From Both Sides of the Sideline — Tash Lagacé on Concussions, Athletic Therapy, and the Trust Athletes Need

Tash Lagacé has been on both ends of a concussion. In grade nine, she made a massive tackle in a rugby tournament, lost consciousness on the field, and was back playing within 30 minutes. Nobody pulled her. Nobody really knew to.

Now she's the athletic therapist for the Peterborough Petes and the Peterborough Lakers.

In this episode, Tash and Ryan talk through her personal concussion history, what it actually looks like to manage recovery for high-performance athletes under pressure, and why no two concussions ever follow the same path. They get into the fear of re-injury, how draft years and contracts add stress to an already difficult process, and the small wins that matter most when an athlete can't see their own progress.

She also makes the case for the most underrated person in the building — and it's not who you'd expect.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

In the world of sports, concussions are one of the most complex injuries an athlete may face. Not only is the injury hard to recognize, it's invisible. And this can lead to barriers for an athlete's removal from play and management of the injury. Its impact is felt by everyone the athlete, the student, the parent, teammates, and coaches alike. It's a journey that forces you to step away from the normal rhythm and navigate a path that doesn't always have a clear map. We call this place the Sideline. Because while the game continues for others, this is where the recovery and resilience happens for those who sustain a concussion. I'm your host, Ryan Sutton, and you're listening to the Sideline podcast presented by PACA. We're here to move past the clinical jargon and hold space for the authentic stories of those who have experienced or supported someone through a concussion in sport. On this episode of the Sideline Podcast, we interview Tash Legacy, the athletic therapist for the Peterborough Pete's and the Peterborough Lakers. We discuss topics such as Tash's personal story with concussions and also talk about her role as an athletic therapist in high performance sport. She details some lessons that she's learned over the years, whether it's from her personal experience or her experience on the sidelines helping athletes go through their concussion recoveries. Welcome, Tash.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Yeah, thanks for joining us. And uh I'm looking forward to this conversation today. Um I know we talked a little bit before about how you've also experienced a concussion in sport, maybe actually multiple concussions in sport, but also you fulfill a unique role in our sport landscape in Peterborough, being the athletic therapist for the the Peterborough Peets and the Peterborough Lakers. So it'll be great to hear your perspectives on what it's like from the sideline. And I'm excited to learn from you. With that, though, I'd like to maybe dive into the first question. Just hear a little bit about your concussion story and then your experiences with the injury.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Yeah. So um I've had unfortunately quite a few concussions myself, um, only a couple that were actually diagnosed, but now going into my role as an athletic therapist, many more that probably should have been diagnosed. But these were many, many years ago, long before you know concussions were even somewhat understood. Um, the biggest one I ever got, I was in grade nine playing rugby in high school and made this massive tackle. I was this tiny four foot eleven gymnast who was like maybe 100, 105 pounds, and took down someone about three times my size and just happened to spin and she sat on my head, so my head bounced off the ground and back up onto her and then hit the ground again. I just remember standing up in my coach going, that was F and Awesome, giving me two thumbs up. And I was like, Oh, okay. And then everything was just lights out. Woke up a couple minutes later on the field, completely unaware of what happened. Our trainer at the time was just an assistant coach who happened to have first aid. His hands were in my mouth holding my tongue. You know, at that point, they were like, Oh, like she's unconscious, she doesn't want to swallow her tongue. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

