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Bridgeville native returns to the slopes with a big assist from AHN

By Eleanor Bailey almanac Sports Editor ebailey@thealmanac.Net 12 min read
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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Frank Velasquez Jr. and Tom Wallisch

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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Tom Wallisch works out on the Makoto Functional Arena, a 360-degree, multi-planar simulator that provides a close approximation to real-time sports.

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By Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Tom Wallisch works out with the Dynavision Reaction Board light-training device — designed to improve his reaction times

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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Frank Velasquez Jr. watches Tom Wallisch lift and balance during a warm-up excercise.

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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Tom Wallisch using equipment to limber up before starting his rehab program at Allegheny Health Network’s Sport Performance Center at Cool Spring.

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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Tom Wallisch uses a roller to stretch out soft tissue.

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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Tom Wallisch works on his balance as he exercises.

When Tom Wallisch returns to the ski slopes this season, he will have the Allegheny Health Network to thank.

As part of his recovery from an ACL injury, Wallisch participated in the health system’s sports performance program. Under the watchful eye of Frank Velasquez Jr., he performed a portion of his rehab at AHN Sports Complex located at Cool Springs in Bethel Park.

“Tom’s an elite performer,” said Velasquez, the director of the facility. “We work with our professionals, our Olympians, our elites all the way down to the kids that are just getting started and everything in between but it’s truly been a pleasure working with someone with such character and integrity as Tom has. He’s passionate about what he does and he’s proud of where he is from. He’s from Pittsburgh and doesn’t hide it.”

Wallisch grew up in Bridgeville and graduated from Chartiers Valley High School. The son of Mike and Patty Wallisch learned how to ski at age 3 and spent his weekends sharpening his skills at The Wisp and Seven Springs resorts before heading out west. He settled in Salt Lake City and blossomed into one of the best freestyle skiers.

Save the Date: Nov. 10

Professional freestyle skier Tom Wallisch and the Allegheny Health Network will headline a Ski Sports Medicine Seminar on Nov. 10 at Seven Springs.

The session will not take place on snow but the conference will focus on ski-related preparation for winter, health, injury prevention and recovery.

Tom Wallisch will tell his story of how he made it as a professional skier from Pennsylvania. He will also discuss the injuries he has incurred and how he overcame them.

“They (the young skiers) have hope but it is nice to give parents of these kids something to look forward to or to know it’s possible because it is so hard for them to commit to a season pass, ski boots, skies,” Wallisch said. “They may just ask them, ‘why don’t you just play soccer, Jimmy?'”

“But if they see that it’s pretty fun and oh there is that guy Tom that he looks up to and he really likes it, then maybe (not that you have to make it at any sport that you play but it is nice to show them) that there are future potential goals and aspirations where like, I think in the past, people know it is hard to let your kids commit to a sport like free skiing when there aren’t really any role models or any way out other than it’s just a fun hobby.”

For Wallisch or any other athlete, there is nothing fun about hobbling around with an injury. So Wallisch combining with the Allegheny Health Network’s Sports Performance Program was a home run. Wallisch picked the complex at Cool Springs in Bethel Park to springboard him back into his sport after ACL surgery.

“That just made sense for us. Knowing Tom, the passion he has, where he is from, the passion he has about promoting what he does and then what we do on the sports medicine,” said Frank Velasquez, Jr. The AHN Sports Performance director supervised Wallisch’s recovery.

“We have soccer, basketball and baseball that we cover but we want to get more into the winter sports and educating people about concussions and how we can help reduce the risk of injuries. That’s kind of our intentions for helping him out but with his desire and the message he wants to send, combined with ours, it’s pretty powerful.”

Though sometimes, he was back home in Salt Lake City working on his recovery, Wallisch maintained a powerful relationship with his AHN team.

“We had to make sense of how best we could help him because we were 2,000 miles away. We showed him what he needed to do because much of what he had to do was on his own. We gave him direction, provided programs to follow, gave him reassurance and acted as a sounding board.”

In any recovery that is vital says Wallisch.

“More than anything, what I continue to tell people, the open discussion, the ability to talk through things was the most helpful part of the program. For a lot of people, coming back from an ACL, you just need to get back to being able to walk so you can go to work.

But for me to work, other than skiing, I need to be out doing other sports. So being able to know when it is safe for me to go hiking or biking or wake surfing. All these different activities are things that do because I take photos and go on trips because it is my job. Being able to talk to someone is so important. I really want to start hiking so I can be outdoors and do this but it’s not time. I want to run and jump and go back and forth. All the nitty, gritty details that your average person recovering from an ACL doesn’t want to know and doesn’t need to know but I had too many questions. It is nice to have an infinite resource of knowledge from the rehabilitation to the performance. It is good to know what you can do, where and when, and how you can do it and maybe make it more fun.”

For Velasquez that is the mission for all his patients. It is his hope AGH helps all athletes.

“We want to bring awareness that you can improve your craft by doing a little prep work in your pre-season because players like to play, skiers like to ski. They don’t like to strength train but doing the little things will help them. We tell them they don’t have to get you under a rack and squat 500 pounds but here are some simple exercises that will better protect your body so you can continue to do what you love to do.”

As a team, Wallisch and Velasquez love to make a difference.

“Tom is passionate about what he does and teaching kids in the area and in the community that they can do what he does,” Velasquez said, “I think there is a connection between what we do, helping to get kids stronger, more flexible, helping reduce the risk of injury and maybe enhance performance. So it’s a great collaboration and it’s been nothing but a treat working with him.

Rehabbing is work but at AHN it may be a treat.

