ATSU’s Doctor of Athletic Training program alumni help US Olympic team’s medal pursuit
Posted: April 3, 2025
They were finished, until they weren’t. The U.S. Olympic Women’s Rugby Sevens were down to the final seconds of their bronze medal game against Australia, trailing 12-7. Alex Sedrick received the ball near her own goal line, wrestled herself free from one defender, and was immediately wrapped up by another.
It was over, and then it wasn’t. Sedrick overpowered the Australian, and suddenly there was nothing in front of her but the green grass of Stade de France. A crowd of 69,000 roared louder as Sedrick raced the length of the pitch before diving across the try line with no time on the clock. Her conversion to follow made the final score 13-12.
Improbable. Incredible. Unforgettable.
The Olympic and Paralympic Games are known for such moments. For a few weeks every few years, the greatest athletes in the world descend upon host nations, chasing medals and creating memories for themselves, their countries, and those watching in the stands and in homes across the globe.
The 2024 Summer Games in Paris were memorable, too, for ATSU-Arizona School of Health Sciences’ (ATSU-ASHS) Doctor of Athletic Training (DAT) program, which saw four alumni providing support to athletes pursuing the pinnacle of their sports. Quinton Sawyer, DAT, ATC, ’17, was an athletic trainer with the U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team; Nicole Titmas, DAT, ATC, ’20, was an athletic trainer with the U.S. Olympic Women’s Rugby Sevens Team; Joshua Honrado, DAT, MS, ’20, was an athletic trainer with the U.S. Paralympic Badminton Team; and Courtney Watson, DAT, MS, ’20, was an athletic trainer with the U.S. Women’s 3×3 Basketball Team.
The medal count? Four. One gold, one silver, and two bronze, including the first medals in U.S. history for Women’s Olympic Rugby and Olympic or Paralympic Badminton – quite a haul for athletes supported by those educated at ATSU-ASHS.
“A medal is really, really important at the Olympics,” Dr. Titmas says. “To see them accomplish that was just so awesome.”
Dr. Nicole Titmas poses with Team USA player and captain Lauren Doyle after winning bronze at the Paris Olympics.
Nicole Titmas, DAT, ATC, ’20
Athletic trainer with the U.S. Olympic Women’s Rugby Sevens Team
Dr. Titmas is manager of medical services for USA Rugby Sevens and head athletic trainer of the women’s team. She’d played sports throughout her life but didn’t know much about rugby until beginning her undergraduate studies at University of Rhode Island. Seeking competition and structure, she joined the team.
Academically, she was interested in a sports or training-related field, but her path toward becoming an athletic trainer didn’t form until she suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during her sophomore year.
“Back then, the ACL injury was the dreaded injury and long rehab,” Dr. Titmas says. “Luckily, I had really good physical therapists and athletic trainers who I worked with. For me, that was the turning point. It was really cool to have those medical providers there for you when you’re going through this dark stage, when something you’ve been doing, your sport, is taken away through injury. You have these professionals who say, ‘Hold on, it’s OK, we do this all of the time.’ They help keep you on track, help you gain strength, and get back into your sport.”
Dr. Titmas worked with the men’s basketball team during her senior year, followed by an internship, and then the athletic training master’s program at Plymouth State University. A professor there, Patty Lacey, served as a mentor to Dr. Titmas and had a rugby connection.
“She had worked for USA Rugby and there were a few camps she wasn’t able to cover. She said, ‘Hey, do you want to get your foot in the door?’ And I started to work my way up by covering the national pathways events,” says Dr. Titmas, who has been in a full-time role with the program since 2012. Paris marked her third Olympic Games with the team.
Joshua Honrado, DAT, MS, ’20
Athletic trainer with the U.S. Paralympic Team
Dr. Honrado wasn’t much into playing sports, as he grew up with childhood asthma. Instead, he sang in the choir and played the alto saxophone. He attended UCLA and had an interest in physical therapy before discovering the Sports Medicine Internship Program.
“That was my first introduction to the athletic training profession, and I loved it,” he says. “I knew this is what I wanted to do, except with performing artists, because I’d recognized it was a needed service for that population.”
