Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabe Ignacio.
Hi Gabe, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was born and raised in the Bay Area in Northern California and currently reside in Orange County. I played basketball and golf competitively as a child and into high school and had the opportunity to play on the D1 practice/scout basketball team at the University of the Pacific. I received my Bachelor’s degree in Sports Medicine and a minor in Psychology and was fortunate to go straight into USC’s Doctorate of Physical Therapy Program, where I met Marco Lopez, my business partner. My first exposure to healthcare and physical therapy was in high school when my brother suffered a traumatic brain injury. I witnessed my brother fight for recovery, rehabilitation, and reintegration into a “normal” lifestyle. This motivated me to provide the same high quality of care that my brother received. Basketball for me was like my first love, and I found a great way to combine my passion for helping others, providing high-quality individualized care, and my athletic/sports background through the physical therapy profession.
Why Marco and I started our business, The Basketball Doctors: As avid basketball players as children, our love for the game continued to grow throughout our lives from watching the game being played at all levels to attending basketball camps to going through the ups and downs of our own basketball journey. We both experienced numerous injuries and set-backs, which exposed us to the realization that our childhood dreams of playing in the NBA was not a realistic goal, among other key factors (haha). As a result, we re-evaluated our goals and focused on our education, which led us to becoming Doctors of Physical Therapy at the University of Southern California. Equipped with our attained knowledge throughout our educational careers, we wanted to combine our passions for healthcare, movement, biomechanics, and basketball to provide information, care, and training for the basketball community.
Although playing basketball for a career is no longer the driving force of staying connected to basketball, we hope to make a positive impact on the game we love by helping and collaborating with anyone involved in the basketball community to meet a common goal; whether it be making the high school/collegiate team, playing in weekly recreational leagues for life, or optimizing movement and skills to play recreationally and professionally. We like saying let’s “Ball For Life” because it’s what many people we work with want to be able to do.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As many business owners and entrepreneurs know, the road to building a business is not a smooth or direct path. There are many bumps in the road, turns, round-a-bouts, detours, road constructions, you name it! One of the biggest struggles, like many people, is the current pandemic we are in. We became an official business the 1st week of March 2020, and all of our 1st-year plans fell apart because of the uncertainty associated with people’s health and well being, as well as with basketball in general. As a result, we pivoted our business plan and used this time to develop our business foundation in addition to our online platform, which is continuing to make great progress.
Another struggle that we are embracing and are continuing to put in tremendous amounts of work to learn and grow as we are trained healthcare professionals and we didn’t have formal training on running a business. We have relied on mentors, reading, learning/collaborating with others, surrounding ourselves with like-minded individuals, and our passion to get where we are today. Also, growing a social media and community following from nothing is not an easy task. Patience, persistence, and perseverance goes a long way! Challenges and struggles are always going to happen in business and life, and we try our best to learn from each experience to become the best versions of ourselves to improve our business’ mission, values and goals.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about The Basketball Doctors?
The Basketball Doctors are a team of Doctors of Physical Therapy that specialize in movement mechanics, biomechanics, and the musculoskeletal system to optimize performance and function while decreasing risk of injuries. We strive to be a one-stop shop for evidence-based information for basketball-related injuries, rehabilitation from injuries, returning to sport, improving performance and movement efficiency, and unlocking your peak genetic potential. We set ourselves apart with our skillset to be Performance Therapists because we are able to take a person from the initial injury through the entire rehab process of returning to sport while improving their performance capacity and decreasing risk of future injuries.
Furthermore, we provide basketball specificity by being physical therapists that work with a lot of basketball players and play basketball ourselves. With our brand, we pride ourselves on always striving to release high quality, evidence-based information to bring the highest valuable content and care to our community. We are proud of being able to provide injury rehab information to everyone across the country, something we didn’t have growing up. Lastly, we are proud of the affordable p/rehab programs we have developed and are continuing to create to be able to help basketball athletes around the world take care of their injuries and prevent them from happening in the first place.
The Basketball Doctors offer a wide range of services, such as: Rehabilitation Services following an injury, Return to Basketball/Sport Rehab, Strength & Conditioning, Performance Training, Team Programming, Online Programming/Programs, Tournament Medical Coverage, & Team Physical Therapy Consultant. Also, if anyone has any specific questions before working with us, we offer a free 5-10 minute discovery call: https://calendly.com/thebasketballdoctors/discovery-call.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
That’s a tough one to answer, so many lessons have been learned along the way. If I had to choose the most important, it would be: having the ability, character, and values to adapt and pivot. We have learned that as we create goals, we have to be able to be flexible in the way we get there. The goal stays the same, but the way to get there might change or be different than what we intended. For example, as mentioned earlier, we had several plans in 2020, but due to the pandemic we had to pivot and create a different vehicle to reach our goal of helping as many athletes as possible. It continues to build our perseverance, resiliency, and grit to achieve our goals but making sure we enjoy the journey along the way.
Pricing:
- 8-Week Online Jumper’s Knee P/Rehab Program ($49.97)
- 4-Week Online Ankle Sprain P/Rehab Program ($29.99)
Contact Info:
- Email: info@thebasketballdoctors.com
- Website: www.thebasketballdoctors.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/basketballdocs
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/basketballdocs
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_XjijDauNRalxCwNnF6A3Q
- Other: www.tiktok.com/@basketballdocs
Image Credits
The Basketball Doctors
