82 Practice Trends S KIN & ALLERGY N EWS • January 2007

T HE R EST OF Y OUR L IFE Sideline Docs Among Teams’ Key ‘Players’

ootball in the storied Big Ten Con- the stands anymore like a regular fan and promising rookies to the ference means big-time pressure, watch a game because I’m not close event, where, over the Fhigh expectations from alumni and enough,” he explained. “For me, it’s very course of a long week- fans, and intense media exposure. So when hard to go watch a game where you’re not end, they get advice from the season hits, Dr. Greg involved in the actual game itself.” veteran players and ex- Rowdon, head team physician for the Pur- He makes up for lost family time dur- perts on everything from due University Boilermakers, braces him- ing the summer when school’s out of ses- how to deal with the me- self for a whirlwind of activity and time sion. “The athletes may be on campus dia to how to manage away from his wife and two daughters. working out or going to summer school, their finances. “It’s like being an accountant during tax but there’s not a lot [of organized activi- During one part of the season,” he said of the time commitment. ties] going on, so summers are very nice,” program, the Second “We play 13 games in a row this season. he said. City comedy group per- I’m gone [from home] for 13 weeks on During football season, his wife, who is forms a series of skits Saturdays, either here on campus or away.” also a Purdue alumnus, joins other spous- that depict situations the He’s also on the sidelines for all football es of team staff for tailgate parties before rookies might find them- practices. home games. “They become a nucleus,” selves in as players, such Dr. Rowdon has a split appointment at Dr. Rowdon said. “She comes to all of the as “scams, like getting Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind. Half of the games and is in the stands.” roped in by professional time, he treats musculoskeletal injuries at His two children attend almost every gamblers,” said Dr. Pyles, the University’s student health center. The home game as well. His older daughter is a psychiatrist and psy- COM other half is spent treating football play- a freshman at Purdue. . choanalyst who practices ers and other athletes. “Every day it goes through my mind LACK in Wellesley Hills, Mass. B “The best thing about being a sports how lucky I am to be doing what I’m do- After the skits, the play-

medicine doctor is that you are working ing with my alma mater and taking care OLDAND ers break into small

