Moving to Toronto and Working as a Strength and Conditioning Intern for the Toronto Raptors!

Hello everybody! It’s been a VERY hectic past week here, and things have done a complete 360! I’m very excited and happy to announce that I have landed a strength and conditioning internship with the Toronto Raptors! Very unexpected and funny how all of this worked out.

Back in the summer, my adviser for my Master’s program called me and notified me about a position available with the Toronto Raptors as a strength and conditioning intern. I was pretty surprised to see this and hear about this at first, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to apply in the beginning because part of the problem would have been that I would have to find a place to live in Toronto. However, I said what the heck! Why not apply and just see what happens?

So, after spending one full night putting together a resume and cover letter, I sent my application to MLSE around sometime in July, a few days before the deadline.

Time went by (about over a month and a half), and I never heard anything. I had just assumed that I wasn’t getting the position and I was prepared to start school. So, after registering for all my courses and what not, I get an email, literally a week ago, asking to come up to the Air Canada Center for an interview.  I quickly replied back and confirmed that I would attend the interview process. My interview was scheduled for lunch this past Tuesday, and I ended up heading to Toronto the day before, just to get some good rest and prepare myself.

Funny story: For this interview, I expected a sit-down interview, where I was going to wear a nice suit and be asked a bunch of professional questions. However, the interviewer had messaged me Monday, saying to wear athletic clothing to the interview.. Well, I didn’t bring any athletic clothing up with me, and it was Labor Day, so everything was closed. Jeez, I thought I was screwed! Well, after panicking a bit, I figured I’ll just by a cheap and quick outfit at the mall the next morning and then take the subway way down to the ACC. So, I woke up extra early, went to the mall and made sure I was the first person waiting outside the sports store to pick up my outfit.

150 dollars later, I was on my way to the interview.

Once, I arrived for the interview, I was pretty nervous, but I felt like I handled myself very well, and I answered everything the best to my knowledge. Also demonstrated exercises the best according to my understanding.

At the end of the interview, the interviewer said I did a “pretty good job” and that “I know my stuff.” And also, said that they would let me know by the end of the week if I got the position.  After hearing this, I was pretty confident that I was going to get the position.

So, a day later, I got an email saying “Congratulations Remi, we have selected you for the internship position with the Toronto Raptors.”

Well, I’ll tell you that I was very shocked, excited and going crazy when I saw this. Shocked because I got the position after thinking at the beginning, it would be very competitive and tough to get this position and excited because it’s the ‘Toronto Raptors” and I love working with athletes. And lastly crazy because now I had to scramble around and find a place to live and figure out what the heck was going to happen with my schooling.

Now, as I am writing this post, pretty much everything is straightened out, and I’ll be heading up to Toronto shortly to start my strength and conditioning internship with the Toronto Raptors. I’m going to have a lot of responsibility, especially because I’m working with professional athletes. However, I am familiar with the process because I have spent the last two summers working with professional hockey athletes, so I feel I’m somewhat already prepared for this! (Only difference is I’m working with a different type of athlete, and I’m with a more recognized/professional organization)

Overall, this internship will be without a doubt a great learning experience and also, a great way to network.

I’m very excited for the future, and I’ll try to keep everyone posted with how things go!

Ciao,

Remi

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