During the skiing months of winter, Dr. S. Joshua Szabo of Tri-Rivers Surgical Associates is doing surgeries during the week and traveling either with the U.S. Ski Team or his competitively skiing children on the weekends.

To do this, Szabo of Richland Township said he sometimes has to “create time when there is none.”

“It’s a challenge balancing a schedule, but it’s easy when you don’t consider your job to be work because you love what you do. Whether it’s seeing patients in the office, caring for patients in the operating room or standing on a ski hill and taking care of athletes,” Szabo said.

He started practicing at Tri-Rivers in 2006, and he specializes in shoulder, elbow and knee injuries. He sees patients in Butler and Cranberry Township.

An Upper St. Clair native, he attended high school at Sewickley Academy.

He did his undergraduate work at the University of Denver. Medical school was Hahnemann University in Philadelphia. He did his residency at Drexel University and his fellowship at the Mississippi Sports Medicine Orthopedic Center.

Additionally, Szabo is a physician with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association — which runs the U.S. Ski Team. He became a physician there for the freestyle team about eight or nine years ago.

“When I was in practice, someone approached me and asked me to become a pool physician and take care of the athletes,” Szabo said.

Although some skiers are very famous even outside the skiing world, Szabo does not have much interaction with them.

“I don’t take care of Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn,” Szabo said.

Still, the athletes he takes care of are gold medalists and world champions, but they are on the freestyle team. Most of the household names in skiing are on the alpine team.

He said working with the U.S. Ski Team is rewarding because he is privileged to take care of a group of athletes who are truly wonderful.

“They’re nice; they’re down to earth; they’re very thankful for the care and support you provide. And they also happen to be spectacular athletes on the world stage,” Szabo said.

Working with the team causes him to travel a lot.

Last March, he was in the northern Italian Alps. Over Thanksgiving, he got a chance to go to the French Alps.

In February, he will cover the World Cup for the U.S. Ski Team.

“You’ll see that on television,” Szabo said.

He also is a founding member of the Pennsylvania Freestyle Ski Association and currently is the president of that organization. His two children compete in freestyle skiing in the organization.

It is a competitive program with about 70 athletes enrolled.

Athletes in the association either do freestyle skiing, slopestyle skiing or snowboarding, and they compete in the USSA Western Division of the East.

The association is in competitions in Maine, New York, New Hampshire and Vermont this month. His children will be skiing in those competitions. Because of these competitions, he travels even more.

“You learn to embrace hotel rooms and restaurants,” Szabo said.

He takes on all this extra stuff because of his love for the sport.

“It’s a sport that I care greatly about, and it’s my way of supporting the sport and giving back to it,” Szabo said. “It’s something I grew up with as a family activity. It really brought the family together each weekend.”

From there, it grew to be a passion for him.

In high school, he skied competitively. At one point, he suffered an injury that led to his interest in becoming a surgeon.

“It was an injury during skiing that got my life directed toward medicine as a goal. And that’s how I ended up doing what I do today,” Szabo said.

His injury was an anterior cruciate ligament tear, which is a knee injury.

“It was a fairly long rehab time,” Szabo said.

Over the years, he has gotten to ski in a lot of places.

“There are so many and they all carry special memories and times,” Szabo said.

He said he probably enjoys Utah the most, where the U.S. Ski Team headquarters are and where some of his favorite ski resorts are.

Additionally, he is a team physician for Butler High School, primarily the football team. He also was a team physician for Mars High School for a while.

“Our group (Tri-Rivers) shares team coverage with seven or eight high schools. So, in truth, I may take care of other schools and programs as well,” Szabo said.

He said the relationships he makes in this capacity are very rewarding.

“You get a chance to know the coaching staff, the athletes, and you get a chance to follow them throughout the year. When you deal with the high school athletes, you can see these children grow up before your eyes,” Szabo said.

When these athletes are injured, he said it is very rewarding being able to guide them through it and help them return to their sport.

“I wouldn’t change my job for anything in the world,” Szabo said.