A community partnership between Tennessee Tech and Cookeville Regional Medical Center (CRMC) has given Eric Tarsi a new home at TTU as a campus and community physical therapist for TTU/CRMC Golden Eagle Sports Medicine.

Tarsi comes to Cookeville with nearly 10 years experience in sports medicine, physical therapy and rehabilitation, most recently having worked for a year in Green Hills – a subdivision of Nashville – at Lean Physical Therapy. Prior to that, he spent a year in the Monterey/San Jose region of California as a traveling physical therapist, working mainly in home health and acute care.

A native of Kingsford, Mich., Tarsi got the majority of his post-educational experience in Green Bay, Wis. At Bellin Health, specializing in Sports Medicine and outpatient orthopedics. He graduated from Grand Valley State University in 2002 with his M.S. in Physical Therapy after completing his undergraduate degree at GVSU in Health Sciences.

Tarsi will work in the TTU/CRMC Golden Eagle Sports Medicine Student Therapy Center, located inside the east side of Tucker Stadium. The center specializes in athletic and orthopaedic injuries and creates a convenient way for students, faculty and staff to attend physical therapy without leaving campus and is open to the community including youth and high school student-athletes who need the services offered by Golden Eagle Sports Medicine.

The partnership between CRMC and Tech means that Tarsi is not only available on a daily basis to all of Tech’s student-athletes, but also to anyone in the area who is in need of physical therapy and rehab.

His areas of expertise include rehabilitation after shoulder/knee/hip/spinal surgery, as well as optimizing movement patterns/strength and reaction times in effort to correct/prevent injury.

Tarsi is engaged to Katie Reber; the couple resides in Cookeville and plays to marry in June of 2012. They enjoy being outdoors and partaking in activities such as hiking, biking and camping.

The center is operated as a community partnership between CRMC and Tennessee Tech. To make an appointment, Tarsi will be reached at the center by calling (931) 783-2463.