And all I remember was Emily, like, do you know what you're doing? And I just remember looking down, going, I'm in my uniform. So I I should be I'm playing rugby. And they're like, Oh, yeah, yeah, perfect. All right, you know where you are. Got up off the field, had no idea what happened before, didn't really again know where I was, just happened to answer correctly because I was like, Oh, I'm in my uniform. All right. Sat on the sidelines for maybe 30 minutes and played two more games that day. Oh, because I was fine afterwards. No, because it was a tournament day, and ever since then, uh, I know like the couple days leading after that, I was having vision problems, massive headaches, couldn't sleep, just completely besides myself, didn't really know what was going on, didn't get anything checked out because I didn't really say anything to my parents. My parents weren't there watching the game, to be honest. So thankfully, or else my mom probably would have freaked out, but just kind of kept it to myself because I was like, oh, this is like I'm just going through something, like who knows what. Fast forward a couple years, uh had another concussion from tobogganing, actually, not even sport related, and just that one was my probably my bad one that gave me like clouds over my eyes, migraines. I definitely had that one checked out for my vision. Luckily, nothing was severely wrong. But since those two like major ones, and I know clo like concussions aren't classified as major anything anymore, but at the time, those were like my biggest hits that came with symptoms. And since then, those ones I've been uh pretty um certain that that's kind of what started my whole concussion history stuff.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Yeah, well, I think that experience in grade nine is uh that's quite that's that's honestly that's crazy. Like to think of where we're at now and then that experience and how it's like, oh yeah, she's fine, she knows where she is, and uh just kind of going back into sport after that. And um, it's amazing that you're even where you are today doing all the work that you're doing and um having that experience and then going back and playing those extra games. And it's funny you mentioned tobogganing because this is obviously a sports-focused podcast, but those are the type of activities too, where in real life there's so many opportunities for getting a concussion. And maybe that's not a sport, but that's definitely a leisure or recreational activity, right? Where you're not really thinking that, oh yeah, I could get a concussion doing this. It's it's more having fun, but clearly those types of things can really impact someone and and what they're going through for sure. 100%. Yeah. And so I think like what's interesting too, and you maybe you didn't necessarily allude to this, but I kind of sensed it in the way that you're talking about, especially the rugby story. You knew that your assistant coach didn't necessarily have the the training, the background, also representative of the times, maybe, but now in your position as an athletic therapist, do you think that there's any type of connection to maybe the experiences you had having injuries in sport and then also maybe that care or that help that you received at that time and and where you're at now and seeing how those connect?

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Absolutely. I mean, my story of why I became an athletic therapist actually stems more from my gymnastics side. I had quite a few ankle injuries growing up from gymnastics. So just over the times of getting physio, learning how to tape myself, treating myself, that kind of thing. That kind of made me realize that, like, hey, like I know a decent amount of about injuries basically because I injured myself so often. But I was like, I kind of am enjoying this. And that's actually what pushed me into becoming more of an AT. And initially I wanted to be a physio and then got to York, and York was like, welcome to athletic therapy. And then I was like, Oh, I actually like this better. I'm like, I like the sideline aspect. I don't want to be in a clinic. Like, if I have the opportunity to be working with athletes all the time or being on the sidelines, I'm like, I'm all about that. And then obviously the concussion side definitely helped. But yeah, it was more the gymnastics and injuries, like the MSK stuff that kind of pushed me in. And then once I got into athletic therapy and started learning more and more about concussions and realizing, oh, like what happened to me was not right. And you know, the risks that came along with me returning to play as soon as I did, we all know Rowan's Law and everything now. So, like that kind of got me going, hmm, I got very lucky that something serious didn't happen. And then that kind of stemmed me and pushed me forwards even more to like concussion research and just expanding my knowledge on concussions.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Wow. That's pretty cool. And I guess the one thing I'm wondering and just hearing that, and like, what is it about the sideline that is so interesting to you in being a part of sport like that?

SPEAKER_00 7:36

I like emergency scenarios. Being a paramedic was kind of always on my sideline or my back burner sort of thing, just because I I do like the emergency aspect of being prepared for almost anything. But again, I do like the sports more. So for me, working a sideline game, especially like high contact sports like rugby, hockey, lacrosse, I could be ready for someone to drop from a concussion, uh MCL sprain, tear, rupture, even cardiac arrest. Like, right? I'm I'm I'm on the sidelines, just literally ready for anything. And I actually like I love the adrenaline because I love that aspect of the job.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

It's important work. And I think I'm sure all of your athletes appreciate it when they know that they're in safe hands when maybe they're laying on the ice or they're coming off onto the bench and like, oh man, I don't know what happened, but it's not good. I need your help. So I'm sure they really appreciate having you there.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

