Making her mark Physiotherapist has her sights set firmly on the 2032 Brisbane Olympics

Lauren Pike has her sights firmly set on the Brisbane Olympics with her plan already in notion to earn a role at the 2032 Games.

The Grant High School graduate won’t be in the spotlight, though, even if she attains her goal, but she hopes to be a critical part of the Aussie campaign.

The physiotherapist graduate is determined to pursue a career in elite sport and she has laid the groundwork by taking every opportunity afforded her to work with athletes across a variety of sporting pursuits.

“My dream job is to work full time with an elite sporting team or within a professional athlete institution such as the Australian Institute of Sport hence why I put the groundwork into my three current jobs currently,” Lauren said. “I am driving towards being the physiotherapist for an Australian Olympic team sport, watch out Brisbane 2032 - I won’t stop until I reach this goal.”

Graduating from the University of South Australia with a Bachelor of Physiotherapy (First Class Honours) at the end of 2021, Lauren hit the ground running as she started to build her resume.

She quickly gained full time employment within a private practice clinic in Adelaide called PhysioWest and that is still her full time role working with patients of all ages mainly with musculoskeletal/sporting conditions, but also extend to NDIS, paediatric, post-surgical and return to work clients.

She also runs pilates and exercise classes and has just notched up her first year anniversary with PhysioWest.

Her other roles are with the North Adelaide Football Club (NAFC) as the Head Physiotherapist for their junior men’s teams (U/18 and U/16) and with the Under 21 Women’s State Hockey Team.

“Through my role already as Head Junior Trainer with North

Adelaide Football Club at uni I was able to progress my title to now become the physiotherapist, which is exactly what I was aiming towards when starting there as a trainer,” Lauren said. “Now I get to oversee all injuries across both teams and determine their rehab back to sport, as well as coordinate and lead the larger medical team and responsibilities.

I have worked hard in this role over a number of years to grow the medical team and develop its operations to meet the standards of a semi-professional sporting setting, of which is now more synonymous with an athlete development program.”

In terms of the Hockey SA role, Lauren is now in her second year and has command of athlete welfare.

“I manage the health and wellbeing team of this team of athletes - three of which have been named in Australian national junior teams - across their months of training and then get to travel with the team when they compete in the annual U21 National Championships,” she said.

“Last year we travelled to Perth for the 10 day tournament, and I had large responsibilities over the course of this trip keeping the players physically and mentally optimal for competition. This March we are heading to Sydney for the 2023 competition, and I cannot wait. I loved every minute of the trip last year and can’t get enough of being immersed in a team sporting environment again.”

It sees Lauren putting around 55 hours a week into her physiotherapy career but she is determined to do what it takes to reach her ultimate career goals.

“I wouldn’t change it,” Lauren said. “I am getting to do what I love and each role offers me critical development and direction towards my career goals. I am proud of how far I have come in my career in a very short period of time.”

The Grant High School alumni graduate in 2017, earning a competitive ATAR and heading straight to university to take up her offer of a place in the Bachelor of Physiotherapy (Honours) at the University of South Australia.

“I figured I would have more success transitioning to tertiary education if I was able to keep on with the study habits I created during Year 12, plus I was much too eager to wait a year,” Lauren said.

Her first couple of years at university saw her working in the hospitality and retail sectors before she was offered what turned out to be the valuable work opportunity as the Head Junior Trainer at the North Adelaide Football Club in the SANFL.

“This allowed me to learn from qualified physiotherapists in a sports setting and apply my skills to real life scenarios,” Lauren said. “During this time I completed my

Level 1 and Level 2 Sports Trainer courses and I also worked as a contracted sports trainer with the South Australian Sports Medicine Association (SASMA)”

That saw Lauren head to large scale sporting carnivals with the responsibility for dealing with any injuries or emergencies that arose.

She also took on a mentoring role in her final year at university, tutoring the physiotherapy students residing at Aquinas College, which is where she also lived for the three years prior.

“I really enjoyed guiding these students through their first years at uni and helping them nail the content,” Lauren said.

And if you think Lauren is focussed now, that focus has been part of her DNA since deciding on a physiotherapy career in Year 9.

“I have always loved and participated in sports throughout my entire life, it makes up a core part of my being - and I started to realise that physios often get to work amongst this sporting world,” she said. “Once starting physiotherapy I learnt that sports is only a small part of a very large scope that the profession operates within, but it remains one of my main passions of my job.

“Physiotherapy seemed the perfect combination of working in an active sporting environment, whilst also providing sufficient academic challenge that comes with health and medical jobs. I find the human body and biology, physiology fascinating and thoroughly enjoy knowing the ins and outs of how we work.

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“Whenever someone had an injury, I just wanted to know what it was and how it worked, so putting medical knowledge and problem solving together, whilst also getting to be on my feet and use my hands seemed perfect plus physios just always seem to be such fun people.”

And while working in the elite space is top of Lauren’s priority list, she loves the work she is doing in her clinic role.

“I love being able to provide the general population with relief from their pain and empowering them through education and exercise,” she said. “Each day is very rewarding to me as you get to see and be the driver of real change in people’s lives. I truly believe in the power of what we do.

“I believe physiotherapists have a niche skill set of being able to view a person holistically, and truly listen to a person’s issues and value their input from multiple perspectives. I would encourage anyone of any age to go and see a physio if you want to improve your pain, function, quality of life and health.”

Of course, it is the North Adelaide and Hockey SA roles that are helping her even further build the skills she will require to continue to have an impact in elite sport.

“I just love sport and I truly cannot get enough of it and each day I am out on the field working with my teams doesn’t feel like work at all,” Lauren said. “At North

Adelaide I love how I have been able to develop my leadership skills and really make a difference to the way the program is run. Whilst at Hockey SA the opportunity to travel with the teams is undeniably fun and is quite close to how travelling with elite sporting teams would feel.

“I have been able to form great relationships and friendships with those around me, which is one of the most valuable things I take away from my job. Even though physiotherapy seems a rather medical job, it is very much people focused and working with people is where you find the greatest reward.”

As far as a career in health care goes, Lauren is certainly an unabashed advocate for physiotherapy and urges students with an interest in health care not to be intimidated by the high entry requirements.

“If you have a passion for it and are willing to put in the effort you will make it,” she said. “The most successful physios aren’t the ones with the highest ATAR, they are the ones with the best people skills and a genuine care for others.

“If you love being in jobs where you can be active, get to interact with people, don’t want to get bored doing the same thing everyday and want to do something in the medical field then explore physiotherapy and all of its career options as there are so many.”

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