The next interview in our Women in Baseball series, features Tatiana Tchamouroff, Massage Therapist for the Washington Nationals.
Tatiana arrived to meet us a few minutes after the game started, just after her baseball duties were completed for the evening. Her twelve hour days start at 8:00 am in her Bethesda office, where she sees clients until noon before heading to the park. The players fight for spots on her schedule, especially after long road trips. They will bargain with each other for those open slots; others will just schedule a morning appointment at Tatiana’s Bethesda practice. “It’s pretty funny the arguments that take place outside the door with guys trying to get on the list. I mean, I do everything I can to see everybody.” They are fighting to see her because she’s one of the best.
She was widely credited for relieving Dmitri Young’s debilitating back pain in the early part of the ‘08 season. She was an integral part of Cal Ripken Jr.’s rehab team, and the trusted personal massage therapist to Brady Anderson. Despite having dozens of professional athlete clients, it wasn’t until 2008 that Tatiana had her first real opportunity to work for a professional team, something she’s been dreaming about for a long time.
At a very young age, Tatiana and her sister trained to be concert pianists, often practicing up to four hours a day. “My father was one of our instructors, but we also had three other instructors a week; that was my life, with the piano.” Thanks to her dedicated piano practice, Tatiana developed a great deal of stamina in her hands. As a child she never understood why her father thought piano practice was so important, but now, years later, all of that practice has paid off.
I just looked at my father like why do I have to do stretches with my hands? Why do I have to practice for so many hours? And he kept telling me you have to get strength in your hands. Your fingers have to get that stamina. And that’s the interesting thing, who would have thought that years later, that the need for stamina in my hands that my father pushed, would help me beyond belief?
Just as her father’s persistence prepared her for the hard work of massage therapy, her mother’s passion for baseball prepared her to be a big fan of the national pastime. Her mother, an El Salvador native, is a huge Yankees fan. “When she came to the United States for the first time, all she wanted to do was see the New York Yankees play.” Eventually, Tatiana would take her mother to see the Yankees. They sat right behind home plate, as guests of Brady Anderson on a day that Tatiana still treasures as one of the best baseball memories of her life. She assumed her mother’s passion for baseball early on, but cheered for her hometown Baltimore Orioles. Before she decided to enter the massage therapy field, she sold lemonade for a family friend outside of Camden Yards before games. “My sister and I would help them collect money, so it went from helping to collect money to my sister and I putting on these uniforms to sell more on Eutaw Street. The next thing you know, we were the only lemonade stand out there.”
Then, at eighteen, Tatiana lost feeling in her left leg. That injury combined with lingering back pain sent her to several orthopedic surgeons. Hesitant to have major surgery, Tatiana began seeing a massage therapist. After four sessions with the therapist, Tatiana started to feel relief from the constant pain, and got feeling back in her leg.
I just never experienced anything like that because I had been in pain for two years. So after that I figured ‘Ok this is what I want to do.’ Tatiana had originally wanted to be an orthopedist for handicap children, but since she had received such a huge benefit from massage therapy, she decided she wanted to do it herself. “I thought I would always have back pain, but when you finally realize what it is to not have pain, I was like ‘Oh my God this is what I want to do.’ You know, so I basically threw away a full scholarship to the Savannah College of Art and Design to pursue massage therapy.
Her friends and family thought she was “out of her mind” but after living in pain for so long, she knew massage therapy was something she had to learn. Tatiana packed her bags and headed to Boulder College of Massage Therapy, in Colorado.
After her training, she returned to the D.C./Baltimore area, eager to start a career in pediatric massage, but hospitals were skeptical of massage programs. “Nobody wanted a scandal. It wasn’t accepted yet; a lot of people still thought massage was sorta taboo.” Her sister, then employed at Camden Yards, knew Brady Anderson and introduced him to Tatiana. He suffered a quadriceps injury three weeks later and called Tatiana to see what she could do. He wasn’t a fan of massage therapy at the time, but after a successful rehab under her care, he became a big advocate, often referring other players to her. She began doing a lot of off site work for the Baltimore Orioles. She had so many clients that she opened her own practice in Bethesda.
One afternoon, Tatiana was working on a patient in her Bethesda office when her telephone rang. “Tatiana, this is Cal.” She laughed and wondered which of her silly friends or clients would prank her to impersonate her baseball hero. “I said, look I’ve got a client on my table and you’ve got 30 seconds to tell me who this is or I am going to hang up.” The previous night, Tatiana had talked to Mike Fetters, an Orioles pitcher, about a theory she had about Cal Ripken Jr.’s pain. When Cal brought up that conversation, and her theory, she began hyperventilating.
He was my idol and in the midst of trying to keep my composure and not faint on the phone, he asked me what was wrong and I said ‘I just stubbed my toe on the desk.’ I felt so dumb; he got a nice chuckle out of it, and said okay when you catch your breath, please give me a call back. This is my cell number. I’d like to schedule an appointment.
They met the very next day and she worked with him three to four times a week for four months before he finally decided to have surgery in Cleveland.
For years, she continued to try to land a job with a Major League Baseball team, but she was told repeatedly that because of her petite size and her looks that “it would only lead to problems.” One Wednesday afternoon, she decided to shave her head, cutting off 28 inches of her hair.
I’m the kind of person that when you tell me ‘no you can’t do it,’ I will prove to you that I can. I didn’t want to take no. I thought, you know what, I’m going to prove to you that I really, really believe in what I do and I’m good at it. So if you think I’m too cute, then I will make myself ugly. I wasn’t there to find love and have a boyfriend. It was actually about sports therapy and orthopedic massage and I wanted to prove that point.
