PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE


Robert Perkes, DC, President WSCA Board of Directors


Forged Together


Last week I got to do two of my favorite things in the world. Back to back. The Perkes Family Reunion and the Good2Great wrestling


camp. Two events that couldn't look more different on the surface — one is cookies and card games on the Fourth of July, the other is sweat, whistles, and teenagers learning to grind. But sitting in the middle of both, I kept hearing the same message. And it was a message about us. About this association. About where chiropractic in our state is headed.


Let me share two lines that stuck with me.


"No one stands on top of the podium alone." — Chuck Kearney, UO Wrestling Coach


Wrestling and chiropractic have more in common than most people would guess.


Both are made up of individuals. We each have our own style, our own technique, our own way of getting the job done. And both can be lonely. There are a lot of hours spent working when no one is watching — early mornings, late nights, the drills and the reps and the study that no one claps for.


The effort can feel like too much. You pour everything into a win, you finally get your hand raised, and there's already a new opponent waiting for you next week. Sound familiar?


It is easy to forget how much work has gone into building this profession in our state. Easy to forget the countless hours logged, the miles walked, the doors knocked on, the fights fought in rooms most of us never saw. We didn't get here on our own. We stand on the backs of the men and women who came before us — the ones who protected our scope, defended our right to practice, and refused to let this profession be pushed to the sidelines.


No one stands on top of the podium alone. Not in wrestling. Not in chiropractic. Not ever.


"Forged Together." — Perkes Reunion 2026 Motto


Every Fourth of July, my family comes together. We stay up too late. We play too many games. We eat way too many cookies. We tell the same stories from our childhood until we're all laughing at the version that's been exaggerated for thirty years — and those stories remind us who we are. They remind us we belong to each other.


The rest of the year, we're scattered. Different cities. Different schedules. Different lives. The kids are grown now. And yet they


Ple x us July/A ugust 20 26 7


still drive home from college, on their own gas and their own time, just to be in the same room as their cousins.


Here's what I noticed: the reunion works because it is consistent. Same time, every year. No one is surprised by it. No one is required to attend. We show up because we want to — because there is something worth protecting in that shared bond, that common foundation, that sense of being part of something bigger than ourselves.


And that is exactly what brought my mind to our WSCA Conference.


It happens at a consistent time. No surprises. No one is forced to come. It is our reunion — our once-a-year chance to be in the same room, shake the same hands, and remember that we belong to each other. It is where we set the exaggerated stories aside and get to work on a common goal: a stronger, healthier future for this profession.


This year, we've lined up outstanding speakers. Our committee has poured in countless hours — the kind no one sees — to make this the best conference we've offered. But a great conference only matters if we show up for it.


So I'm asking you to make it a priority. Not because you have to. Because you want to. Because the world of healthcare and chiropractic is changing fast, and the professions that survive change are the ones that face it together.


We build relationships in that room. We strengthen our bonds in that room. We remind each other why we started.


Steel doesn't become strong on its own. It is forged — under heat, under pressure, and always alongside other steel. If we want to stand on top of the podium, we don't get there alone.


We get there forged together. I'll see you at the conference.


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