In our second edition of Who We Are, an alumni spotlight series by award-winning writer Rich Mauch, we take a look at a former volleyball player who is living her passion. As the 2021 SAC regular season champion volleyball team prepares for another national championship run, it's only fitting that we highlight one of the most prolific players in TXWES history in Rachel Loftin-Whaley, who led her team to a pair of final eight finishes in 2004 and 2005. This is who we are.

If you missed our first edition, read about Braxton Brown's story here. 
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By Rick Mauch
 
Long before she became one of the best volleyball players ever to play for Texas Wesleyan University, Rachel Loftin Whaley knew what she wanted her future to be. And, like volleyball, it involves exact maneuvering and adjustments.
           
"When I was nine my mom, dad, and brother were all in Jujitsu while I was in gymnastics. After gymnastics I would go to their studio and watch as they finished their classes. One evening they were doing belt testing and a chiropractor was in their class and offered to adjust them afterwards," she recalled. "I was sitting in the stands and heard the noise the adjustment made, and as we drove home that night I asked my dad what that noise was. He said it was a chiropractic adjustment.
 
I told him that I wanted to hear that noise every day for the rest of my life. It was very satisfying to me. And here I am living the dream."
 
 
Whaley is now a chiropractor and owner of the Chiropractic Wellness Cafe in Crowley. She graduated Texas Wesleyan in 2005 and holds the program record for career kills with 1,781 in her four seasons, including third and fourth all-time in a single season (536 in 2004 and 533 in 2003).
 
After graduating from Texas Wesleyan with an exercise science degree she went to Parker College of Chiropractic and got another bachelor's degree in anatomy and physiology, a bachelors in health science, a minor in chemistry and a doctorate of chiropractic license.
 
While in chiropractic school she learned of a different approach to chiropractic medicine.
 
"I had a mentor named Arno Burnier who developed the Cafe of Life chiropractic offices. They were offices that had a specific philosophy and way of approaching individual care and how we serve the population," she said. "I was very drawn towards the play on words it offered - at the cafe we are serving life. So many people think that chiropractic care is just about relieving pain and decreasing symptoms, but it's really about improving quality of life through the function of the nervous system, and because we are working with the nervous system we are able to affect all aspects of your life and health through a simple adjustment."
 
She also stresses that it doesn't matter how old or young someone is. All ages need chiropractic care.
 
"We specialize in pediatrics and pregnant mommies in our office, but we see people of all walks of life and any age. We help people with allergies, headaches, babies who are constipated or who have colic or reflux or problems latching while nursing. We help people have better sleep, better digestive health, more energy, better brain function and overall vitality," Whaley said.
 
 
Her fee system is also different from what you would normally find. In a unique format, customers decide what they can pay. After all, she said, patients getting the best treatment possible is most important.
 
"As far as the way my fee system is, that was an example made from a different chiropractor that I learned about in chiropractic school who had an office design called a box on the wall fee system," she said. "Because I wanted to see large families, it made sense that I would adopt a similar fee system to allow families to get regular, consistent chiropractic care not just for a limited time but for lifelong care if they chose.
 
"This is why I allow each member to set their own fee after the first visit so they can afford consistent, continued care."
 
As for why her office is called a cafe? Well, along with getting care, patients can enjoy the coffee shop and purchase a drink while they wait, and there's an outdoor play area that includes an obstacle course for the kids.
 
"I try to create an atmosphere that is both welcoming and creates a positive community-like culture that people will want to return to over and over again. I believe my patients enjoy themselves immensely when coming into my office, and I have tried my best to "make it a place for kids to enjoy and parents to relax while waiting to be seen," she said.
 
"I have surrounded myself with wonderful doctors working alongside me that care deeply about each individual person we see at the office and truly seeing their health improve and not just as a number. I have had patients who have been seeing me for 10 or more years.
 
"Honestly, I feel like the vast majority of clients who come into our office have been coming for several years or more, and that is exactly how I hoped and dreamed my practice would turn out to be. We know everyone by name, and we feel like we are extended family members who are actively involved in their lives each week."
 