She returned to the ball park on Saturday to see the trainer and asked if he still thought she was a “distraction.” “I was like, look I’m serious. I love what I do. I want to work with professional players; this is my passion. He eventually said, you know fine, but I couldn’t come into the clubhouse. They would send all the work out for me to do.”
After ten years of off site work for the Orioles, Tatiana contacted Lee Kuntz, the Nationals trainer, to see if she could provide off site therapy for the Washington Nationals. In April of 2008, they asked her to come interview.
I was excited about it, but at the same time as a woman in sports, working with professional athletes, it’s been such a challenge because my name was what opened the door. I mean when you see Tatiana Tchamouroff, you think big Russian beast. Then I show up, and they’re like, ‘who the hell are you?’ So, I’m sort of going into the interview with the mindset that I won’t get the position. They told me I would see 2-5 players, but I saw 11 and I knew I did a good job. They called me the very next day and said they were very impressed and that they were going to offer me the job. I will admit at that point I broke down crying in my office, and then said “you know what I gotta stop this, there’s no crying in baseball!”
Finally, it had all worked out. ”I was extremely nervous because so many of my clients who are former players were like, you know, good luck to you but honest opinion, the clubhouse is no place for a woman. You are going to have a lot of barriers to go through.” Luckily, that has not been her experience in Washington at all.
The guys here are awesome. They are so kind; they are hilarious. I have gained a boatload of brothers. I mean like, I only have my sister, so I don’t know what it’s like to have a brother but they are so protective and they try so hard to make sure I’m comfortable. It’s been a phenomenal experience. I couldn’t have imagined it any better.
At this point in our conversation with Tatiana, we heard a burst of cheers from the crowd. We all stopped to look out at the field. Wily Mo Pena had just hit his second and final home run of the season.
Oh my gosh did he do it! Oh my gosh – yay!! I gave Wily Mo a massage today for the first time in 2 months!! I worked on him today and he hits a home run, that’s gotta be something! Good for him! Everyone was making fun of him too because he never comes to see me. Today, I’m like let me help you! Oh my god, see I told you it worked!!
Many of you already know about her success working with Dmitri Young. Dmitri was the very first Nationals client she saw him during her interview. She related well to Dmitri from her own debilitating experience with back pain.
I said, “Okay, you know I am going to try something. If I’m right, it’s going to hurt like hell, but please believe in me and trust me. I think I know where this is coming from.” So I flipped him over and started to work on his psoas muscle and I found the knot that was in there. I wanted to jump up and down because I was like ‘I knew it I knew it!’ but I was like calm down and keep your composure. I left for Florida that night and so the next day when I got the phone call that he was in the batting cages and he was hitting full force, I mean I couldn’t believe it because just a few days before he could barely get on the table because of the pain. So when I got that phone call that they were going to do an article on the Nats homepage, that was another moment when I just wanted to cry, but I didn’t let myself because I know there is no crying in baseball!!
She may have to hold back her tears, but she refuses to give up her ponytail again. In fact, she can now quickly point to all the advantages of being a woman in her field, like being able to execute more intricate procedures with her small hands.
The benefit I have, I believe, as a woman, I mean I have little fingers, my fingers can get into spots that no man’s big fingers can. For example, like underneath the scapula, I can do more intricate work than I think most men can. I mean there are a lot of great male massage therapists out there. Don’t get me wrong, but I just think in this line of work, my elbow and my little finger are what have helped me so much.
Despite her incredible success, Tatiana is quick to spread the credit around. Her parents, she says, deserve much of it, for helping her develop the physical strength required, for passing on a love of baseball and for their unconditional support. Tatiana has renamed her Bethesda practice NINOTCH, in honor of her father. Brady Anderson deserves credit for being her first major client and one of her biggest supporters. She also credits her success to Lee Kuntz, the Nationals trainer who believed in her and encouraged the organization to give her a chance.
To finally get the credit after 13 years of working my butt off, just mostly to get respect, that’s the most important thing as a woman in this field…to have the respect of not only the players but of the organization. That’s huge, huge, so I just hope I make them proud everyday. I go in there, I do my best, and to have so many people believe in you. They totally trust me. I mean this is their career; they are being paid millions [of dollars] and when I go in there, most people would think it’s torture, because of the amount of pain I have to inflict on them to do what I have to do. There is a lot of trust that goes in to let me do this. I just do the best I can every day because that’s all you can do. Within the organization itself I have felt really welcomed, from the players themselves all the way up to the GM – Jim Bowden. I mean they have all made me feel so welcome and they all believe in me so much that everyone else who makes those nasty ‘give it up and let a man do it comments’ just roll over my head because I have everyone here that believes in me and knows I’m doing the best I can and that’s all that matters.
Tatiana certainly faced challenges breaking into the baseball world, but she refused to give up. Her persistence led her to this dream job, a job that has not brought about the obstacles so many people told her she’d face.
If you are really passionate about something then just stick to your guns and believe in yourself. You need to have confidence, as long as you believe in yourself and you have the support of those closest to you, whether it be family or friends I mean that’s what you are going to need to handle this field. Cause it’s tough especially as a woman trying to get into a field that is “meant” for a man. It’s taken me 13 years to get here, but it’s like throughout this very long road, I have had these wonderful opportunities with amazing people who have helped me get one step closer to my dream. I mean this is my dream job, it really is. I would have to say, if you find something that you are passionate about, no matter what the obstacles are, just be true to yourself and believe in yourself. Anything is possible and I mean it. Anything is possible and it sounds cliché but I mean come on, look at me. Some of the guys call me toothpick because I am so tiny and because I’m so small, but I think I’m pretty good at what I do and I think I can make any 300 pound man cry.
Yet for Tatiana, there’s no cryin in baseball.
A special thanks to Tatiana for taking the time out of her busy schedule to meet with us. For more information, please visit NINOTCH: An Urban Retreat.
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