I hope so.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Yeah, no, they I'm sure they do. It's probably also an annoyance because they're like, dang, and similar to what you said, I'm injured again and dealing with all those injuries. And I know I've had my fair share of injuries as well. And part of the reason why I do this work for sure. I guess the like moving over to a different segment now. So it's the small wins log is this next segment. So you've obviously dealt with several different concussions in sport. So I'm curious if you had any maybe small wins along the way that helped you along your journey where it really showed you that, okay, maybe I am making some progress here. You mean for like for me personally or yeah, for you personally, let's start there. And then uh afterwards we can we can talk more generally.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Uh yeah, for sure. I mean, over my years of dealing with headaches and migraine and not, I was kind of just like, well, this is this is it, this is what I'm gonna be like for the rest of my life. Again, getting into York, learning more about concussions in the program. And York had a decent uh concussion research program going on there. So I helped out with a few studies, nothing crazy, but started learning more about being able to still get treatments and whatnot. So would get a couple treatments done on my neck, some vestibular work. And for those, like certain some days, honestly, I would feel like complete crap afterwards. Yeah. But I got reassured that that's just, you know, I'm straining and like testing my systems and like progressing essentially. So days where, you know, I'd go weeks without migraines, for me, that was a huge win, even though for some people they'd be like, oh, it's just nothing. But for me, like my migraines were pretty debilitating. So yeah, having my first couple of weeks without a migraine was probably my biggest, like, oh my God, like this is actually progress.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Yeah, you're back to maybe that that baseline that you you kind of hope to get to at all times, right? In your recovery. But yeah, that's that's I think the relief after like working through a headache or even a migraine as well, like that's that is definitely a great win, especially if you're able to sustain that for a period of time for sure.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

So I guess you kind of hinted at it, but what about in your practice as an athletic therapist with the Pete's, with the Lakers? Are there small wins that you notice maybe consistently across athletes' recovery pathways with concussion? And and what do you think they are?

SPEAKER_00 10:47

Uh absolutely there's small wins. Um, a lot of times my athletes they don't see them, so I have to kind of point them out, being like, well, look, a big one is even just day-to-day symptom reduction. You know, they'll I'll get them to fill out the SCAT symptom score evaluation pretty much every day. And you know, they'll come in being like, I still feel like nothing's changing, but I'll look at them and be like, well, your score today was only 10 out of 122. Yesterday you're at 15, right? So just to get them being like, oh, okay, well, yeah, I guess like not saying like this actually means you're progressing, but just small things where they're like, oh yeah, okay, yeah, my headache's not as bad today. You're right. Okay. Plus just being around the the arena and being around the boys, I feel like for them that's a small win because sometimes at the very beginning, depending on how symptomatic they are, they don't want anything to do with the rink, it's too loud, it's too right. And they also feel like they let down their team. So, and I get that, right? Like they don't want to be there or they're like they're depressed because they're watching all their teammates play, practice, and they can't be involved. But then you see them start to come back around, start to hang out with the boys, joke around. Those are again to like small wins that they just sometimes don't notice. That's it's just nice to be like, hey, look, like you're you're joking around today, like you're you're part of like you went and watched video today. Yes, you didn't go on the ice, but you're watching video. Like just yeah, small stuff like that. That's just and each athlete's obviously gonna be different, each sport's gonna be different too.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Yeah, that's something that we actually talk about a lot when we're educating is that that step to actually being with your team again, even if you're not able to participate, as you mentioned, I think that is such a great small win to mention there because there is that process where you're not able to be at the rink, as you just said, but then once you get there and you're able to hang out, that's a huge shift for you because you're not isolated anymore. You're not feeling like it's just you. You can be a part of that that social culture that you're so used to, and it kind of brings you back whether you you realize it or not. And I think that's that's so important. And it's something that I think every athlete can maybe relate to who's had a concussion as well, and recognizing it that as a win in and of itself is is huge.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Yeah, 100%. I think that's great. And uh, I think next on the the segments list that we have here is the unsung hero. So we'll start off with your personal experience. And I know we keep going back to this, and it was maybe a a little bit ago, but um, was there anybody that you wanted to just kind of shout out and maybe share a little bit of uh gratitude towards for helping you work through some of your own personal experiences with King Kashu?