Whaley would like to see all college athletes have access to chiropractic care on a regular basis. After all, bodies regularly get contorted and twisted as they try again and again to make big plays. She's doing her part to get TXWES to come onboard with that idea throughout its program as she currently works with the cross country team.
 
"One thing I wish we would have had access to while we were athletes was regular chiropractic adjustments. So many of us had back issues or shoulder issues that I think could have greatly been helped with chiropractic care, and a lot of top-level athletes at larger schools do receive regular care to keep them in top condition," she said.
 
Her husband, Aaron Whaley runs the Morton Fitness Center at Texas Welseyan. He played basketball for the Rams and is a former junior varsity and assistant coach for the school. It makes for some friendly competitive moments at home, she said with a chuckle.
 
"Being how we were both collegiate athletes we definitely do tend to be a little bit more competitive, and that definitely carries through to our kids as well," she said.
 
On their recent 12-year anniversary, following dinner they went to Top Golf for a little competition, in fact.
 
"We are both still very athletic and work out daily, and have run in spartan races together. Even if we are playing a simple game of cards we are always ribbing each other and trash talking and bringing out the competitive juices," she said. "I don't think it's possible to be high-level athletes and not have a certain level of competitiveness when doing anything.
 
"Unfortunately, the only thing I am able to always beat him at is volleyball and gymnastics. He pretty much dominates me in everything else - much to my dismay," she added with a smile.
 
She and Aaron have three children, son Addox, age 10 and daughters Everly (7) and Oakley (5). Of course, all are active in sports.
 
"Addox enjoys playing flag football, guitar, Fortnite and Minecraft, and is definitely the jokester and silly one in the family. Everly is our uber competitive one and is a natural athlete who is pretty much good at anything you throw at her. Right now she loves basketball and piano, but is also playing soccer and wants to learn tennis. Oakley is our sweetie pie and people pleaser and is super cuddly and definitely the peacemaker between the three kids. She is just now getting into sports and has started playing soccer the past couple of weeks. 
 
"Two of my kids want to grow up and work in my office alongside me, enjoying the chiropractic profession, while Everly wants to be an artist. I really hope that they continue to have a desire to be chiropractors and we can work alongside each other one of these days- that would be so cool and fulfilling to me."
 
And no matter where life takes her from here, she will always take her memories from TXWES with her, she said.
 
"When I look back on my college years, what I remember loving the best was playing with my T-dub girls. Most of my favorite memories revolve around volleyball and inside jokes or things that happened on the court," she said of her teams that reached the NAIA Tournament and finished fifth in the nation two straight years.
 
"We were not the tallest team, therefore we had to use our speed to advance as far as we did. Our slogan that year was 'speed kills' and 'git r done' - and under the coaching of Rick Johansen we did just that."
 
She said playing for the Lady Rams continues to help her with her career success today. They played a stringent schedule, would practice three hours a day, worked with a personal trainer two or three days each week, and had a stringent weightlifting regimen - oh, and they had a normal class load of 12 to 15 hours.
 
"This developed a very strong work ethic that definitely stayed with me in chiropractic school and helped me prioritize and focus on what needed to be done," she said. "I've always had a desire to do the best and be the best I can, regardless of whether that's in school or on the court or in my chiropractic practice, so it definitely helped me stay focused being able to balance the heavy load we had."
 
The team was, in fact, so close that for a few years after they graduated the majority of the team joined a competitive women's league and would play a couple times a week, or in random tournaments.
 
"Then more of us started having babies and growing our families so that became more and more difficult," she said.
 
In a case of like mother, like son, Whaley was taken back in her memory recently.
 
"What is even funnier is that last year when my son was nine he asked me a very similar question. After popping his fingers and toes he looked at me and seriously asked "Mom, why is that so satisfying?' I simply told him, 'It's in your DNA bud.'"

Visit the Chiropractic Wellness Cafe today.