Nick Mathews grew up on a farm in Crawford, but his current role as a physical therapist in the San Francisco Giants organization has taken him far from the borders of Oglethorpe County.
“We tried to make him a farmer when he grew up on a farm, and at one time he had his own cows, but farming was not for him,” said Tina Mathews, his mother.
Nick’s interest in helping professional athletes get back on the field started with his own time in Oglethorpe County athletics.
“Being in football, baseball, basketball, you name it,” he said. “So, I kind of wanted to do a career path that was around athletics or in that team environment.”
He competed in gymnastics and swam for Athens Bulldog Swim Club. He also played baseball, basketball and football for Oglethorpe County High School before graduating in 2013.
It was a shoulder injury, and its rehabilitation, that became a leading factor in Nick’s decision to choose physical therapy as a career path.
“That led me to … think that this would be really something that I enjoy,” Nick said.
Tina also has a history in the medical field.
She is a certified medical assistant and scrub tech who has worked in gynecology, obstetrics and now does surgical urology. Before that, she worked at OCHS for 13 years as the school nursing assistant.
“That was the perfect mom job,” Tina said.
Nick earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise and sports science from Piedmont University in 2017. While at Piedmont, he played baseball for two years and became the first person in his family to graduate from college.
“He has never done anything that I haven’t been proud of,” Tina said.
Nick then completed his doctorate in physical therapy from Indiana University in 2020, and during his last rotation at Indiana, Nick worked with the Indiana Pacers.
“I loved learning from those guys there,” Nick said. “They definitely made a huge impact on me.”
After graduating, he did a sports residency at Houston Methodist, spending half his time there and the other half at Rice University. At Rice, Nick worked as a physical therapist with the football team in the fall and the baseball and soccer teams in the spring.
The Giants hired Nick in July 2022.
Based in Phoenix, Arizona, he helps rehabilitate players throughout the minor league level and major league players with longer rehabilitation times.
Nick works with two other physical therapists, a designated strength coach, nutritionists and mental skills coaches.
“Having a collaborative environment is definitely super helpful to get them, not only just healthy, but actually back able to perform, which I think is super cool,” Nick said.
He said he wants his next step to either be a major league physical therapist or a rehab director for a major SEC or ACC college. He also mentioned wanting to work for the University of Tennessee.
Even with a career that’s taken him across the country, Nick fondly remembers his hometown.
“Oglethorpe County as a community, it was great whenever I was growing up,” he said. “I still have a lot of good friends that I still talk to today, and I feel like our school system was great.”