Ciao, Italy! Macon athletic trainer invited to Olympics

If you walk into Body Awareness, a performance and massage therapy facility off Heath Road in Macon, you’ll need to pay close attention to see how incredible Rodger Fleming’s journey as an athletic trainer has been.

Yes, there are framed pieces of sports memorabilia — a signed Macon Mayhem hockey jersey, along with a signed jersey from Stratford Academy grad and NFL player Quintez Cephus. Yes, there are the services that attract fitness enthusiasts — cryotherapy, pulsed electromagnetic frequency therapy, dry float therapy, something called an anti-gravity treadmill and more.

But it’s an unassuming little plastic hook on the wall that holds the testaments to Fleming’s impressive professional accomplishments.

Dozens of lanyards hang there with passes bearing the logos of the United States Tennis Association, Oregon athletics, Team USA gymnastics and even Taylor Swift. They are all souvenirs Fleming has kept from a lifetime of mending bodies, badges of honor for keeping the world’s athletes and entertainers in peak condition.

Soon, another piece of laminated plastic will outshine them all. 

Fleming was selected to be an athletic trainer and massage therapist for Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics, which begin today in Northern Italy. On what is perhaps the biggest, oldest athletic stage in the world, he’ll helpAmerican athletes as they compete in curling, bobsleigh, skeleton, luge and women’s alpine skiing.

About two weeks before he was due to leave for snowy Cortina, Fleming sat in the Body Awareness office, still finding it hard to believe.

“I could help someone win a medal,” he said with awe in his voice.

‘I love helping people’

Fleming grew up in Alabama but had family in Ohio, which eventually landed him at Toledo University.

He decided he wanted to become an athletic trainer, a role that wasn’t as common at the time. His early days working with athletes were a real learning experience, but he was a natural fit.

“I love sports, and I love helping people do things. It was a good little marriage,” Fleming said. 

You can see that passion when Fleming talks about the Olympics. Even when he’s discussing sports he has rarely watched and certainly never played, it’s with the fervor of a lifelong competitor.

He delves into the kinetics of curling — “I was looking at the biomechanics and their isometric strengths, thinking, ‘What could be hurting them? Hips, back?’” He talks about identifying ways he can help world-class athletes get the most from their bodies.

That’s one of the things that drives Fleming the most — maximizing potential. It’s why he opened Body Awareness.

“I want to help people move better. It’s not my job to prevent someone from doing something, it’s my job to help them achieve whatever goal it is they have,” Fleming said. “It can be anybody. It can be a crossfitter who’s working on shoulder mobility to do a press. … Or it could be a 78-year-old grandma who wants to sit down without assistance because her kids are coming over for Thanksgiving.”

He talks to potential clients about what movement they’re seeking and what trouble they’re having. Then he comes up with a plan that might involve massage, stretching and a variety of other methods to try and unlock more range. Half an inch of motion, he said, can be the difference between a “regular” Gold medal effort and a world record.

While explaining this process, Fleming practically buzzes with pride and enthusiasm. It was that care that drove Fleming to success after college. 

Baseball was where he found his opening. He helped athletes in an independent league in Ohio, then worked with a continental league basketball team nearby until he got a call from the Arizona Diamondbacks. A former boss put in a good word for him.

Fleming worked with Arizona for seven years, starting around 2000. He got there just in time to earn a World Series ring for helping the Diamondbacks achieve their walk-off championship victory over the New York Yankees in 2001. He worked with the Tampa Bay Rays for a few years after that, spending time with their iconic minor league affiliate, the Durham Bulls.

The Alabama native eventually left baseball for personal reasons, including a custody dispute, and searched for a new beginning. He found it in Macon, where his high school sweetheart had settled down as an English teacher at Stratford Academy.

“I would be talking with doctors here, and they’re like, ‘You left pro baseball to come here?’” Fleming said. But Fleming had come to a realization: “I want to be more than a baseball guy,” he said. “ I knew I wanted to help more people.”

The building on Heath Road represents years of growth for Fleming, who started out with a much smaller facility in 2019.

“This is my calling.”

From baseball to jam bands

Because of that calling, Fleming has worked with a wide variety of clients. He recalls plenty of athletes who were fun to work with, but the client that stuck out the most was Jaimoe, one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers Band.

Fleming did not know much about the iconic drummer when they first met. Jaimoe raised an eyebrow and colorfully informed Fleming of his role in the band’s creation and subsequent fame.

After that, it was all business.

“You want to talk about athletic, try drumming for 3 ½ hours,” Fleming said. “The wisdom, man. That cat is 80. When he’s on stage, I’m near him.”

He’s followed Jaimoe on tours across the country.

Since he settled in Macon, Fleming also has widened the range of sports teams he works with. He’s been an athletic trainer for handball teams, gymnastics teams and even the Pan American Games, an Olympic-esque summer sporting event involving many countries.

The expansion granted Fleming new connections, and eventually someone recommended he apply to work with Team USA. He worked with the country’s athletes for the first time in 2020 at a marathon trial in Atlanta.

Fleming was named an alternate for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Not a single trainer dropped out. He was heartbroken.

Then, last October, Fleming got a phone call. He’d been chosen.

After that, he prepared relentlessly — watching sports he’s not naturally drawn to, studying up on what the athletes might need from him.

Fleming also has his practice here in Macon to worry about. While he represents Middle Georgia across the globe, he will worry about that 78-year-old grandma or that crossfit competitor. Luckily, he said, the few clients he told about the Olympic gig offered their full support.

All that’s left now is the event itself. So, Fleming said, let the games begin.

“I’m ready. I’m humbled. I’ll take nothing for granted. … I’m just going to be in that moment.”