Growing up on a farm taught Rick Schaly many things, but no lesson more important than to work hard.
It's that work ethic that has provided the foundation for his three successful local businesses over the last 32 years.
"My dad was a Dutch immigrant and (taught) me to work hard, which is something I learned on the farm," said Schaly, who, along with wife Tamara, owns and operates Barrie Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Centre, Mind to Muscle, an elite sports training facility, and Trainers Choice, which provides brace and support solutions to help people recover from injuries.
"Certainly that has really helped me over the years, because running a business takes a lot of energy and a lot of work, and it doesn't come easy," he said. "So, getting those right inputs as a young boy certainly paid off."
All that hard work rehabbing and helping athletes and clients has been put on hold, though. Just like so many other businesses today, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced Schaly to temporarily close his doors.
"It's hard on our clients first, for sure, and people that are injured and looking to return to whether it's sport, or activity, or work, or just normal life style," he told BarrieToday. "I feel bad for them at this point and extending that even to my own staff and family. It's hard on everybody and it's a difficult situation. It's hard to comprehend some days what's happening, so it's difficult on everyone around.
"There's no quick solution, there's no answer. In business, normally you have some form of answer or solution; for this it's been at a loss for how to deal with some of these things."
Schaly is doing what he can to help his clients rehab while self-isolating at home and is launching an app that will provide educational videos.
"If we can't see the people in person then it's important we try to help where we can," said Schaly, who opened his first clinic in Angus in 1988. "We've been putting out exercises, we've been filling out our YouTube channel with a lot of educational content and material. I'm pretty sure almost everyone can find something on their particular injury and some advice around it."
A goalie in minor hockey – he played with the Barrie Colts Junior 'B' club – the Barrie native said it was his frequent trips to the injury list and physio therapy that made him first consider it might be a great profession to get into.
"I realized I wasn't going to be a pro hockey player early, so I started to find careers, professions that I could work in," said Schaly, who attended Barrie Central Collegiate before graduating from Innisdale Secondary School. "Athletic therapy is what came to me, because it was dealing with sports injuries, getting people back to their sport quickly and I really loved that side of it.
"Through that experience I ended up going to school and started this pretty much after I graduated."
From high school sports, to minor boys and women's hockey, and soccer, Schaly's businesses have played an important part in the local sports community. They also work with organizations like the Barrie Royals Basketball Club and the OHL's Barrie Colts on a performance basis at Mind to Muscle.
It started with a significant need for on-field care. Going back 30 years ago, they provided trainers and started covering every high school football game and then that evolved to rugby as well. To this day, they assist the Simcoe County District School Board with their high school football, rugby and hockey coverage.
"We just like to be there for our community," said Schaly, who launched Trainers Choice in 1994. "We don't like seeing injuries happen and when they do we're there to provide the support and knowledge and expertise to take care of it on the field, or on the rink or wherever it may be. Make sure they get the care from the acute care perspective and whether they need to be sent to their family doctor or urgent care in the hospital, or sometimes a neighbour just called.
"We're proud to support the community and give back where we can and be engaged to make Barrie a better place to live and participate in sports."
Schaly says he's been blessed with a lot of good people that have given him advice along the way and certainly a great staff.
"Truly we're blessed with an incredible family of people who help us be successful," he said. "It's hard work and a little bit of luck along the way, and timing. A little bit of everything that's helped us get to this point and it doesn't get any easier we're dealing with COVIT-19 right now.
"I thought over time it would get easier, but the challenges keep coming and that's just part of business. As business leaders, we have to adress the problems and move forward."
Having a great partner has made a world of difference, Schaly says. Tamara has worked just as hard as he has.
"Tamara has been there from Day 1," he said of his wife. "Without her we wouldn't be there today. We have mutual admiration for each other's skills and talents and together we both have the same desire to work hard and be successful, so it's been not only a wonderful partnership, but a great marriage and together we've been able to have some success after 32 years."
Through it all Schaly has also found time to referee hockey. He officiated for 15 years, including eight as an OHL referee.
"Refereeing in the OHL was a real privilege and it was something that I absolutely loved," he said. "It was dear to my heart and it's a dream I was still on the ice."
Although, he doesn't miss the travel now.
"I'd go to Windsor and back on the same night and then have to get up for work, but I met so many great people along the way from trainers to players," added Schaly, whose daughter Taylor, 21, is in university and son Payton, 18, played for the Collingwood Colts this season.
"There's so many great players that played the game and went on to the NHL and I watch them on TV and say, 'Hey, I remember a conversation with that player and I remember that fight, or that event, or that goal'."
Officiating was a real passion for him and certainly something that also addressed the growth in the company, because his experience has taken him from a farm boy, to going to school as an athletic therapist, to being a clinician, to being a referee, to going on to be a high performance coach and also a business man.
"You have a lot of different perspectives in that experience," he said. "So when you can understand where everybody's coming from, whether it's the coach, the trainer, the parent, the player, or the referee, it gives you a really good perspective and some vision on how you do things in business and how you deal with things in life.
"So, it's been a real good journey for me."
