Unlocking a passion for helping athletes
From initial uncertainty to discovering his passion, Daniel Proietti’s confidence and experience gained through co-op helped him realize his interest in working with athletes.
Daniel Proietti is a fourth-year Kinesiology student who was able to solidify his ideal job position through his four co-op terms.
Through hands‑on co‑op experiences, he built trust, developed real‑world skills and discovered that trusting himself was key to gaining confidence and finding his path in athletic therapy.
Daniel's co-op journey
Athletic therapy clinical assistant, Waterloo Warriors Athletic Therapy
Daniel spent two co-op terms here, gaining hands-on experience in manual therapy with athletes while managing and organizing communication between athletic therapists and student trainers. He also supported the general public by booking appointments and ensuring the clinic was well organized and ran efficiently.
Intern, The Movement Lab
During his time at the sports medicine clinic, he observed the work done with professional athletes, including NBA players. Although some tasks were less enjoyable, such as washing dishes and doing laundry, he found the experience worthwhile because of the connections he made with the athletes.
Anatomy lab facilitator, Humber College
Daniel learned content from six different courses to help college students succeed. He also gained experience working alongside the undergraduates in both the institution’s dry and wet labs.
Q&A with Daniel
What sort of challenges did you face during your co-op terms?
“When I worked in the Waterloo clinic, the biggest challenge that I endured was the separation between my work life and my personal life. It was amazing and I'm very blessed that I had such an amazing job where all I wanted to do was that work, but it was intertwining with my personal life and it became my identity.”
“You start to realize that your job isn’t your whole life. Even at the job I’m at now, all I want to do is work, work, work. But what’s nice is that the staff here are really supportive as they remind me that while it’s good to work hard, I also need to set limits. There’s always a point where you have to step back.”
What would you say is your proudest co-op achievement?
“A lot of the time when kinesiology students go and work at physio clinics, they don't have that ability to go and treat patients. People are coming for professional services and they're not going to pay a regular student who doesn't have any certifications or anything backing them for their treatment. But in the therapy clinic, because I was working with athletes all day every day, I was able to then go and treat them.”
“As my co-op term developed, the athletic therapists instilled trust into me; the athletes would come to me, I would do the entire assessment, I would treat them with the manual skills I’d learned and then send them on their way. Then when they'd come back, I’d see if the exercises helped and if not, recoup. It almost felt like I was the athletic therapist at that point because of the trust that they instilled into me to do that job and also the skills I had built and developed throughout my co-op term. I was very proud of myself. I went from someone who didn't really know what they were doing to someone who has those abilities."
Did the co-op experience help you find what job you see yourself doing in the future?
"It did! Going into university, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I'm a pretty indecisive person and so I like to keep my options open and just roll with the punches.”
“I joined the student training program in my second year and I thought working with athletes was cool and whatnot, but in my mind, I wanted to be a physiotherapist. When I started working in the athletic therapy clinic at Waterloo, I had a moment of realization and at that point I definitely knew I wanted to work with athletes. Co-op really helped me clarify my ideal career path and led me to realize this is what I want."
How have you dealt with stress over the course of your co-op terms?
“It's hard. Sometimes stress can be a big thing, especially when there are so many different things that are occurring. When I am given tons and tons of tasks that I need to complete under a certain amount of time, it is stressful. The way I do it, whether it's a co-op term or a school term, is to write it down. A lot of the time all the stuff that's circulating throughout our head is filling up a lot of space that it doesn't need to and it may seem a lot bigger than it actually is.”
How would you advise someone with no experience to build confidence?
“I think confidence is so important. When I am going into an interview, I truly believe that I can get the job. I think that most confidence is built from skill. You need to continuously prove to yourself that you have the ability to do the job and that will increase your confidence.”
"I think without the skills, it's personality. A lot of people go into interviews and think they need to stand out from one another based on the jobs that they have had and the skills that they possess. But if everyone has had the exact same jobs, the exact same skills; how do you differ?”
“It's how we carry ourselves. How am I going into that interview? Is my body language good? Am I someone who is talking and engaging? Or, does the interviewer want this to be over because of how monotone I am?”
The combination between our personality and our confidence is what differentiates us from that other person who may have the exact same experience.
What's next for Daniel?
“My goal is to go to Europe and get a master's degree in Physiotherapy or Sports Therapy. Ideally my end goal would be to work for a professional sports team as a physiotherapist or as an athletic therapist, something where I can help athletes rehab from being on the sideline to being back out on the field.”