elite rowers in SIS / SAS environments. These Physiotherapist also work in private practice and provide Physiotherapy services to all aspiring elite, school and club level rowers. RA has also established a network of providers who have an interest in rowing and do not currently treat rowers at the elite level. The list can be found here: 2022 Preferred Providers

Medical Reporting

All injury information about Senior Rowers is collected centrally via an electronic records system that all SIS/SAS Physiotherapy providers have access to. Any rower nominating for any national team must ensure that all injuries that affect a rowers ability to perform a selection event (eg. Time trial) must be recorded on the current medical form. Forms for senior A and B rowers must be sent to Dr Kath Gaffney, forms for underage rowers must be sent to state talent pathway co-ordinators, please visit the RA Contacts page for this information.

Useful Resources

There are a number of useful documents available to the rowing community with regards to sports medicine. Rowing Australia Medical Team have put together the below documentation for rowers and coaches which may assist in injury prevention and management.

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