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HealthPartners launches ‘performing arts medicine’ program
A team at HealthPartners TRIA Orthopedics is working to ensure athletes in the performing arts receive the same medical knowledge and attention as other sports.
ST PAUL, Minn — Cassi Nelson’s childhood was spent at Circus Juventas in St. Paul. By high school, she was set on pursuing a professional career in circus performing.
“I would come [to Circus Juventas] from 2:30 to 9, and I was training here all day,” Nelson said. “You’d think that doing the same thing all the time would get a little bit dull, but there’s always something new to do.”
Nelson appears to have done it all. She’s done handstands while balancing dozens of feet in the air, and she’s flown on trapezes.
“I love being thrown,” she said. “Especially nice and high up in the air.”
It’s clear, when you see Nelson perform, that it takes an incredible amount of strength. She says years of intense conditioning and athletic training have allowed her to build up to jaw-dropping acts.
“Even just pulling yourself onto a trapeze, that’s a full pull-up,” she said. “You’re able to use all of these different muscles. We are athletes.”
Nelson, who now attends a school out in California to continue her professional career path in circus, says she’s thankful to have spent her youth working alongside a medical team who understood the unique demands of the sport. For the past seven years, a team from HealthPartners TRIA Orthopedics has partnered with Circus Juventas to treat performers, getting to know them on an individual basis.
That partnership was especially important in 2021, when Nelson suffered an elbow injury, tearing her UCL.
“The seven, eight years I had been here, I had never been injured before,” she said. “It ended up being a moment of weakness, just landing in the net wrong. Even that night, they were already so helpful.”
Dr. Ashley TeKippe, the physician who works with Circus Juventas, helped Nelson get into an urgent care that night. Soon after, Nelson began months of physical therapy with physical therapist Jackie Voigt.
“I knew, from knowing her before, that this was going to be hard for her,” Voigt said. “She has a career planned in this, so we knew from the get-go we needed to get her in soon, and we need to have a plan for her and be structured.”
Nelson’s team helped her set personal goals to keep her safe while easing her back into full movement.
“They went out of their way to make sure that I was doing what I love still, but still doing it safely,” Nelson said. “People usually get surgery for this injury, but sometimes in the circus world, scars can be looked at as bad. They did full PT with me so that I’m extra strong and back into it as I can be.”
Now, TRIA has formalized the program they have created over the past seven years with Circus Juventas, launching the “performing arts medicine” program. It consists of Dr. TeKippe, two athletic trainers, and two physical therapists, including Voigt. Voigt says it was a “herculean effort” to meet what they have learned is a great need.
“There are so many professional circus artists out there that don’t have medical coverage, or don’t have a medical team at all,” she said. “But it’s also not uncommon for all performing artists to not seek medical care. We’ve done research, and we see their injuries are underreported in a lot of athletes that are performers.”
Now, she’s excited to create equity within the world of sports medicine.
“It’s really the same as a football team or basketball team, and they still need that medical care that other teams are getting,” she said. “That’s kind of what we see as the gap we need to fill in our performing artist athletes.”
TRIA now plans to expand the program by partnering with other performing arts organizations, such as dance and gymnastic teams. They also are hoping to treat individual athletes, including ice skaters. You can reach out to them here.
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Little information is being made public as police investigate a homicide.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Police in St. Paul are investigating a fatal stabbing in the city Friday night.
Little information is made available at this time, but police are calling it a homicide.
It happened on the 200 block of E 7th Street, police said.
This story is developing and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Gov. Tim Walz took a break from the campaign trail to watch his old football team in action.
MANKATO, Minn. — People poured into Blakeslee Stadium on the Minnesota State Mankato campus Friday to see a clash between crosstown rivals Mankato West and Mankato East. Added to the mix was an appearance by Governor Tim Walz, who came to take a stroll down memory lane.
“I was lucky enough to have both Mr. Walz and Mrs. Walz as teachers,” Jimmy Baker, a Mankato West alum told KARE. “They started at West my freshman year, so they just as much a part of this place as I am.”
Baker played linebacker and running back on the Scarlets’ 1999 state championship team, with Tim Walz as his defensive coordinator. Walz was a social studies teacher at the time and his wife Gwen taught English and literature.
“He just really loved football, and he really felt passionate about the gameplay, and he gets really pumped up by good plays, and he was really good at redirecting and getting everyone on the same page,” Baker recalled.
Baker was one of the Mankato alums who took the stage wearing their Scarlet jerseys during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. It was part of the DNC’s overall effort to reinforce the “Coach Walz” theme for their vice-presidential candidate.
