Team Work: Transactional versus Relational Massage in Sport

by Clare Carey

I’ve been working in elite sport since 2013, with teams including the Brumbies Rugby, Canberra Raiders, ACT Cricket, visiting NRL and rugby teams, the Australian Women’s Cricket Team, Tennis Australia, and the Australian rowing team. My experience also includes major events such as the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2024 Olympic Games, as well as more recent work with the Wallaroos, the Australian Ballet, and various visiting rugby teams.

With over 16 years in private practice, I have witnessed the transformative power of the therapeutic relationship: how trust, continuity, and rapport not only enhance outcomes but also significantly improve overall wellbeing. It was such a cornerstone of my work that I wrote a blog about it when I closed my clinic.

It’s now been two years since I stepped away from my business to focus on full-time university study and international travel with Rowing Australia and the Australian Olympic Committee. Nearly a year has passed since completing those chapters.

When I joined Rowing Australia in late 2022, the physio at the time emphasised the importance of relationship-building and continuity of care. That’s why they had a budget to tour with their massage therapists. That was a precise values alignment for me and a primary reason I took on the role.

While I’ve accepted that my time with Rowing Australia ended a year ago, I was taken aback when a new physio mentioned building a network of massage therapists in Canberra, for what amounts to maybe five hours of work per week.

In the early days of my sports massage career, I said yes to every opportunity that came my way. I needed the experience. But eventually, my private practice became too busy to justify accepting the lower-paid, less fulfilling work (like massages for visiting teams).

I’ve since realised a truth: while massage therapy in clinical settings is deeply relational, sports massage is often transactional.

Take, for example, the 2018 Commonwealth Games. I volunteered for 11 shifts and performed 114 massages but only saw four athletes twice. I bonded more with my massage colleagues than with the athletes.

Massage is underpaid and underappreciated in the sports arena. Therapists often provide their tables, creams, and towels, only to be treated like machines. Many athletes don’t introduce themselves. Most are on their phones. The work can feel soulless, despite being physically demanding and having to also be emotionally present.

Away teams routinely bring in therapists based on location and availability, often through agencies that don’t vet qualifications, insurance, or experience. If you’re free or cheap, you’re in.

However, when you work regularly with a team, things change. You start seeing the same players week after week. You build rapport. You get to know them beyond the injuries. And they get to know you. The treatment becomes more than massaging soft tissue; it becomes a relationship based on trust, care, and consistency.

Sporting organisations often emphasise the importance of valuing relationships among physios, S&C coaches, psychologists, and team doctors. But when it comes to massage therapy, the approach shifts. The priority becomes cost and availability, not continuity or connection. And that’s a missed opportunity.

What would it take for teams to see massage therapists as more than hands on muscles? To invest in part-time or ongoing roles that foster genuine relationships? To acknowledge that therapists who know the athletes, who see the signs of fatigue, mental stress, or disengagement, can play a vital role in athlete welfare?

The sporting work I’ve enjoyed most hasn’t been about the marquee events or big names. It’s been the moments of connection, where I’ve had meaningful conversations with athletes, collaborated with staff, and felt like a valued part of the team. I don’t expect athletes to chat during every session – often they need space to switch off. However, having that relationship means I can offer a listening ear when they need one, provide education when asked, and provide a safe, familiar presence within an often demanding environment.

Some favourite career moments

• Forming lasting friendships with Mel, Dan, and Felice, people I met while working with sports teams.        
• Watching Brumbies players grow from new signings into team mainstays and captains.        
• Maintaining a long-distance friendship with Wazza and Sarah, who I met while volunteering at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.       
• Being part of the Australian Women’s Cricket Team is an opportunity that wouldn’t have come about if not for COVID-19. I still remember standing on the field after Alana King was presented her Test cap. I’d only met her two days earlier and, after hugging her teammates and staff, she looked at me, opened her arms and said, “Come on, Clare, you’re part of the team too.”      
• Having Brumbies players ask about my weightlifting, cheering on my PBs, and swapping stories about the challenges of various movements.        
• Being surprised when a Raiders player on the table next to mine said, “Your hair looks nice.” I replied, “Pardon?” and he followed up with, “You dyed your hair, right?” (It’s the little things).        
• Experiencing the quiet kindness of Sia Soliola.      
• Sharing in the excitement of first-time Olympians at the 2024 Paris Games, many of whom were achieving more than they had ever imagined and were eager to talk through what it all meant.      
• Watching the Australian Rowing Team train on Lake Varese, with the Swiss Alps as a backdrop, and seeing all that work come together on finals day.       
• Encouraging rowers to truly take time off on non-training days, helping them understand that getting treatment on a day off means they’re not switching off.        
• Following the progress of Alex Eala, the Philippines’ highest-ranked tennis player, who I first met at a low-tier ITF tournament in Canberra. We crossed paths again over the next two years. She was humble, hardworking, and is now thriving at the WTA level (If I work the Canberra International again in 2025/26, she might be at a better tournament).        
• Having a heartfelt conversation with an Australian Ballet dancer recovering from a herniated disc. We bonded over the humbling nature of injury and rehab.       
• Having a 20-year-old Wallaroos squad member thank me for bringing blankets on a freezing winter day. When I saw her again two weeks later, she came straight up to me and we connected through conversation. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for her World Cup selection.        
• Hiking to Mt Pilatus mid station in 2024 and hearing a male rower yell out from the cable car, “Go Clare, you’re going great!”. (I ended up contacting him and his companion, and we rode the cable car back down to the base and shared our different journeys on the mountain).        
• My evolving relationship with Ben Alexander, from massaging him at the Brumbies to talking about rugby, energy, and mental health through the Running for Resilience Community.

There is a difference between a transactional massage and a relational one. And it’s a difference worth investing in.

About the author

Clare is a sensible girl who reads more than she implements. She has a specific interest in chronic pain after developing it while sitting down at a chronic pain workshop. She has an ongoing drop foot condition and is commonly known amongst her peers as flappy. Since completing her Masters in Rehabilitation Counselling, she is looking forward to a post-massage career where she can listen to people face to face and fully clothed.