Sport Science Support: Students put theory into practice.

Health, Exercise and Sports Science students in their final year studying Applied Sports Science and Sports Coaching degrees have recently started their Sport Science Support unit under the watchful eye of unit leader and Exercise Physiologist Dr Stewart Bruce-Low.

Students verbally defend their work.

This unit requires the students to work in groups to support an elite basketball player from a high performance centre located near to Southampton Solent University. The students must work as a team to provide interdisciplinary sport science support to their athlete using physiology, psychology, biomechanics and nutrition.  Their aim is to detect an area of improvement and solve the issue they have identified. They will profile their athlete utilising the extensive facilities and equipment in the Health, Exercise and Sport Science laboratories, create and implement a training programme and re-profile their athlete over the coming months.

The student’s first assessment requires them to submit a poster that details how they intend to use the physiology, psychology, biomechanics and nutrition approaches with their athlete. This is submitted with a wealth of scientific research to support their methods. This assessment also requires the group to present and verbally defend their poster whilst staff ask challenging questions.

If the students pass this assessment they will then contact their athlete and begin their intervention. We will be attempting to catch up with the students over the coming months for updates so keep checking the blog to see their progress!