Wellness Concepts offers Premier service in Lakewood Ranch

Lakewood Ranch’s Christian Womeldorph, now a chiropractic physician at Wellness Concepts, began playing soccer at 5 years old through the Braden River Soccer Club.

He went on to play at IMG Academy and eventually at Wofford College in South Carolina.

Womeldorph had injuries along the way — a broken ankle, a muscle tear in his quadriceps, concussions, shin splints, and severe low back pain — and not only did he miss action himself, but he watched other players miss time due to injuries as well.. 

“We never had the right guidance for how to take care of ourselves or prevent injuries,” Womeldorph said. “I’m happy to be able to provide that for them — it’s come full circle.” 

Womeldorph said it has always been his passion to work hands-on with athletes due to his background in soccer. 

“I was busy and doing what I had to do, and he came in, and said ‘I want to help athletes’” said Gregory Kotlarczyk, owner of Wellness Concepts. 

Womeldorph brainstormed with Kotlarczyk on local sports teams, and they decided to partner with Florida Premier SWFL. Premier had merged with Braden River Soccer Club, which is where Womeldorph played as a kid. Wellness Concepts now will provide free sport injury prevention education and services once a week and at every home game.

“We're giving the kids the ability to learn about their bodies from a structural standpoint, a movement standpoint, because you can't do a skilled activity as well as you could with dysfunctional movement,” Kotlarczyk said. “That really is the whole entire global picture of what we're trying to do.”

Photo by Madison Bierl

Lakewood Ranch's Tyler Clayson, 16, has been a player with Premier for two years and is glad to have the free services. 

"It'll allow us to be more agile and help with flexibility," Clayson said.

Georgie Hristov, Florida Premier FC SWFL's sporting director, like Womeldorph, also comes from a background of playing soccer. He played pro soccer in Bulgaria for 10 years, and also played in Poland and Israel. More locally he played for the Tampa Bay Rowdies for six years. He said he didn’t learn how to run properly until he was six years into his professional career. 

“I know how frustrating it was for me when I was getting these little muscle strains here and there,” Hristov said. “When I figured it out, it was like a new spark in my career.” 

Antonio Saviano, the executive director for Florida Premier FC SWFL, said it is important to support players of all levels.

“We want to educate those players and families that are a little bit on the lower level, because those are the players that eventually are going to play at the higher levels,” Saviano said. “That's why it made sense for us.” 

Hristov said the players range from 7 to to 18 years old. He said girls make up 30% of the club. 

Kotlarczyk said a lot of younger players believe they are invincible, so a short term goal is for them to gain an understanding of movement and how they can better themselves before a serious injury is able to occur. Kotlarczyk said they will provide two different screenings to the players — one for people in pain and one for those not in pain. 

“We're looking at a series of movements, and they might think that they can complete it, and they do,” Kotlarczyk said. “Then they don't meet certain criteria as far as how the body moves in certain planes, and that's what we assess. Yes, you performed a squat, but your heels came up for instance.” 

They will all get a report card with a rating from 0 to 20. The report will also show their risks of what potentially could be a future indicator of injury. The premise is that the service from Wellness Concepts is complimentary. From there, it’s up to the players and their families to pursue future treatment if they believe they are in need or would benefit. 

Kotlarczyk gave a presentation to the coaches of Premier and got a different response compared to other presentations he has given in the past. Other teams didn’t have the vision and were more worried about getting time taken away from practice. 

“They understood it because they lived with the injuries, and they've learned over time that it made sense to them,” Kotlarczyk said. “To have a group that sees the potential for improvement for injury prevention and benefit the players, I was pumped. I couldn't have been happier, and I'm excited to build it all.”

Kotlarczyk said the goal is to help players gain longevity and better athletic performance.

‘If you move better, you perform better,” Kotlarczyk said.