Dr.

Sunday, September 05, 1999

Dr. Mark D. Hecimovich (D.C.) has been chosen to serve as a member of the 1999 African Games sports trainers.

He performed similar duties at the 1996 African Games in Zimbabwe and at the 1996 World Olympics at Atlanta, GA.

"I’m looking forward to my duties and to enjoying it," Hecimovich said. "It is very fast-paced and you get to work with a different level of athletes in the sports world. These are the men and women who are training to be the world’s best."

An Austin High School graduate in 1983, he is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Hecimovich of Austin.

Hecimovich did his under-graduate work at then-Austin Community College. He went to then-Mankato State University and earned a bachelor’s degree and Northwestern College of Chiropractic. Presently, he has returned to MSU to work on his master’s degree.

Since 1992, Hecimovich has distinguished himself in a chiropractic-related capacity, also serving Austin High School and Riverland Community College athletes in treating sports injuries.

He completed a three-year board certification program and two other certification programs on rehabilitation and strengthening and now is pursuing the final steps to become a certified athletic trainer.

Hecimovich owns and operates the Austin Chiropractic-Sports Injury Center at 200 14th Street N.W.

How was he chosen for the African Games in 1995 and the Summer Olympics in 1996?

"The profession has an international body governing sports and I applied for consideration and they chose me. I was honored," he said.

In 1995, his duties were largely acute care and first aid in Zimbabwe.

"There was more hands-on activity than anything else," Hecimovich said. "We worked in shifts and I was assigned to a team working a particular venue such as wrestling or Tae Kwon doe or some other sport."

At the 1996 Summer Olympics, Hecimovich performed similar duties for track and field athletes competing in Georgia.

This time, he leaves in mid-September for 10 days, which, he said, "are always a learning experience."

"The African Games are not as tightly run as the Olympics," he said. "The African athletes are much less sophisticated about their approach to sports than the Europeans, who place more credence in winning the gold medal than anything else."

"The Africans want to do their best, but they also want to enjoy the experience of competing, too," he said.

"While the Europeans may have more track and field enhancements, the Africans are working by themselves to prepare for what is a precursor to the Olympics," he said.

The 1999 African Games will be held at Johannesburg, South Africa, which is still fighting through the aftermath of the demise of apartheid.

"Generally, we have been told it’s a safe area politically," Hecimovich said. "There are some risks and they are not to be taken lightly, but, strangely enough maybe, the battles are between Africans and white Europeans, for instance the English, but not white Americans."

Hecimovich, a chiropractor, will work on a team of sports trainers, including physical therapists and others. He is the only one of his profession from Minnesota to be chosen and one of eight from the United States and one of 40 from the entire world to be selected.

"I’m doing it because I truly enjoy it," he said. "It’s hard work and there is the language barrier to consider, but it’s an honor to be chosen and I’m grateful."

When he first visited Africa in 1995, he vowed immediately he would return someday. "But, I also vowed to take a break. That was hard work. We had long shifts and difficult circumstances and we didn’t stop until the African Games were over," he said. "We did more athletic training than actual chiropractic manipulation work."

However, with two African Games and one Summer Olympics in his resume, Hecimovich hopes he will be chosen to serve as a sports trainer at the 2000 Olympics in Australia.

The Austin man said as much fun as it is to visit faraway places, it is reassuring to come home.

"The last time I flew home to New York, I remember as we approached the airport I looked down to the ground and saw all these baseball diamonds," he said.

"What other symbol could be more synonymous with America than baseball?" he asked.

"When I saw those tiny baseball diamonds, I thought how wonderful it was to be back in the US of A and it was a very humbling experience," he said.