By Darren
Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex
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| Dan Jahnke started at ZONE Sports Physiotherapy in March. |
Back in
2018, Jahnke finished up a four-year career playing baseball for the Newman
University Jets, which is an NCAA Division II program in the United States in
Wichita, Kansas. He completed his bachelor of science in biology at Newman
University and moved back to Saskatoon to pursue his master of physical therapy
at the University of Saskatchewan.
In December
of 2020, Jahnke completed his master of physical therapy degree. At the start
of this year, he began working as a physiotherapist in Cold Lake, Alta.
Jahnke saw
a job posting for ZONE Sports Physiotherapy back home in Saskatoon. He applied
for it, and at the end of this past March, he was back home working at the ZONE
location inside the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.
“It was really nice to be able to come back,” said Jahnke.
“This is where lots of my family is.
“I have lots of friends here obviously growing up here. It
is home. It is just where I like being.”
The 25-year-old is a recognizable face not just in
Saskatoon’s baseball community but in the city’s much larger sports community.
Jahnke played hockey along with baseball growing up. As a
goalie in hockey, Jahnke suited up for the Saskatoon Blazers under-18 AAA for
two seasons from 2010 to 2012 before joining the now defunct Beardy’s
Blackhawks under-18 AAA squad for the 2012-13 campaign.
In his Grade 12 year in high school, Jahnke became a member of the Aden Bowman Collegiate Bears football team. On top of enjoying rounds of golf, Jahnke said his senior year in high school was the time he tried to soak in playing as many sports as he could.
“I just liked doing anything where I could move around and hit things and throw things – just have fun playing around and competing,” said Jahnke, who stands 6-feet and weighs 190 pounds. “It got me involved in a lot of different sports growing up.
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| Dan Jahnke playing for Newman University. (Photo Courtesy Dan Jahnke) |
“I figured I would try out everything I missed out on for
the rest of high school. In that high school year, I did football, badminton,
wrestling and track and field. I was just trying to do everything I could.”
During his high school years, Jahnke played for the
Saskatoon Diamondback under-18 AAA baseball team. He credited his Diamondbacks
coach, Matt Kosteniuk, as being a big influence on helping him enjoy baseball
to the point he wanted to play it at the post-secondary level.
“I had really good experiences in baseball,” said Jahnke. “I
had always been part of good teams growing up.
“We were good on the field and good off the field. In (under-18
AAA), I was lucky enough to have Matt Kosteniuk as my coach. He is a great guy.
I still really enjoy hockey, but the competitive hockey I just decided wasn’t
for me in the future.
“I wanted to keep playing something, and I loved baseball. I
had a lot of fun with it. I figured it was a good way to keep competing and
keep pushing myself while getting an education.”
At Newman University from 2014 to 2018, Jahnke played
numerous positions with the Jets. He mainly played at first base and third
base, spent a season in the outfield and was a backup catcher at one point in
time.
Jahnke had such a good experience at Newman University that
it did feel tough leaving the people he knew in Wichita
to come home.
“Kansas is so similar to here in a lot of ways,” said
Jahnke. “It is definitely different in some ways too.
“It is very similar in quite a few. I
made a lot of good friends down there, so that kind of sucked leaving the
friends behind. Coming back, I just got thrown right into the fire with physio
school.
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| Dan Jahnke’s Jets promo picture. |
Once he returned to
Saskatoon, Jahnke found it was a smooth transition to resume life where he grew
up.
“I guess it was
relatively easy,” said Jahnke. “I had been back every summer.
“I still knew
everybody around here. I didn’t have any real issues.”
Jahnke said one of the obvious perks to becoming a
physiotherapist is it allows you to stay involved in sports. That was just part
of the reason he became a physiotherapist.
He had a larger interest in helping people function better
physically.
“I obviously love sports,” said Jahnke. “I’ve played a lot
of sport in my life.
“I’ve always been really interested in how people perform
better and what makes people perform better from a physical perspective. That
led me kind of into the biomechanics of things. Physio just seemed to fit that
really well like combining biomechanics.
“You have the sport aspect of it. I thought if I was lucky
enough to get to that area it would be great and here we are. It just kind of
ticked all the boxes.”
Jahnke has enjoyed working alongside Mitch Dahl and Brad
Spokes at the ZONE clinic at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. Jahnke had been
one of Dahl’s clients for years when it came to rehabbing from various sports
injuries.
“Mitch (Dahl) and Brad (Spokes) are both awesome,” said
Jahnke. “I have a lot to learn from both of them.
“It is interesting. I think back even two years ago I was
coming into this clinic for physio to see Mitch as a client. It is kind of cool
to be able to hang out and say ‘hi’ to somebody that helped you through that
much when you were growing up and helped you keep playing and do what you want
to do.
“I feel like I am getting to learn from one of the best
crews around.”
This year,
Jahnke began helping the Saskatoon Valkyries of the Western Women’s Canadian
Football League as a trainer. He would like to be involved with more teams in
the future and wants to learn and grow as a physiotherapist at ZONE.
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| Dan Jahnke enjoys being at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. |
“I think it helps,” said Jahnke. “It is nice to know when somebody comes in that I can say I was doing something in this sport.
“It is nice to know what they mean. It is good for talking
points. It is easy to make conversation with people, especially with a few of
the people from (The Going Yard Training Centre) that we might say high too and
people over at Ignite (Athletics).
“We are all into sports and performance and just general
fitness. It is kind of what we are doing here. The variety of sport definitely
adds to that for sure.”