“I don’t really follow politics as closely as some, but it was very surreal to be there on that stage,” Baker recalled.
“It was pretty amazing to do that and also be able to do it with some of my oldest friends was probably the best part.”
As soon as Walz joined the Kamala Harris ticket in early August many former students of Gov. Walz and First Lady Gwen Walz have come forward to share their stories with the media of what it was like to be in their classroom decades ago.
At a State Capitol press conference, former student and football player Nate Hood from the Class of 2002 said Walz made a point of ensuring second-stringers got some playing time.
“Coach Walz brings me over and he was like, ‘Hood, what’s’ the score?’ I said, ‘Zero to 34, we’re down.’ He goes, ‘Alright! You can get in there!”
Walz taught social studies at Mankato West for nine years and served as defensive coordinator and assistant coach for the Scarlets until retiring to run for Congress in 2006.
Not everyone was thrilled with Walz’s appearance at Friday night’s game. Former Rep. Jeremy Munson of Lake Crystal said the Secret Service security measures would be inconvenient for families looking to enjoy the game.
“It’s upsetting to a lot of the parents to have this turned into a political event, by bringing the Secret Service, and I understand that’s the position he’s in as a candidate he has to have that security.”
Munson and others have commissioned a plane to fly over the stadium before the game with a banner that read “Bench Coach Walz – Trump 2024.”
The plane never made it to its destination. Munson later explained that the plane with the banner took off but was instructed by the control tower to return to the airport a few minutes later.
Jimmy Baker, who now has children of his own at Mankato West, said he thinks it’s great to see Mankato’s big game in the spotlight. He said he believes Gov. Walz and the First Lady have every right to see the big game.
“They’re as much a part of the community as anyone else. Whatever they’re at, or whatever they’re doing, they absolutely belong here!”
Wendell Epps and Charles Hallman agree Thursday’s game was unlike anything they’ve ever seen… or covered.
MINNEAPOLIS — A security camera inside Minneapolis’ A Bar of Their Own looked as if it would fall from the ceiling on Thursday night, as Minnesota Lynx fans erupted in celebration during the team’s historic comeback in Game One of the WNBA Finals.
It was one of several fan reaction videos that spoke to the joy and pandemonium that unfolded in the final seconds of regulation and throughout overtime, as the Lynx clawed back from an improbable 15-point deficit with less than six minutes to play in regulation.
That joy wasn’t just coming from fans.
Wendell Epps, the 23-year-old, first-year play-by-play announcer for the Minnesota Lynx Radio Network, had some of the best seats in the house for all the unforgettable plays, and his selfie-style recording of his final calls captured the chaos that unfolded in New York.
“It was absolutely insane,” Epps said. “I mean, this is my first, big-boy play-by-play job and to have that opportunity was really cool and it was a surreal experience. I loved it.”
Just thinking about it made Charles Hallman, a Hall of Fame sportswriter for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, laugh.
“That young man… just think, this is his first year calling WNBA games and he’s in the Finals,” Hallman said, with a loud laugh.
Charles Hallman is on the other end of the spectrum… the basketball writer says it’s also one of the best games he’s ever seen… and he had to watch from his living room.
Charles Hallman: “I watched on an easy chair and I was on the edge of my seat.”
Kent Edahl: “I’m guessing you were NOT at the edge of your seat after that shot by Courtney Williams.”
Hallman: “Haha, no, I fell backwards! I fell backwards like she fell when she got fouled.”
Though he is no stranger to covering the Lynx in the WNBA Finals, Hallman said this run has stood out.
Hallman: “If they win this, this will be a very unique, unique championship.”
Erdahl: “What do you think makes this run special?”
Hallman: “This team, literally, just came together this year, that just shows you the great coaching job of Cheryl Reeve, who don’t get a lot of credit for what she does, and how these players grasp on to her. The chemistry of this team is just… for professional sports is very impressive. They just love to play together.”
“I just think we have a lot of players who have kind of flown under the radar,” Epps said. “Even Napheesa Collier, our best player, is probably the most underrated superstar in any professional sports league.”
And the fact that the Lynx were able to bite back in the Big Apple makes it even sweeter.
“Literally, every time out I would see a different celebrity pop up on the jumbotron,” Epps said.
“I’m glad that America got to see the Lynx play if they haven’t seen them play all year, that was a fantastic, an instant classic,” Hallman said. “I mean, to see the Lynx on the front page of the paper today. You don’t see that very often. For somebody that’s been covering the sport for as long as I have. That’s something that I love to see, and I’d love to see that more because women’s sports deserves to get that kind of praise.” added Epps.
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