Participating in the Olympics is an opportunity of a lifetime and something many people only dream of. Athletes of course – but also anyone with a passion for athletics, like trainers, coaches and…physical therapists!
In fact, this dream became a reality for 3DPT co-founder, Dr. Ken Guzzardo back in 2018 when he was selected to be a volunteer physical therapist by the United States Olympic committee to spend time at the US Olympic training center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs, working with Olympians and Olympic hopefuls as they prepared to compete for the 2020 games. (Read about his experience here!)
It was such an amazing experience, Ken also volunteered at the 𝐿𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑑 𝑂𝑙𝑦𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑐 & 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑦𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑐 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐶𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 in Lake Placid, NY in 2021 and 2023!
Ken still keeps in touch with the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee and earlier this year they invited him back to the Lake Placid Training Center. As much as Ken loved his Olympic experiences, he decided to Pass the torch (pun intended) to another Olympic PT hopeful at 3DPT… Dr. Nick Schulman!
Nick is a physical therapist at 3DPT Cherry Hill but before earning his PT Doctorate, he earned a degree in Athletic Training and was a Trainer for college athletes at Seton Hall University. He’s also a Certified Strength and Conditioning coach, and EMT and a crossfit and barbell athlete. To say he’s passionate about healthcare and athletics is understatement! When an opportunity to work with the U.S most elite athletes came up, Nick jumped at the experience and in July 2024 spent a week at the US Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Lake Placid, NY.
Here’s what he had to say about his experience:
Ken has done several volunteer rotations with the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USPOC) in the past and maintains contact with them. The USOPC reached out to him if he or anyone else would be interested. When Ken mentioned the opportunity I thought it sounded like a great experience to gain experience working with higher profile athletes and to network with other healthcare professionals who work in that setting, so I decided to apply. I have a background working in athletics as an Athletic Trainer at Division 1 colleges and a professional interest in working with athletes, so this sounded right up my alley. A short few weeks later I was notified that I had been accepted to volunteer at their Lake Placid location.
During my week-long rotation, I worked with several athletes from the olympic bobsled and luge team, as well as several junior national team athletes. My role included performing evaluations of their injuries, performing treatments and rehabilitation for their injuries. I also had the opportunity to tour their training facilities where the bobsled, luge, skeleton, biathlon and freestyle ski teams train, as well as observe several practices for these teams to gain insight into the demands of their sport. I also realized how much work it takes to compete at this level, as many athletes relocate from their home to live at the training center for the majority of the year, and spend the majority of the day training.
This was a very unique experience and I would love to have this opportunity again. There are several training facilities around the country, each that have different facilities for the different sports that train there. I would like to continue my experience seeing some of the other facilities and working with as many different athletes and sports as I can.
Check out this video to see some highlights from Nick’s amazing Olympic experience (and him giving a new sport a try!)
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