The Next Elite Sports Physical Therapists

Alvaro Zapata and Tsianna Barnwell have never feared the highest level of competition. They crave it. Growing up, soccer, track and football lit internal fires that burn to this day, which helps explain how they made it into an exclusive cohort: the UCF and Orlando Health sports physical therapy residency. With just two residents accepted each year, Zapata and Barnwell made the cut from a list of 30 high-performing applicants, meaning they're as elite as the athletes they work with.

"The residency accelerates clinical reasoning by three to five years, making [residents] more competitive candidates for the best jobs." - Meredith Chaput, research coordinator and liaison for the UCF and Orlando Health sports physical therapy residency program

"We look for people who thrive on rigor," says Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Meredith Chaput, the residency's research coordinator and liaison. The payoff is priceless. "The residency accelerates clinical reasoning by three to five years, making them more competitive candidates for the best jobs."

Chaput's sport-specific expertise, along with that of four of her colleagues in the UCF Division of Physical Therapy who serve as didactic and clinical mentors, is an instant draw to the program. So, too, are UCF's research labs, partnerships and the opportunity to teach students in the UCF doctor of physical therapy program.

The residents are equally drawn to the opportunity to advance their skills alongside a seasoned clinical team at Orlando Health. They take on a caseload of sports and orthopedic patients, providing specialized care ranging from post-surgical rehabilitation to elite-level performance optimization, tapping into advanced rehabilitation technology to improve athlete recovery. Nearly 2 million people every year suffer sports-related injuries and receive treatment in emergency departments, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

With all of this in place, professionals are being prepared, two at a time, through a specialized 12-month program, to join the select group of 169 board-certified sports clinical specialist physical therapists in Florida. It's a coveted residency and one designed to develop healthcare providers to better aid athletes of all levels. Central Florida is a premier sports destination, featuring a mix of professional franchises, elite collegiate athletics, large high schools and massive amateur complexes.

"When we started this program in 2020, our mission initially aimed to strengthen the rehabilitation services provided to the local sports-based community within Central Florida by producing highly trained and skilled sports physical therapists," says Philip Agostinelli, residency program coordinator and rehab clinical operations manager with Orlando Health Sports Medicine and Rehab Center. "Now, currently, in our sixth cohort of residents, that mission evolved to encompass the needs of athletes on a national scale, with multiple past graduates working in professional or semi-professional sports across the country."

Since entering the UCF and Orlando Health Sports Physical Therapy program, Alvaro Zapata has accessed the inner circles of Orlando's two professional soccer teams.

The Tireless Protege: Alvaro Zapata

Long days do not faze Alvaro Zapata, even as they turn into 60-hour weeks. To him, they're part of the allure of the residency program.

"I ask myself, 'When would I have this kind of opportunity again?' and the answer is never," Zapata says. "The program opens doors that would otherwise not be open."

"I'm gaining all the knowledge I could possibly need to eventually be at the top of my profession." - Alvaro Zapata

Since entering the program last August, Zapata has stretched his aptitude alongside clinicians at Orlando Health and Jewett Orthopedic. He's worked with athletes in high schools and at UCF and accessed the inner circles of Orlando's two professional soccer teams.

As Zapata puts it, "I'm gaining all the knowledge I could possibly need to eventually be at the top of my profession."

Zapata was poised to climb the ladder with his Doctor of Physical Therapy from Boston University when he heard about Chaput heading up the residency program at UCF. He knew of her published research and presentations to global audiences.

"She's a big reason I wanted this residency so badly," Zapata says.

At the 2026 Isokinetic Conference, Alvaro Zapata presented progress on a rehab model he co-developed, examining how ACL surgery can disrupt instinctive movement and coordination.

Here, he has had the opportunity to collaborate with Chaput and progress research on the "visual-cognitive control-to-chaos continuum" in rehab, a model for which Chaput is one of the original creators. After ACL reconstruction surgery, patients often develop inhibitions within the brain that limit the coordination of knee movement. Instead of movement in competition being instinctive, athletes are often consciously aware of deficiencies that were once automatic.

"If you can't trust your knee, then you can't get back to the top of your game," Zapata says. "Rehab is typically done in a controlled setting. The real sports environment is chaotic. We're finding ways to challenge people the day after surgery, so inhibitions don't set in."

This means "visual-cognitive" challenges are added to rehab in the very early stages. For example, the physical therapists might have the patient look for colored lights on a screen. Red means squeeze the right leg. Blue means squeeze the left leg. Yellow means squeeze both.