“We are making a difference every day,” Velasquez said. “Every one has a goal. Whether that is to walk without pain or jump higher or to throw harder with our staff and our facility and the AHN support we make a difference every day with the people who come through the doors.”

A 2011-15 U.S. Ski Team competitor, Wallisch holds the world record for longest rail slide at 424 feet. He is also a two-time X Games gold medalist, a FIS World Champion and a Dew Tour winner. In 2014, ESPN named him Action Sport Athlete of the Year.

At age 31, he is past his prime for slopestyle competition but he is still young enough to indulge his passion for the sport. He produces and stars in ski videos. He travels the world filming shots for brands and corporations.

“I’m still doing all the professional skiing aspects other than doing rigid slopestyle competition. Things like the Olympics are not a goal for me any more because it’s a young buck’s game,” said Wallisch, noting the average age of a slopestyle skier on the World Cup circuit is around 20 years old.

While Wallisch was definitely the oldest guy skiing when he retired from competition, he was the healthiest.

“Surprisingly,” he said, “I have been lucky in this sport. While others have been out for years at a time, I’ve experienced mostly minor bumps and bruises.”

Wallisch, however, has torn the anterior cruciate ligament in both knees. In March, he had surgery to repair a partial tear in his right knee.

The wheels were set in motion for that operation back in December, but Gina Nicolella brokered the partnership between Wallisch and AHN. An administrator, she is also an avid skier and was going through ski patrol training at Seven Springs when she suggested that Velasquez, who is the director of the AHN Sports Performance Program, connect with Wallisch’s manager, Tom Yaps.

“I was watching his stuff thinking, ‘Wow, that’s really cool what he’s doing and she said he’s from Pittsburgh. We really need to do something with this guy,'” Velasquez said.

Because he was in town for the Steelers’ playoff game earlier this year, Wallisch visited the complex and fell in love with the facility.

“This place is sweet,” Wallisch said.

At the time of his visit, he mentioned his injury.

“By the way guys, I know I have something messed up with my knee and I know I’m going to need to get it taken care of so maybe you guys can help me. Maybe we could team up together,” he recalled.

“Well, I went to the game. The Steelers lost. I got sad. But, we pulled this together,” he said.

After his surgery in Salt Lake City in March and the basic two weeks of physical therapy at home, Wallisch became more involved in his recovery. He returned to Pittsburgh June 7-9 where AHN designed a detailed, step-by-step comprehensive sports performance and athletic rehabilitation program for him to follow.

“The first eight weeks (for an ACL injury), we are controlling pain, getting range-of-motion back, working on basic-level exercise to get that quad firing again,” Velasquez said. “When Tom came to us in June, he had done all that and now we were at the point where we were giving him some direction for higher-level strengthening. Tom trained with us for three days and we wrote a few programs that he could continue on his own as well as a running progression because he needed to start doing that. We stayed in contact with him.”

Wallisch returned to AHN in mid-September where his ROM was evaluated and his leg strength measured.

Wallisch also participated in a week’s worth of high-intensity workouts that tested his movements, stability and reactions. His recovery regimens afforded him access to the most advanced equipment available in the country. He utilized a cryotherapy unit, an Alter-G anti-gravity treadmill, the Dynavision Reaction Board, a visual-motor-training system, and the Makoto Functional Arena, a 360-degree, multi-planar simulator that provides close approximation to real-time sports.

“I’m way too active. Antsy. I like to be on my feet, running somewhere not walking. I run. I jump. I grab. I’m in a do-whatever mode all the time so with the ACL it’s hard,” Wallisch said.

“It’s a weird injury. Three weeks out of surgery you feel fine. You are walking and they tell you that you are not allowed to ski for six months. Really?” he added. “When you break a bone, it hurts really bad and then at six weeks they tell you ‘Go, do whatever you want.’ With the ligaments, it’s different.”

He said it can be “frustrating” and “boring” at time but people must be patient.

“Luckily, these guys (at AHN) made it super easy,” he said.

There is nothing easy about Wallisch’s occupation. He performs all the tricks in his promotional videos and ski movies. He will showcase new places, new ways to ski and new tricks. He has a non-stop schedule that not only includes doing color commentary during free-skiing televised competitions but features traveling to foreign countries when conditions are right for skiing.

Oct. 14-18 will be the right time for Wallisch to test his new knee. Along with Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Red Gerard, Wallisch will be one of the instructors at a ski camp in Dubai. He will teach local children just getting into the sport how to perform their first jumps.

“It will be my first time on snow. I’ll be skiing around, trying to just remember how to do the basics while teaching the novice skiers in a giant air-conditioned ice box,” Wallisch said about the ski resort in the Middle East desert. “We’ll all be there just figuring it out together. It will be the perfect re-introduction.

“I’m really excited about it because I’m into these action sports, these extreme sports and to have had to sit on the sidelines all this time has required patience. That’s been the hardest part of the rehab. I’m an active guy and I couldn’t go mountain biking, couldn’t go golfing, which isn’t an action sport but man I love it, or play tennis. So being able to wait and not do whatever I wanted was just really hard. But, it was important that I did this right because I definitely need to be healthy to do my job. I need to be able to ski pretty well.”

AHN has made sure Wallisch is doing just that. He gives the facility two thumbs up.

“A performance center and rehabilitation center like this is so beneficial. If you tear your ACL, while normal physical therapy will get you back, having a center that really focuses on sports performances and sports specific recovery and getting back to competitive levels is vital. So having a place like this to train, to recover or to prepare to be in peak physical shape is so necessary.”

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