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Nathan Breske participates in an intramural game at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Photo courtesy of Chris Machian of the UNO Gateway. |
Instead, the UNMC physical therapy student chose another route to the NFL, working alongside this year’s Super Bowl champion.
“I’m thrilled the Patriots won the big game the year I worked with them,” Breske said, after the New England Patriots clenched the Super Bowl title on Feb. 1 with a 32-29 victory over the Carolina Panthers.
Last year, Breske, who will receive his D.P.T. in physical therapy in May, spent eight weeks with the Patriots as part of an athletic training/physical therapy internship.
“I really wanted to have a chance to get into the NFL and felt this was my best way to make it happen,” Breske said of his June 12 through Aug. 29 experience in Boston. “I also believe that I am blessed with a knowledge of “knowing the way people are feeling” and that I have a talent in helping them whether it be physically, mentally or spiritually.”
Along with 400 other potential candidates, Breske sent a cover letter and resume to the team’s head athletic trainer in hopes of landing an internship. “I was blessed that he liked what he saw and gave me a chance to help the team,” he said.
Breske’s workday often began at 5:30 a.m., assessing and treating injured players, and ended around 10:30 p.m. Prior to each two-a-day practice, Breske would do a myriad of jobs ranging from taping athletes and doing personal workouts to stocking coolers, preparing medical kits and getting prescriptions. During practices, he ensured that players stayed hydrated and were taped, if necessary.
“I also was in a position as a physical therapist and past college quarterback to work out with the guys who were injured,” he said. That included sending them through passing drills, running drills, lineman drills, catching drills, footwork and speed drills, and strength issues.
The internship taught him valuable physical therapy and athletic training strategies. “I really enjoyed working with the players,” Breske said. “I was a part of practice. I ran with the best. I threw with the best.”
He worked closely with such players as Willie McGinest, Troy Brown, Rosevelt Colvin, Dan Graham, Tom Brady, Deion Branch, Bethel Johnson, Tully Banta-Cain, Joe Andruzzi, and such Midwest players as Matt Chatham, Adam Vinatieri and Russ Hochstein.
The Patriots have one physical therapist, one head athletic trainer and two assistant trainers and student athlete trainers, Breske said. Multiply that by two during the regular season and by six during the pre-season, he said.
Breske has dealt with his own athletic injuries. The former high school quarterback in Webster, S.D., also led Northern State University in Aberdeen, S.D., to a conference championship. A spinal fusion and two elbow reconstructions curtailed his football aspirations. “The doctors advised that I should really think about how important playing football is to me,” he said. “That’s when I became interested in physical therapy and athletic training.”
Today, he is on an eight-week sports medicine rotation in Madison, Wis., where he sees a variety of orthopedic injuries.
Meanwhile, Breske is still assessing his post-graduation plans and whether he will pursue a physical therapy career with an NFL or collegiate team, work at a clinic, open his own business or do missionary work with his fiancé, Tia Setness, who is working toward her nursing degree in Sioux Falls. The two will marry June 12.
“I learned some very valuable physical therapy and athletic training strategies from the people I worked with,” he said. “It was an experience of a lifetime.”