Dr Frank Dick OBE inspires Undergraduates.

Written by Jameson Mola, year 2 Applied Sport Science.

Last week Dr Frank Dick OBE visited Southampton Solent University to give a lecture to the HESS students. My peers and I were excited to hear “One of the UK's best and most consistently inspiring motivational speakers”. We were familiar with Frank’s work and reputation after reading much of his ‘Sport Training Principles’ text earlier on in the year, however, after a bit of background research were unsure as to the content of his speech....

Dr Frank Dick OBE in action.

As it turns out Frank is as humorous as he is accomplished (The list would be too long to write). The speech opened with various jokes around his “rather unfortunate last name” and his definition of the types of people he encountered on his many endeavours. “Valley and mountain people”. A valley person attributes all misfortune to external factors, I would of.... should of.... could of.... valley people think not losing is the same thing as winning (which it isn’t). Mountain people conversely, take the risk of winning, being better than what other people call best (Solent students of course) the people that “risk to win”.

Frank suggests to become mountain people we need to embrace change, and change with agility, his (and now possibly my) favourite quote is “Probably the Only Sustainable Competitive Advantage You Have is the Ability to Learn Faster Than the Opposition” (Arie de Geus) which I believe this is the fundamental truth and reason we are at University, to learn faster. Frank suggests in order to do so successfully, we need to “access the experiences of everyone around you” combine our knowledge, efforts, becoming players in the game, and more importantly coaches to our peers. This involves going that extra mile, taking that extra risk, but more importantly doing so for yourself AND your peers, a ‘player-coach’.

There were various videos incorporated into the speech demonstrating these points in the sporting arena (alongside Frank’s expert commentary).  The same principles are applicable to studying and student life, as we are all a collective group experiencing new, exciting and often daunting challenges to become successful we need to become Frank's ‘player-coaches’. After the speech there seemed to be a renewed excitement to get back to work, that it is possible to win, but you can win if you accept the responsibility, control and risk to do so.

As far as motivational speeches go, I believe this one may leave a lasting effect on all of us that attended, normally this ‘acute-motivation’ lasts a day maybe 2 max, but not this time. The underlying message was bluntly, ‘why the hell not’? After all, nothing ventured, nothing gained? As Frank put it, if not you, who? If not now, when? Better crack on with these assignments then! 

Health and Fitness degrees gain industry recognition.

Southampton Solent University has just received confirmation from SkillsActive that their health and fitness degrees meet the newly revised National Occupational Standards for Exercise and Fitness, and hence continue to be recognised as industry-approved awards by the Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs).  Students studying BSc Fitness & Personal Training, BA Fitness Management and Personal Training, BSc Health, Exercise and Physical Activity, and the BSc Applied Sport Science courses are therefore able to gain additional vocational qualifications alongside their degrees. Principal Lecturer and Course Leader for the Personal Training degrees, Martin Skivington, comments, “we are one of only two universities in the UK to meet the new standards, and this recognition strengthens our position as a market leader in the provision of academic health and fitness degrees.”

The range of fitness qualifications available to students includes Gym Instructor, Personal Training, Exercise Referral, Working with Older Adults and Disabled Clients as well as optional awards such as Exercise to Music. 

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!

Preparation for London 2012 continues.

This past weekend saw James Fisher (Associate Lecturer and Technician Instructor at Southampton Solent University), part of the Health, Exercise and Sport Science portfolio travel up to Nottingham for another weekend of coaching with GB Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team. 

James has been an assistant coach with the squad since early 2009, and helped them to a 3^rd place at the 2009 European Championships as well as a 6^th place at the 2010 World Championships, improving 2 places in their world rankings since the Paralympics in Beijing 2008. 2011 sees the team travel to Canada for the first Women's Under 25 World Championships, and later to Israel for the 2011 European Championships.

 2010 Paralympic World Cup, Manchester, UK.

James commented “This weekend we had 21 athletes, ranging from 15 up to 36 years preparing girls for competition both this year and next. British Wheelchair Basketball is pushing for the highest ranking ever achieved by the women’s team at the Europeans this year in Israel, as well as at London 2012. Of course, we are also very focused on the under-25 World Championships in Canada. Last year 6 of our 12-player squad at the World Championships were under 25, so we have high hopes for that competition”.

The next camp is in April 2011, watch this space for regular updates and tournament results. 

Guest lecture for HESS students from Southampton City Council's Dave Shields.

Southampton Solent students got an insight into how Southampton City Council work to make the city's communities healthier this week.  Dave Shields, manager of the Healthy Communities team, gave a guest lecture to a group of Health, Exercise and Sport Science students studying Physical Activity and Public Health Interventions, outlining some of the excellent work that goes on within priority neighbourhoods in the city.  The students were given an overview of the state of health in the city, and learnt about innovative schemes such as the Thornhill Health and Well-Being project.  They also gained an insight into physical activity interventions such as Walk, Talk and Eat, which aims to help to get residents with mobility issues out into the fresh air to gain some exercise.  Dave has been working collaboratively with Solent's Dr Marie Stopforth to enable students to get practical experience of working in a physical activity intervention within the city.  Dr Stopforth says "This type of partnership work between Solent and Southampton City Council will improve students' practical skills and knowledge, whilst making them more employable, and providing important networking opportunities".