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Honestly, not really because I know so it I I I was thinking about this the other day, and like, I mean, it was it was a long time ago, so it's hard to remember, but I do remember like obviously my best friends at the time were supportive of me. But like other than that, like I didn't go see a doctor. My parents didn't really right, like I didn't really tell them anything. So that was kind of my own fault, right? So I kept a lot of it to myself, so I didn't really have that person helping me out along the way, pushing me, being like, hey, like this is a small win for you, or hey, like, you know, like we'll get there, we'll help you through it. It was kind of a which is stupid on my behalf, which is I use that story all the time for my athletes when they try and hide stuff from me, or you know, I'm like, hey, I've been there, I've done it. It sucks. Like, trust me, firsthand experience, high-level athlete. Like, it it's not cool. So yeah, like I would I I can't really say, like once I got to York, the the program there, the AT program, that would probably be my my unsung hero. Um, again, because they helped develop me into the AT I was becoming, but actually going through in like grade nine, 10 in high school, not really, which is is unfortunate.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Yeah, I think that the one thing that I may even point out, and maybe it's not uh something that you would necessarily point out on your own, but maybe the unsung hero is you, right? Like navigating all that, navigating all that by yourself at a young age, I think is uh is quite a task, and uh you probably were dealing with a lot more than you give yourself credit for, and you came out on the other side of it. So I think uh yeah, I think that's uh at least something in this conversation, what I'm thinking right now, and I think uh you should give yourself credit for that for sure.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

There we go. Pat some back.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Yeah, a little pat on the back.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

My stubbornness uh helped me out for once.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Um, obviously, we wouldn't recommend anybody doing that alone, especially nowadays, and that's why we have so many great supports in place with PACA, with different people in the community who can help. Um, but it is something, especially back when you sustain those injuries, I think it's uh it's it's amazing that you're able to work through it the way that you did. Um and then I think, yeah, just again bringing this back to maybe your profession um and also working with high performance athletes. Is there maybe someone a part of that recovery process that you do see maybe is an unsung hero, like for your athletes as they go through it?

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Yeah. So this is actually when I would say the AT or our strength coach. Um, I know in like our experience for sure, our our strength coaches, the guys at hybrid, they are uh phenomenal. They deal with the athletes just as personally as I do every pretty much every single day. Seeing them in their almost most vulnerable state, right? They're at the gym, they're blue, like literally unleashing. It's not hockey related, they're just there to get work, like work out and whatnot. So their support, because they obviously we work very closely with our our strength and conditioning coaches, so they know what the guys are capable of doing that day based on their return to play protocol. So they're they're the biggest supporters, I believe. And like the I'd say the biggest unsung hero for sure.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Awesome. Yeah, well, as uh my brother who is a strength and conditioning coach with hybrid team, I'm sure he'll appreciate that too.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Little shout out to Eric there.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

And Josh Curry.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Yeah, and of course the other guys as well. And I think it's what's interesting about that too is that there must be some sort of communication that's going on between you and them every day, right? To inform them of like obviously they'll have a feel, but you have to be like, okay, this is what we're thinking in terms of the capacity for the athlete today. Can you adapt the program for them? So there is a there there is an element of personalization needed for that too, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:05

