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Our Story
First Touch Sports Science is a soccer-dedicated physical therapy and sports science practice serving youth and college players across Vienna, Tyson’s and Mclean.
Meet your therapist
Dr. Phil Forsythe, PT, DPT, SCS
Founder · Board-Certified Sports Clinical Specialist
A lifelong athlete and board-certified Sports Clinical Specialist, I founded First Touch Sports Science to move past reacting to major soccer injuries like ACL tears. I blends a doctoral-level physical therapy education with soccer-specific sports science to help youth and college athletes recover from injury — and come back stronger and more resilient than ever.
The story
In 2026, I heard a familiar story pretty much each week of the highschool spring season. "Did you hear 'so and so' went down at the match, they think it's an ACL tear." That's when I realized I couldn't stand in my world alone anymore.
First Touch began on the back of the frustration of feeling powerless while the number of athletes undergoing ACL-R in my bubble seemed to be multiplying. As much as I love working with ACL-Rs, I understand the hidden costs of this injury: a year of stagnant development while other athletes are improving, the opportunity to play in college, isolation – physically, mentally, and socially, and the loss of identity as an athlete.
I am rebuilding the model from the ground up. When you work with First Touch, you don’t get just me. The truly innovative part of this model is bringing together a coalition of providers whose world revolves around working with soccer athletes. I am excited to continue expanding this coalition to include: soccer skills coaches, strength and conditioning/performance, physicians and surgeons, dietetics, and sport psychology and readiness professionals.
Our Mission
First Touch Sports Science was built by a clinician who spent years helping athletes recover from injuries that never had to happen. Our mission is simple: shift youth soccer culture from reactive to proactive — right here in the DMV, where elite competition deserves elite preparation, and where no athlete should have to watch their season end from the sideline.
Our Vision
To create a world class solution and consortium of providers from top to bottom in reshaping the approach of US Soccer in the DMV to performance in youth athletes while consistently being a step above in reducing the prevalence of catastrophic injuries such as ACL tears.
Our Approach
First Touch will be the perfect blend of sports rehabilitation, sports performance, and sport science. We are taking the culture of Division 1 athletics and International Academy teams while leveraging increasingly more cost-effective technology to take aim at significantly reducing catastrophic injuries.
We're differently built.
expect greatness.
- Soccer is all we do.
- Data, not opinions — return-to-sport and performance backed by technology
- True 1:1 time with your Doctor of Physical Therapy
- Direct access care — start treatment with no physician referral
Let 's Build Together.
Have questions about your injury, your timeline, or how sports science testing works? We would love to talk.