The visual-cognitive control-to-chaos continuum calls for therapists to gradually make exercises more complex for the patient, from simple, controlled movements to more unpredictable, game-like situations. The goal is to better prepare patients to safely return to sports by training both the body and the brain.

"We want athletes to react instead of thinking first," Zapata says. "It could be a game changer."

Tsianna Barnwell is building her skill set through hands-on work with the Orlando Pride.

The Team Player: Tsianna Barnwell

At noon on a Monday, Tsianna Barnwell leaves Jewett Orthopedic Clinic, where she's been broadening her skills since 7 a.m. She'll now drive to a local high school to work with athletes across a range of sports. Barnwell thrives in the residency program because no two days are the same. She might work with the Orlando Pride or Orlando City, provide expertise for USA Track or binge on insights at Orlando Health.

Some people call the program challenging. Barnwell calls it "incredible."

"I'm getting the best of all worlds," she says. She even immerses herself in the world of Orlando Ballet, calling it "another unique experience to add to my toolbox."

In the Cognition, Neuroplasticity and Sarcopenia Lab, Tsianna Barnwell (left) studies differences in hamstring muscles between men and women to inform rehab, recovery and injury prevention.

Barnwell takes her toolbox into the Cognition, Neuroplasticity and Sarcopenia Lab, where she and Chaput are advancing research, which they recently presented in Athens, Greece, at the Isokinetic Conference. It started with a question Barnwell had from her days as a Division I soccer player: Why are female athletes two to six times more likely to suffer knee injuries than men? Through her sports residency, she's discovered that females are more likely to be weaker in their hamstring muscles. Studying these anatomical and physiological differences can inform impactful changes in rehab, recovery and injury prevention, she notes.

"With this residency under my belt, my opportunities will be almost endless." - Tsianna Barnwell

Barnwell knows firsthand what it's like to suffer a torn ACL. She's also known "the team" as her home away from home since leaving Qatar as an 18-year-old to study and play soccer at St. Bonaventure University. Ultimately, she wants to be part of a team again, perhaps as the director of rehabilitation for a professional women's soccer team. That's her preference, but when the residency ends, she'll be prepared to work with any team - even a ballet company, Cirque du Soleil or the rehab team at Orlando Health.

"I'm fortunate to gain such a breadth of knowledge," Barnwell says. "With this residency under my belt, my opportunities will be almost endless."

Jeremy Wydra '18 '22DPT was among the presenters at the 2026 Isokinetic Conference in Athens, Greece.

The Empowered Graduate: Jeremy Wydra '18 '22DPT

Jeremy Wydra '18 '22DPT is where Zapata and Barnwell will soon be: residency complete, now pursuing a path to find more effective ways to help athletes and performers recover and raise the bar.

"That's the great outcome for me: variety," says Wydra, who finished the residency program in 2024 and is now practicing clinically, and working toward his doctorate in kinesiology at UCF, where he is collecting data on the recovery and return to performance after ACL reconstruction.

Wydra worked his way through UCF, first envisioning a career in mechanical engineering and ultimately earning a bachelor's in health sciences. Along the way, he decided he wanted a people-facing profession and shadowed at a clinic, where he noticed physical therapists conversing with patients throughout treatment sessions, often for more than an hour. He saw it as personalized healthcare that he could optimize with physics and innovation.

Jeremy Wydra '18 '22DPT (right) works with a student-athlete in a training facility.

After finishing his doctorate in physical therapy at UCF, Wydra landed in a dream situation in Maryland, practicing as both a strength and conditioning coach and a physical therapist within sports performance centers. It begs the question: Why return for the residency?

"I wanted to work with mentors who would push me to be better," says Wydra.

Unlike Zapata and Barnwell, Wydra had little soccer experience. Gaining it became part of the push he desired.

"… the value of the residency for me: having access to such diversified people and environments." - Jeremy Wydra '18 '22DPT

"During my second week in the residency, I stepped into the Orlando City Academy training room to work with high-level athletes," he says. "I also helped on the sidelines and talked with the medical staff about team-centered communication with coaches and players. That was the value of the residency for me: having access to such diversified people and environments."

Wydra sees himself taking full advantage of the variety still in front of him, perhaps as a physical therapist and sports scientist, reforming best practices and helping others be their best.

"That's what my mentors in the residency have done for me: made me a better person and professional," he says. "I wouldn't trade those 12 months for the world."

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