with young, healthy, motivated people of kids who are fun to be around and fun ©G groups of 8-10 for dis- [who] want to get better,” said Dr. Row- to take care of,” he said. Dr. Greg Rowdon (right), helping an injured player off the cussion; each group is don, who received his undergraduate de- field, is on the sidelines during all games and practices. moderated by a mental gree in electrical engineering/biomedical From ’Skins Fan to Team Doctor health professional and a engineering from Purdue. “You don’t have Football season consumes much of Dr. 18-22, sometimes join him on away games. veteran player. to counsel your patient on weight loss or Anthony M. Casolaro’s time as well. As “The family can’t come on the team plane, “There’s a lot of talk in the group about stopping smoking.” chief medical officer of the NFL’s Wash- but they might join me in a city, like New psychological techniques for enhancing Sometimes he has to “hold athletes back ington Redskins for the past nine sea- York, Philadelphia, or Tampa Bay,” he athletic performance, but there’s also a lot because they want to get back on the sons, he’s been on the sidelines amid the said. “New York is an annual trip that of talk about what a strain this kind of life playing field” as soon as possible after an buzz of Monday Night Football games they all try to go to.” is on [having] a stable relationship, and a injury. “They’re very anxious to do that; and during match-ups with such rivals as Dr. Casolaro said he finds fulfillment in lot of [talk] about tension in the club- they’ll do almost anything you recom- the Dallas Cowboys. the relationships he forms with the coach- house, tensions between ethnic groups, mend to them as far as “A reward is feeling part of es, staff, and some of the players. “You of- that sort of thing,” said Dr. Pyles, who is helping them get back on ‘The best thing a team,” said Dr. Casolaro, a ten end up helping their families when also the current president of the Massa- the playing field.” about being a pulmonologist with Virginia they have medical problems,” he said. chusetts Psychiatric Society. Building relationships Hospital Center in Arling- “You act as an advisor. But mostly [the At the end of the program, Dr. Pyles with staff and players is an- sports medicine ton. “Having grown up in players are] your patients. Many of them gives the players his contact information other benefit of the job, he doctor is that Washington, that’s made it a will come to see me even after they’ve re- and tells them they can call him confi- said. “There are some ath- lot of fun. One of the tired from football.” dentially if they need help. “On average, I letes that you hit it off with you are working caveats is that you can’t be a He said that, in the care he provides to hear from one or two of the players in the and you become a friend, with young, fan while you’re the doctor. the team, he considers the best interest of group at some point,” he said. and you keep that relation- You really have to be able to each player. “I’ve worked with five coach- Dr. Pyles’ interest in helping young ath- ship going.” healthy, separate that part of it.” es and two owners, all of whom have said, letes dates back almost three decades to Before joining the Pur- motivated people He logs the most hours ‘the most important thing is that you take when he suffered a stress fracture in his due staff in June of 2005, during the team’s training care of the players and do the right thing foot 10 days before running his first Dr. Rowdon was the team [who] want to camp in northern Virginia. for them,’ ” Dr. Casolaro said. “People Boston Marathon. “I got clinically de- physician for the now-de- get better.’ There, “we end up treating don’t view that because you see movies pressed; I couldn’t believe it,” he said. funct Indiana Firebirds pro- people for heat cramps or and TV shows where it looks like teams, His orthopedist told him that it’s com- fessional team in Indi- heat exhaustion. These are world-class ath- coaches, or doctors will compromise a mon for athletes to become depressed or anapolis, as well as for a couple of area letes, but that doesn’t prevent many of player’s health to win. That is just not the anxious when they get injured. “I got in- high schools. He has also held medical staff them from having medical problems,” he case. It’s anything but that.” terested in the whole phenomenon and in- posts with the National Institute for Fit- said. “We have four or five young men with For the Redskins, he continued, “the terested in the role of athletics for how ness and Sports, the Nike All-America Bas- asthma. We have had young men with in- medical team is part of the team. For ex- some people really cope with life,” he ketball Camp, the RCA Professional Ten- sulin dependent diabetes, [and] young men ample, let’s say you have a player who has said. nis Tournament, and the National Football with high blood pressure. You take care of asthma. Maybe he doesn’t feel well [so Specifically, Dr. Pyles said, he learned to League, where he helped conduct physi- the coaches and the staff also.” you] maximize his treatment regimen. appreciate the importance of sports to an cals for the draft. Dr. Casolaro landed the job after one of Then he plays very well. You feel a part of athlete’s psychological and emotional well- His first experience covering team his former professors of medicine at that [success]. Coach [Joe] Gibbs has giv- being. sports came during a rotation with a sports George Washington University, in Wash- en me and the orthopedic surgeon on our “These are mostly young people who medicine group in Indianapolis while he ington, retired from the post. He recalled team game balls for our help in winning have had sports at the center of their lives was an internal medicine resident at Indi- walking in to the Redskins’ administrative important games.” since they were small,” he said of the ana University Medical Center. “I asked if offices to interview with then team own- In his office, he displays a game MLB rookies. “Their talent was recog- I could get involved with some team cov- er John Kent Cooke. He saw former Red- from last season’s 14-13 win over the Cow- nized early, and they have been supported erage,” he recalled. “I would switch my skins players Sonny Jurgensen and Bobby boys. and adored in many ways. There’s a call schedule off of Friday night and pick Mitchell, “my childhood heroes. I saw the tremendous amount riding on making it up Saturday or Sunday so I could cover the Super Bowl trophies. After that, I knew I Helping MLB Rookies Get on Track or not making it. When they can’t [com- team on Friday night.” was interested in doing it.” Every January, Dr. Robert L. Pyles joins pete] anymore because of injury or aging All of this experience has spoiled him, Once the NFL season starts, he holds a about eight other mental health profes- or whatever, it has a huge effect on their he said, like when he attends a non-Purdue clinic at the Redskins facility every Thurs- sionals who serve as consultants for Major [lives].” ■ athletic event as a spectator in the stands day afternoon, and he’s on the sidelines for League Baseball’s rookie development instead of from the sidelines. “I can’t sit in all of the games. His three children, aged program. Each MLB team sends three By Doug Brunk, San Diego Bureau