Sonya Garrison Greider PT, DPT, OCS
Most Texans would find it strange that someone would choose a career that involves working on a snow-covered mountaintop, but that is exactly what Atlanta native Sonya Garrison Greider is doing. And in February she will experience the most exciting opportunity of her career.
After graduating from Atlanta High School in 2008, Sonya received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville in 2011. She then attended the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and received her Doctor of Physical Therapy in 2014; she remained there for her residency.
In 2015 Sonya married Tyler Greider from Garland, Texas, and a year later they moved to Vail, Colorado where she accepted a position with Howard Head Sports Medicine. There, she is the Orthopedic Residency Coordinator and Lead PT who works with a variety of ages, athletic levels, and orthopedic injuries with a special interest in cyclists and triathletes.
Besides the daily office routine, her responsibilities also include taking care of the USA Olympic Snowboard Cross Team. On January 30th she will travel with the team to Bejing for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
“I took them through the trials leading up to the last Olympics in Korea, but this will be my first time to attend with them,” she said.
While Sonya has racked up plenty of travel time with the team, she counts the 2018 World Cup in Italy as a favorite memory.
“In Italy we were struggling to get just one member on the podium, and at the end of the six-week tour we had two on the podium at the base of the Matterhorn,” she said. “We worked hard until the last one dropped on the course. It was a long road with a great finish and lots of champagne.”
As the team’s physical therapist Sonya’s daily duties include conducting morning training, performing physical therapy treatments every 30 minutes and staying on the hill while team members compete. She helps the coaches keep the team warm and be ready to go down the course herself to reach any member of the team that might be injured.
“There are four racers in the gates, and they go over lots of bumps and maneuvers – like a human bowling alley,” she explained.
The 2022 U.S. Olympic snowboard cross mixed team comprises eight riders: Faye Gulini, Salt Lake City, Utah; 3/24/1992; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail (Olympics: 2010, 2014, 2018); Lindsey Jacobellis, Stratton Mountain, Vermont; 8/19/1985; Stratton Mountain School (Olympics: 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018); Stacy Gaskill, Golden, Colorado; 5/21/2000; International Snowboard Training Center; Meghan Tierney, Rumson, New Jersey; 1/15/1997; International Snowboard Training Center (Olympics: 2018); Nick Baumgartner, Iron River, Michigan; 12/17/1981 (Olympics: 2010, 2014, 2018); Hagen Kearney, Telluride, Colorado; 11/6/1991; International Snowboard Training Center (Olympics: 2018); Alex Deibold, Manchester, Vermont; 5/8/1986; Stratton Mountain School (Olympics: 2014); and Mick Dierdorff, Steamboat Springs, Colorado; 4/30/1991; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club (Olympics: 2018).
“Lindsey is the most decorated female snowboarder of all time,” Sonya explained. “Nick is the oldest snowboarder at 40.”
When she isn’t working on the slopes, she and Tyler stay fit by skiing and snowboarding in the winter and riding mountain bikes in the summer. Tyler is a data analyst for a renewable energy company and manages a ski/ bike shop in Vail. They don’t have kids yet, but their border collie, Annie, is eight years old.
“I have to give a shout out to my parent's Miles and Jodi Garrison and my sister Sarah Heath, her husband Ross and their three kids,” whom she sees when they come visit, or she is able to make it back home. “It’s really not a bad life.”