Higgins Chosen to Provide Athletic Training Services on a National Stage

Paul Higgins, Associate Professor and Athletic Training Program Director, was selected to serve on the medical staff for the 2025 NCAA Division III Wrestling National Championships held in Providence, RI in March 2025. It was a reunion of sorts earning his undergraduate degree and having wrestled at Rhode Island College. 

Dr. Higgins provided Athletic Training services for sessions I and II on Friday March 14th. He was quoted as saying, “It was a phenomenal experience being surrounded by so many elite wrestlers, the honor of being selected, and having the opportunity to return to where Athletic Training began for me!”  The evening session concluded with bout number 300, and those wrestlers moving on to day two having earned All-America honors.

Higgins has also recently collaborated with Paul Cacolice, Associate Professor in the Department of Sports Medicine and Human Performance and Faculty Athletic Representative, on a publication in the Scientific Journal of Sport Performance entitled "Grunting increases power production and vertical jump height in experienced martial artists." They were joined in the research by Jason Sawyer formerly of Westfield State and currently of Bryant University and Michael Pepin of the Chiropractic Sports Performance Institute. So while the sound effects in an action movie may just be entertainment, this study argues that for experienced martial artists "grunting may be an effective way to increase power during high-velocity, explosive movements," thus maximizing muscular power.