Category: Leadership

Our annual baseball functional movement screen to decrease injury risk in kids

SPEAR’s Investment in Youth Sports & Our New Charitable Partnership

 
As the Yankees and Red Sox get set for another playoff showdown, SPEAR is announcing our renewed commitment to the youth of NYC by teaming up with Pitch in for Baseball & Softball (PIFBS), a charitable organization that shares our dedication to supporting young local athletes and helping them become the very best versions of themselves. In the past year, SPEAR has offered three free injury prevention clinics for young baseball and softball players across the city. Now that SPEAR has joined forces with PIFBS, we are excited to contribute even more. SPEAR is thrilled to announce that, with your help, we will match at least $10,000 in donations to PIFBS by the end of this year.

You can click here to join us in supporting young athletes in NYC – even a ten dollar donation helps!

At SPEAR, we have a passion for helping baseball players of all ages. For example, during the 2017 World Baseball Classic, CEO Dan Rootenberg was  selected by MLB to be a team Physical Therapist and Strength & Conditioning Coach in Asia. Dan also coaches local little league which is close to his heart. This year Dan coached a SPEAR-sponsored team of 10-12 year old baseball players throughout their 2018 season, providing guidance and physical therapy (as needed)  along the way. Each week the team discussed topics like teamwork, grit, handling adversity, goal-setting and focus. “Personally, I love coaching little league baseball because as a coach I’m not just teaching baseball skills, I’m teaching life lessons.” The players learned how to think like champions, practiced team building skills, and gained confidence. They also grew as baseball players: after a slow start, the team won the Peter Stuyvesant Little League Majors Championship and, from there, members of the team went on to become the Manhattan champs in their quest to reach the Little League World Series!

Pitch in for Baseball & Softball (PIFBS) is a registered 501(c)(3) not for profit organization that provides new and gently used baseball and softball equipment to boys and girls in NYC and around the world who want to play ball but lack the equipment to do so. SPEAR is thrilled to join forces with PIFBS, an organization that has helped over 800,000 kids gain access to baseball and softball through their equipment donations since 2005.

The 2018 SPEAR-sponsored little league championship team, coached by our CEO Dan Rootenberg (top left)

On today’s season finale show we are joined by Adam Greenberg. Adam is a former professional Baseball player and CEO of Lurong Living. Some highlights from our conversation included:

• Adam detailing the need to always “Get Up” from adversity.
• Look and connect the good support system around you.
• Learn to love and own all your passions and accomplishments.
• Finally, share your story, share imperfections with the world, empower others.

On today’s episode we have Dr. Stephen Fealy, founder of BetterPT and Orthopedic Surgeon in Hospital of Special Surgery. Some highlights from our conversation include:

• Dr. Fealy detailing how you always must look for the positive in every situation.
• The need to simply, LISTEN. Listen to everything that is going on around you with intent to learn.
• You must apply the mindset of “owning it” through all aspects of your life.
• Always have the belief to always “do the right thing” as a guide in life.

SPEAR Physical Therapy, LLC,  the rapidly-growing company recently named the National Practice of the Year by the American Physical Therapy Association’s Private Practice Section, today announced that noted healthcare innovator Jon Brilliant has joined the company as its first Chief Financial Officer.

“Jon joins us at an exciting inflection point” said Dan Rootenberg, SPEAR CEO and Co-founder. “He brings to SPEAR a strategic, analytical skill-set and will be instrumental as we navigate future growth opportunities.”

“I am very honored to be SPEAR’s first CFO and join an incredible team and culture. I will look to build upon our unrivaled patient experience and growth that Dan and the team have established” Jon said. “My goal is to leverage my extensive experience in using technology to improve the healthcare experience for our patients, as well develop the best strategy that will enable us to continue to fuel our growth.”

Creating Jon’s CFO position is an important milestone within SPEAR and coincides with significant growth and a number of recent accolades. In 2016 and 2017 the company’s patient visits grew 54% and 46%, respectively. The company is on track to sustain similar growth in both areas in 2018. Some of SPEAR’s recent accomplishments include receiving the Corporate Culture Award in 2018 by CEO Report for its commitment to fostering a collaborative and creative workplace, one of the company’s top priorities. It was also recently chosen to appear in Chase Bank’s national ad campaign, Mission Main Street, as a thriving small business committed to serving community interests. SPEAR is the only privately-held physical therapy company to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange and was later featured on MSNBC for this achievement.

Prior to joining SPEAR, Jon helped usher in an era and an entirely new industry when becoming part of the founding team of WellDoc in 2005, which later became the first mobile app to obtain FDA clearance to be prescribed by physicians and reimbursed by payers. Following his eight years at WellDoc, Jon, along with others personally affected by type 1 diabetes, co-founded Bigfoot Biomedical, a company dedicated to changing the paradigm of care for people living with insulin requiring diabetes by maximizing the leverage of health care providers through data, connectivity, automation, and artificial intelligence. As Bigfoot’s CFO and then Chief Strategy Officer, Jon helped lead Bigfoot’s creation of a disruptive business model of a bundled monthly subscription service. During his professional career, Jon has been a senior advisor to Merck’s Global Health Innovation Fund, and a venture capitalist with his own fund (Atelier), which was backed by Richemont, a large European-based fund (Syntek Capital), and the family office of the former owner of Harrods. Jon has raised and invested billions of dollars in public and private markets, even helping restructure the entire commercial debt of the country of Bolivia.

About SPEAR

SPEAR Physical Therapy, LLC is an award-winning NYC physical therapy practice with fifteen locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The company has been named to the Inc.5000 fastest growing company list four times and named by SmartCEO magazine as a Future50 company five times. Founded in 1999 by two athletes who wanted to provide a superior patient experience, SPEAR has rapidly grown to a team of over 250 people.