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

I'll get a call or text that morning being like, hey, you know, how's this guy doing? How'd he skate? Or again, I'd text be like, oh, he like this is what we did. This these are his objective measures in terms of like where his heart rate's allowed to be at. Let's not do any like jumps or any of that kind of stuff. I mean, the boys there are like the the strength coaches at hybrid are they phenomenal. We've pretty much had a return to play protocol in place for a couple of years, out of that they don't really need to necessarily say what can and can't we do. It's more about where they're at so they know kind of what to what to do with them. But yeah. Or, you know, a guy comes in that morning and hasn't told me about an injury, then yeah, we'll usually get a hey, what's going on with so and so? I'm like, I don't know, no one told me about this one yet. So that one, they'll kind of be like, oh, they're complaining of ABC and go from there. But generally speaking, it hasn't happened for any concussion system symptoms stuff, knock on wood. I usually pick those ones up pretty quickly. But other stuff is uh that's a different story.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

Yeah, okay. Well, I guess that is all great information, and obviously all that stuff also happens like kind of away from the sideline. That's just the work that goes on behind the scenes, right? The stuff that when people come to the arena, they don't really see all the work that goes on behind. I guess my my question I have for you now is is actually the next segment. So the lessons from the sideline. It's like what kind of lessons are you seeing for athletes when maybe this is that athlete AT relationship? What lessons have you learned through those interactions specifically for concussion that can help maybe uh other athletes and their athletic therapists across the sports sector more generally?

SPEAKER_00 18:48

Oh, that's a good one. Um, the biggest one that we've, I mean and I've seen firsthand and just we know in research, not every concussion is the same. Um, it's not like uh, you know, an ACL rehab or ACL sprain where we're like, yep, we know you're gonna be out this amount to this amount. We know this is how we start your rehab, this is how we like progress, whatever. Um, a concussion, we know the minimum amount they'll be out, but we don't know the maximum, which is probably the hardest part to deal with coaches as well, in terms of, you know, he's like, Well, this guy's he only got the tiniest knock on the head. And why has he been out for a month? Versus this guy got knocked out on cold and he's back in the 10 days. That's probably the biggest, I guess, lesson. Yeah, like not every, not every concussion is the same. And not every hit's a concussion. That's the other one too, where the players are so paranoid now. Or there's been a few times where I had to talk some guys out thinking, you know, they're like, I don't know, I hit my head, I have a concussion, don't I? And I was like, no, like which is honestly, we've kind of gone the other way a little bit with some of the players, which I'm like, okay, I never expected this one to happen. Like, you know, they get hit and they instantly are like, I'm out, I'm screwed. Um, typically it's the knock, and then they're hiding symptoms or hiding stuff from me. But being able to just educate them, like, nope, not every hit's a concussion. We take it, you know, personal each time and just go with kind of where you're at, what your symptoms are, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Yeah, no, I think one thing that you kind of said there that uh kind of struck me was the like players thinking they have a concussion when they may not. Um I think that's well in my research, I've I looked into like the role fear plays in the concussion recovery process. And and I think that's also one of the things I was able to uncover was there is a fear re-injury. Maybe those athletes have had a concussion before. Maybe they know what it's like and they they worry that they may get another one, right? And so that's from your perspective, are you seeing maybe not you're seeing that well, you are seeing it more and more is what you said, but like are you also having to manage some of the fear that goes in with some of the injuries that the athletes are experiencing as well, where maybe they think it's worse than it is, or maybe you're kind of working with them on expectations, not only in the moment when it happens, but also during their recovery?

SPEAKER_00 21:07

Absolutely. I was gonna say, yeah, that's the fact that you mentioned up it was the couple athletes who have sustained concussions in the past. It was those the ones that were a little bit more cautious, a little bit more fearful because they have had problematic stuff, right? Like they they do know what it's like, whether or not it was a bad recovery or like longer recovery than expected kind of thing. But typically it's the ones that have been, or even another injury, right? Like someone came back from a blown ACL and all of a sudden now they knock their head and they're like, oh no, like instantly go to I just had a big hit, like I just got back, you know, that kind of thing. So yeah, there's definitely a lot of talking them, not talking them down, but like, yeah, like going over fear and what was the other word? Sorry, what was the other word you used? Just the expectations or like you.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Yeah, even when they're going through their recovery and they're making those progressions, like how are you working with them if there's setbacks in the recovery?