He crossed the country to attend the athletic training master’s program at Seton Hall University, choosing it because of its proximity to Broadway. Dr. Honrado found a clinical affiliation with Harkness Center for Dance Injuries at NYU Langone Health, did a rotation there, and was offered a position when he graduated. He’s been with the center for the last nine years.
His Olympic connection stems from his childhood, growing up glued to the TV, alongside his family. In 1996, when an injured Kerri Strug landed a gold-medal-clinching vault for the U.S. Women’s Olympic Gymnastics Team, his personal goal was set.
“You could just see the athleticism, but also the pain, and her pushing through the pain, the crowd going wild, her coach lifting her up,” Dr. Honrado says. “I wanted to be a part of that.”
While a student at Seton Hall, Dr. Honrado presented a poster at the 2013 National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) conference, and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) had a booth in the exhibit hall. He inquired about volunteering and was told he needed at least three years of experience.
Nine years later, he was again presenting a poster at the conference and came across the USOPC table. He took it as a sign and volunteered for a two-week rotation at the USOPC’s Colorado Springs Training Center in 2023. He was added to the pool of medical providers and later received a volunteer position for the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.
Quinton Sawyer, DAT, ATC, ’17
Athletic trainer with the U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team
Dr. Sawyer was a pre-med major at University of North Carolina (UNC) before he was introduced to the athletic training profession. It was exactly the future he was looking for.
“It more closely aligned to what my professional interests were turning into, which was a former high school athlete who was very interested in sports in general,” he says. “Athletic training, more than medicine, allowed me an opportunity to be directly involved with sports teams on a day-to-day basis and continue to be a part of competitive sports as my profession.”
He completed his master’s degree at UNC in 2006 and quickly found himself in the world of top competition in college and professional sports, with the UNC men’s basketball, swimming, and diving teams, Phoenix Suns, Michigan State men’s basketball team, and more. In 2018, he became associate head athletic trainer with the Charlotte Hornets and is currently the team’s head athletic trainer.
Dr. Sawyer completed a two-week volunteer rotation at the USOPC’s Lake Placid Training Center and was later contacted by the U.S. Men’s National Basketball Team.
“I got a phone call saying, ‘Hey, would you be interested in being a part of what we’re doing?’ Absolutely I was interested,” he says.
Dr. Sawyer served with the U.S. Select Team in preparation for the 2021 Olympics and with the Men’s National Team at the 2023 World Cup before being asked to work as an athletic trainer with the 2024 U.S. Men’s Olympic Basketball Team.
“It’s an honor and a privilege. It’s been an extremely humbling experience to be supporting, arguably, the greatest athletes in the world, especially in the sport of basketball,” he says. “I’m of the age that I grew up watching the Dream Team. To have the opportunity to work with USA Basketball, to help represent our country on the international stage, is something I didn’t even know to dream about as a little kid.”
Courtney Watson, DAT, MS, ’20
Athletic trainer with the U.S. Women’s and Men’s 3×3 Basketball Teams
Dr. Watson is presently director of player health & performance and head athletic trainer with the Portland Trail Blazers, after serving last season as head athletic trainer. A graduate of University of California, Berkeley, and PennWest California, she’s worked as a sports medicine consultant and founded Court’s Corner LA Sports Medicine in 2001. She’s also been head athletic trainer with the WNBA’s Houston Comets and Los Angeles Sparks for 16 years and was the first female athletic trainer in boxing, working as medical director and athletic trainer for champion Floyd Mayweather.
Her interest in the field began in high school, when Dr. Watson was a multisport athlete. A friend suffered an injury, and she helped take them to training appointments as they recovered.
“The West Coast Sports Medicine Foundation/Team to Win in Los Angeles provided athletic trainer opportunities in high school for economically deprived student athletes,” she says. “Through mentorship and hands-on practice taking care of all the athletes, I was excited to discover what would become one of my rewarding passions. I never turned back.”
