ART is at the IRONMAN World Championships

I’m here in Kona, Hawaii, with the ART team for the IRONMAN World Championships. It is an incredible experience that shows how much more is on the horizon for ART and all our stakeholders, including you.

Many of you probably share experiences like mine from just the last couple of months. I was headed up an escalator in the Philadelphia airport while another gentleman was coming down the other side. He looked closely at my shirt and said, “Active Release Techniques?” I said, “yep,” and he gave me a huge smile and thumbs up. (Very rare in Philly, if you don’t know.) Another time, I was wearing an ART shirt at my gym in Colorado Springs, when a gentleman named Corbin stopped me. Corbin said that ART “literally saved my life” and is “the best treatment out there, and I’ve tried them all.”

The difference here in Kona is several of those moments occur every single day. Wear a piece of ART apparel down the main drag here and expect to be stopped at least half a dozen times with sweaty fist bumps, elbow bumps, and athletes asking where the treatment tent is located. I’m writing this on our first treatment day this year, and I heard many IRONMAN veterans express enormous gratitude for treatment in prior years and asking to reconnect with ART providers that previously treated them. One athlete told us he had been counting down to ART treatment (not the race, ART treatment) for the last eight weeks. His countdown to treatment was so intense that his wife did not appreciate it.

One of my favorite things here is that no one asks where “art” is, they know it is “A-R-T.” Even folks that don’t speak a lick of English, and many do not, know it is “A-R-T” and precisely what we do and why we do it.

That’s a credit to all our Certified Providers, especially to those serving this week in Kona and those that have previously worked this treatment week. It is difficult, hot, sweaty, and messy work. Dr. Leahy, Dr. Faye, Dr. DeCourcy, Dr. Kim, and Dr. Willis deserve all the credit for their organizing efforts and exceptional skillsets demonstrated over decades here. Of course, that work also comes with the support of their families (Patty, Michael, Susan, Tu, Dezzie, and Dakota) and the ART family. I hesitate to name people individually because this week is a combined effort from so many on the ground here in Kona and back at home in Colorado Springs, but those friends deserve specific shine.

Our mission is to power the pursuit of passions, livelihoods, and triumphs, by increasing access to higher-quality, more cost-effective care. The HQ team is here in Kona to observe and learn what makes ART a household name here in Kona and with IRONMAN, and we’re determined to convert that knowledge to making ART a household name throughout the U.S. and internationally. This week is so exciting for us because, at these world championships, in this narrow but prominent tunnel, our mission is fulfilled. Our path is illuminated.

I’m lucky to be joined here in Kona by our Marketing Manager, Erin Connolly, who is much better at communications than I am and is also the first ART representative to be granted media credentials at the IRONMAN World Championships. Please reach out to me or Erin with thoughts or ideas for extrapolating our Kona and IRONMAN brand impact into the world. We know it is within reach, and we strive for it every single day.

Mahalo,

Nate