Local Chiropractor Is Doc For Olympic Volleyball Team

always hoped his career would take him far, but he never expected it would include overseas trips.

Glass, a Lake Forest native, is the official team chiropractor for the United States women's indoor volleyball team, now a top-ranked Olympic contender.

In the past year, Glass has flown to Japan, Brazil and the Dominican Republic as a member of the team's medical staff, keeping the world-class athletes in peak shape.

Now, the women's volleyball team, ranked No. 1 in the world by the International Volleyball Federation, is competing in London at the Olympic Games.

Although Glass is not in London, he and his family are rooting heavily from Lake Forest for the team as it advances. 

"I am very proud and honored to be a part of Team USA," Glass said Tuesday. "They are representing the country on the biggest athletic stage in the world and I am fortunate to be a part of it."

Glass, who opened in Lake Forest in 2008, also works with the national men's volleyball team.

The local chiropractor said his time with the top-ranked athletes has given him a "deeper appreciation for all the hard work these teams put in to to get to this point.

"Having helped out in practice and sitting courtside while traveling, to see the athleticism these athletes bring to the sport is an awesome experience," he said. "These are the top 12 players in the country competing for the pinnacle of success in athletics—the Olympic gold!" 

A 1994  alum, Glass spent his teen years enmeshed in pursuits that now bring him his current patients, from Olympic competitors to Anaheim Ducks players, as well as big-name patients he said he wouldn't identify to protect their privacy.

In junior high, Glass visited a chiropractor with a neck injury. The treatment sent him home pain-free, with a range of motion that he hadn't had going into the appointment, he said.

The experience inspired him on toward a career as a chiropractor. After receiving a degree in exercise physiology with a minor in human nutrition from Cal State Chico, he headed to Palmer Chiropractic College in San Jose.

While studying at Palmer, he volunteered with the San Jose SaberCats, an arena football team. During his time in Northern California, he also met and married his wife, Leann.

After graduation, the Glass family moved back to Orange County. But the newly minted chiropractor did not want to end his involvement with professional sports teams.

As he waited to get his official chiropractic license, he volunteered with the arena football team in Los Angeles, the Avengers, and stayed with the team until 2009, when it folded.

One month after receiving his license, he opened his own practice, first working out of a Mission Viejo office, then opening his own clinic at 22672 Lambert St. in Lake Forest.

In 2009, a call came through from Craig Milhouse, team doctor for the Anaheim Ducks, asking Glass if he would like to work with the professional hockey team as a consulting chiropractor.

The answer, of course, was "yes," and the relationship eventually spurred Glass to open a satellite clinic in Orange, a convenient location for players on the North Orange County-based team.

In 2010, he became part of the sports medicine team that cares for the men's and women's national volleyball teams.

"It's always been a goal to work with the U.S. national team," he said. "I’m very proud to be an American; I was raised very patriotically."

The women's volleyball team made the London Olympics an even more special event for the Glass family by inviting them to Disneyland for the team's send-off parade.

"When the float got near us the players, coaches and trainers came over to us and surrounded my girls with high-fives and gave them all mini-volleyballs," Glass said. "They didn't have to do that, but it made our day. They really showed their appreciation for me and my family."

"It was nice for my daughters to be a part of because they don't fully understand why dad goes to different countries to be with the volleyball team," Glass said. 

Those experiences have made it especially enjoyable to watch the team compete from Lake Forest as a family, Glass said.

"My daughters know the names of all the girls and it feels more personal having hung out and taken pictures with them," he said. "For me, having traveled to three countries with them and working at the training facility every week leading up to their departure ... it has been fun getting to know them as individuals as well as athletes."

The U.S. team secured its berth at the London Olympics with a victory over Italy in the women's volleyball World Cup in Japan in November 2011.

"Knowing we've qualified for the Olympics is a wonderful feeling," U.S. coach Hugh McCutcheon said at the time. "We have one more match tomorrow, but we're going to London and that's a great, great thing for us."

So far in the Olympics, the Americans have dispatched teams from Korea (on Saturday) and Brazil (Monday).

Next, the women will face third-ranked China, which has also won its first two Olympic matchups. Local viewers can catch the game Wednesday at noon, Pacific time.