Solent students help players win a professional football contract

Applied Sport Science and Sport Coaching students spent Wednesday afternoon putting the three finalists from the 'Win a Pro Contract' competition, sponsored by Samsung, through their paces prior to their two weeks training with Swindon Town and Leyton Orient FC. The ultimate prize on offer; a professional football contract with one of these two respective clubs!

In order to give the finalists a taste of the demands of elite sport, they were put through a battery of tests including body composition, functional movement screening, visual perception, field of view, as well as the VO2 max/ lactate threshold test (shown below).  This is the final stage of testing that has seen BSc Applied Sport Science and BSc Sport Coaching students from Solent support the players throughout the competition, undertaking performance analyses during their matches using SportsCode and Catapult GPS systems.

Overseeing the testing were Associate Professor Dr Stewart Bruce-Low (Course Leader BSc Applied Sport Science) and Senior Lecturer Matt Johnson (Course Leader BSc Sport Coaching). When given the opportunity to comment on the value of such opportunities for students, Dr Bruce-Low stated “this is a typical example of one of the many opportunities that the BSc Applied Sport Science and BSc Sport Coaching degrees provide, allowing the students to obtain hands on experience with a range of sport science testing but in a real life situation. This is essential for CV building and can make the difference between getting a job or not. The students were as ever a credit to themselves and the courses they represent ensuring they successfully applied not only the theory learnt in the classroom but also the professional skills learnt throughout their degree. We look forward to working with Samsung in the future as their exciting competition 'Win a Pro Contract' goes from strength to strength”.