When the USOPC began forming a 3×3 basketball program for future competition, a representative reached out to Dr. Watson, who had established herself with more than a decade of experience as an athletic trainer in the WNBA. She began working with the men’s and women’s 3×3 teams in the lead up to the 2021 Tokyo Games, served as head athletic trainer with the U.S. Women’s Basketball National Team at the 2022 FIBA World Cup, and served as an athletic trainer with the U.S. Olympic Women’s and Men’s 3×3 Basketball teams at the Paris Olympics.
It has been the fulfillment of a childhood dream. Dr. Watson’s late grandmother, Laverne Govan, was a teacher, and her lessons didn’t stop when she left the classroom.
“She saw how much I loved sports, and she would teach me what the Olympics were all about,” Dr. Watson says. “We used to watch it together.” Being part of the Olympics became a goal, and Dr. Watson leaped at the chance when an invitation came to become a part of the sports medicine team.
Dr. Watson credits her grandmother, too, for her decision to pursue a DAT degree. She had always pushed Dr. Watson to achieve the highest levels of education possible, and when a colleague in ATSU-ASHS’ DAT program told her about the opportunity, she sought to complete another life goal.
“It was 2016. I had just won the championship with the LA Sparks, as well as the Mayweather-(Manny) Pacquiao fight (billed as “The Fight of the Century”) that year. I felt it was the perfect time to advance my education and explore my professional dreams. Ultimately, obtaining my doctorate degree was such a rewarding moment in my life that I will never take for granted,” she says.
ATSU’s DAT program advances the athletic training profession
Experiences like the Winter Institute, where the DAT program’s online students gather in Arizona for a week of in-person learning and discussion, helped Dr. Watson establish relationships with others in the field who were striving to be at the top of their profession.
“There’s not a lot of us,” Dr. Watson says of those who have completed a DAT program, “but being able to be a part of that percentage of those who wanted to excel, it’s fun.”
Drs. Titmas, Honrado, and Sawyer were also already in the midst of successful careers when they decided to further their education and pursue a DAT degree. Dr. Titmas had just returned from the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro when she began thinking about advancing her clinical education skills.
“ATSU really stood out to me. The program, the school itself, world renowned for their medical programs,” Dr. Titmas says. “I liked how the program was set up. They encourage you to be working while you’re doing the program, and I thought that was really beneficial. I was learning, and I was able to implement new skills. It made us have deeper discussions with my colleagues.”
Dr. Sawyer saw the DAT degree as both a way to enhance his skills and a chance to be one of the first in his field to take this step.
“The opportunity to be on the forefront of this emerging degree pathway for our profession was exciting,” Dr. Sawyer says. “I wanted to ensure that anything I spent time and money on as an adult, who already had an established professional career, was going to bring value to me as a student, make me a better athletic trainer and leader. I found the program at ATSU checked all of those boxes at a very high level.
“I grew an enormous amount, and it allowed me to be exposed to thinking through a lot of the issues of our profession at a much deeper level, and have higher-level conversations about the issues and challenges of our profession with people who could help shape my thinking on some of those topics.”
For Dr. Honrado, the same thing that led him to a life-changing encounter at a NATA conference led him to seek out ATSU-ASHS’ DAT program – research.
“I knew my master’s in athletic training would only get me so far within the research realm, and I knew I still wanted to continue practicing clinically, so as opposed to the PhD, I chose the doctor of athletic training route,” he says. “I knew I would be working with elite athletes and medical professionals, and initially, I did have thoughts of imposter syndrome. But completing the DAT at ATSU provided
me the confidence to know I had the clinical knowledge to successfully navigate any situation.”
The Olympic motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius,” Latin words that translate to “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” ATSU’s Doctor of Athletic Training program isn’t responsible for the success of graduates like Drs. Titmas, Honrado, Sawyer, or Watson, but there’s no mistaking the common traits of those who seek out, enroll in, and complete the program.
It’s for a different level of athletic trainer. It’s for those who aren’t satisfied. It’s for those who want to push themselves, the athletes they support, and the profession itself to be faster, higher, and stronger.
“We’re all wanting to be the best. We’re champions within ourselves,” Dr. Watson says. “The athletes look at us as an extension of themselves, so, ultimately, we’re the best in the world in what we do, as well.”