Are you a Physical Therapist, or PTA, who loves sports and working with athletes? Have you ever watched professional sporting events and thought it would be awesome to get to practice physical therapy with professional athletes?
Well, dream no more. The opportunity is real.
You can volunteer to become an Olympic Physical Therapist and work with professional athletes at the Olympics.
Olympic Physical Therapy Volunteers Love It
Edison Au is a sports physical therapist for Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset (RWJUH) in New Jersey. Earlier this month he took the opportunity to serve as team physical therapist for Canada’s wrestling team at the 2016 World Olympic Qualifier in Istanbul, Turkey.
As team PT, Edison provided physical therapy services for the entire Canadian Wrestling team consisting of 6 freestyle wrestlers and one Greco-Roman wrestler including national champs as well as former Olympians.
Aside from the competitive Olympic events, Edison was providing services during training sessions throughout the event as well. As the team’s PT he was charged with familiarizing himself with the local medical services and facilities. His PT responsibilities included things like pre-practice tapings, pre and post event therapeutic massage, evaluating and treating chronic and/or acute issues with each wrestler. Anything he could do to optimize the athletes performance, he did it.
Edison has been an Olympic PT since 2003 where he was Chief Therapist for the Canadian Open Paralympic Championships. He has ventured to many Olympic events such as the Maccabi Games in Israel and Chile, the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, and the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, and many more.
Needless to say, Edison keeps working Olympic events because he has had great experiences doing so.
“When an athlete you have worked with wins a medal, it’s like winning a medal for yourself,”
said Edison.
“You feel that all your life’s work has been built up for this very moment and has finally paid off.”
Does Olympic Physical Therapy sound appealing to you? Well, you can apply to become an Olympic Volunteer physical therapist for Team USA and help the team bring home the gold.
Apply to be a Team USA Olympic PT Today
To apply to be a medical volunteer for Team USA at the Olympics, just go to the Olympic Team USA Website’s medical volunteer page to learn the details. And once you are ready to apply, here is the application for Physical Therapists.
Applying to become a volunteer physical therapist for Team USA is simple. Just fill out the application form and mail your completed form to:
Jenna Street, MS, ATC
Coordinator, Sports Medicine Clinics Operations
1 Olympic Plaza
Colorado Springs, CO
80909
For more information, please contact Jenna Street at Jenna.Street@usoc.org.
Also, for applicants who have applied and just need to update their info, please complete the application form with your updated information and submit via email to: sportsmedvolunteers@usoc.org.
Are you a PT or PTA that has served a team at the Olympics? Tell us about it in the comments below! If you have questions or are interested in volunteering, just leave a comment and we will help point you in the right direction. 🙂
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