Physio Celebrini fully committed

ORLANDO, Fla. — Among the Whitecaps’ best signings in a subpar opening season was Rick Celebrini, the renowned physiotherapist, who joined the club as a consultant.

He immediately had a positive impact on the health of defender Jay Demerit and midfielder John Thorrington, both of whom had struggled with chronic injuries but look to be key parts for Martin Rennie this season.

Now finished his PHD work at UBC — where he examined biomechanical movement strategies to reduce knee injuries in soccer players — Dr. Celebrini can commit fully to the club.

Thursday, they gave him the title of head of sports medicine and science.

“I’m really excited; there’s a real comprehensive, elite team of practitioners here,” said Celebrini, who played for UBC, the 86ers and Canada at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 1987.

“My role is basically going to be in two places. One, at the 30,000-foot level, providing some direction to really integrate the programs from the residency through the first team, and, also, still to work at the micro-level with the guys, which is what I love.”

Celebrini was the chief therapist and manager of medical services for VANOC but is perhaps best known as Steve Nash’s personal physio.

TSN announces sked

TSN and MLS announced Thursday a 36-game schedule for 2012, with all matches featuring at least one of the Vancouver Whitecaps, Toronto FC or Montreal Impact.

The Whitecaps will appear on TSN seven times and TSN2 four times this season. TSN and TSN2 will show select MLS games featuring U.S. teams, with that announcement still to come. The network also has the Canadian rights to MLS Cup playoff games, the MLS Cup on Dec. 1 and MLS All-star Game on July 25 in Philadelphia.

The Whitecaps March 10 season and home opener against the expansion Impact kicks off the coverage, with Luke Wileman and Jason devos handling the call.

Four Cascadia Cup matches will be on TSN, including Vancouver’s three meetings with Seattle. The network also has all three Caps games against defending MLS Cup champion L.A. Galaxy, and their home game against the New York Red Bulls.

More from practice

The Whitecaps spent much of Thursday’s practice working on attacking positioning and movement. For the latest lineups and notes from training, as well as a full recap of today’s pre-season game against the Impact, head to theprovince.com/soccer.