SPEAKER_00 21:59

That's a tough one. Because obviously setbacks are going to happen. But you know, I kind of just we sit them down, we have a one-on-one, we bring in the strength coach if we need, bring in even the coaching staff, and we say, hey, like, you know, there is no pressure on you returning quickly. Like if there's a setback that happens, that's okay. We'll manage it day by day. Um, and then yeah, the coaches are usually really good to be like, yeah, like I'm not forcing you, like I'd rather you be back 100% versus having the setback and trying to rush to get back at 80% kind of thing. That usually is a big, a big one to help the athletes kind of manage their mental side of it. But I mean, yeah, obviously setbacks are are not fun and they they happen. So it's just it's a another individualized thing, like depending on the setback, we just kind of sit down, chat between myself and the athlete, bring in whoever I need to as secondary, and just go from there.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Yeah, I guess just continuing to ask questions about this because I find it very fascinating. But how like say there's added pressure on your athletes, like they're already high performance athletes. Maybe it's somebody's draft year, maybe they're up for a new contract or whatever. Um, they're dealing with these other pressures on top of not only just playing good, but just maybe staying in the lineup each night. Like, do you find that that impacts the recovery process at all for some athletes?

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Absolutely. Um, that adds a lot of extra stress on the athletes, especially young ones. On the like the lacrosse side, not like these guys are already a lot of them play in the NLL, so they're professional. So they're used to, and like they're older, right? They're adult, they're young adults, some of them have families, careers. So it's a little bit different perspective there. But definitely with any of the younger athletes, it's they're they're learning, right? Sometimes, like I said, if it's a draft year, they've never really been in this amount of pressure, amount of um anxiety before. So that's definitely one that I definitely see as an external sort of stressor involved for sure.

SPEAKER_01 23:55

Yeah. So then your role in that is obviously helping them through the recovery, but it it seems like you also have to kind of work with them on the mental side of it too, which is really interesting. And just like helping them the mentality, I guess, of the recovery.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

Exactly. We we have an excellent um mental health sort uh resource with the team. Um, so obviously if it's something gets like really big, then we we reach out to them or even the athletes, like they have all their numbers saved. But typically it's more of a, you know, the guys trust me, they come and just have chats with me. So it's more of just a an unload session where they just kind of let everything off their chests or we just kind of chat and just sort of help them talk down that anxiety. But yeah, our our uh mental health coach and our mental health support like supportment team is there on rail for that.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

That's awesome. Well, I think that's it for me. And I appreciate all of your perspectives and all of your your lessons. And I think this has been an amazing podcast. I really appreciate all of the insight that you provided, sharing your story as well, um, not only as an AT, but also your personal experience. And I think a people are gonna get a lot of value from this and and will value what you had to say. And I really love all the lessons from the sidelines. Also learning more about what it's like to be an AT in that role. Um, I I think it's so important. And obviously, it would be great if there were ATs at every single sporting event. I think that would be the ideal scenario. Unfortunately, it's not always the case, but I think when they are there, I think there's always that extra layer of trust that's just built within that team, just knowing that they are in safe hands. So I really appreciate the role that you fill in the sports system. And I think uh it's as a former athlete, I wish I had access to an AT like you to be able to help me through my recovery for sure.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

I I appreciate it and like honestly, this this podcast is a great thing. I could concussion stuff is as we know, close to me. And it's uh it's nice to see that there's more and more research and stuff getting posted and published now about concussion, and I'd love to see where it goes.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

Awesome. Well, thank you. Appreciate the chat.

SPEAKER_00 26:06

Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

Thanks again to Tash Legacy for all of her amazing insight, not only with her personal story, but also her role as an athletic therapist. If you like this content and want to learn more about concussions, please feel free to visit packet.health. Stay tuned for our next podcast episode on Rowan's Law Day, September 30th, 2026. We'll be at Lakefield College School doing a live podcast where they have live sports events going on all around us. We look forward to the conversations that we'll have there, and we look forward to the awareness that we'll bring on such an important day for concussion awareness all across Ontario.