Solent students support boxing champion

Jon undertaking testing at Solent's sport science labs

Southern Area Boxing Champion Jon Fernandes teamed up with five third year students in Solent’s state-of-the-art performance labs on Tuesday. The students ran a suite of sport science tests on Jon to help him prepare for the toughest professional fight of his career to date, the National Champion title on 30^th March.



Students provide feedback to Jon



For the BSc Sport Coaching and BSc (Hons) Applied Sport Science students, working with Jon is just part of their degree. They are undertaking a sports science unit as part of their third year and under the supervision of Associate Lecturer Louis Langdown, the students have the opportunity to work with an elite athlete. This year students have been provided with a client from basketball, swimming, tennis or boxing. 

"This is a great opportunity for students to work with real life athletes at the peak of their sport”, comments BSc Sport Coaching course leader Matt Johnson. “It’s also an amazing opportunity for the athletes to access high performance sport science testing, support and coaching." 

Solent students targeted by Nuffield Health

Students from the BSc Health, Exercise and Physical Activity and BSc Fitness and Personal Training courses were targeted yesterday by Nuffileld Health as part of their recruitment drive. 

Chris Foster, Nuffield's Physiology Training and Recruitment Manager, visited Solent to talk to the students about job opportunities as a Health and Wellbeing Physiologist.  Chris admitted that he was one of the few people in his team who weren't ex-students of Solent University, showing the strong association we have built with the company over the years, and the obvious grounding that our degrees provide students in order to prepare them for roles such as this. 

Chris talked to the students about the holistic approach that Nuffield take to Health and Wellbeing and how their Premier clubs now integrate clinical services into a health club setting.  Chris explained that a Health and Wellbing Physiologist is ‘a health professional specialising in preventative healthcare with a focus of identifying modifiable health risks and with the purpose of coaching individuals to achieve best possible health and wellbeing’, and identified the content of the BSc Health, Exercise and Physical Activity degree in particular as containing the perfect balance to meet the needs of the job. 

Course leader, Dr Marie Stopforth said, "all of our degree programmes are tailored to meet the needs of employers, but it's great when a company as prominent as Nuffield confirm that we're getting it right!  The students got so much out of Chris' visit, and it showed them some real employment opportunities in a growing department of a major UK company."

Students learn from elite boxers

Third year students from the BSc Sport Coaching degree recently had the opportunity to work with some top boxing fighters preparing for their upcoming fights. The group visited Batten's Boxing Gym as part of their High Performance Coaching unit. Student Gavin Forbes said, “It was great to learn about what goes on inside a boxing gym and the various training methods used by boxing coaches”.

The group saw Matt Tew, International Masters Lightweight Champion, Jon Fernandes, Southern Area Champion who is fighting in a couple of weeks for the National Champion title, Middleweight International World Champion King Davidson Light and young hopeful Joe Pigford, who destroyed his opponent in his debut fight at Southampton Guildhall in November in under 40 seconds.

After the training session the students chatted with head coach Wayne Batten about the world of boxing and his coaching strategies that have been so successful in producing elite fighters. “The close-knit family spirit of the gym allowed boxers to socialise and learn from each other regardless of their age, weight class or level”, Gavin comments. “Wayne was kind enough to stay behind after training and answer our questions which gave us a fantastic insight to the world of Boxing.”

Some of the students will be working with the fighters this Friday on their Sport Science Support unit where they provide interdisciplinary support in the fields of physiology, biomechanics, sport psychology and nutrition. This week they will be filming and analysing the fights and analysing the boxer’s rehydration using urine samples.

Circuit Training workshops energise students

Students from the BSc Fitness and Personal Training, BA Fitness Management & Personal Training, BSc Health, Exercise & Physical Activity and BSc Applied Sport Science courses had the opportunity recently to add to their vocational skills by attending a series of 4-hour Circuit Training workshops.

These workshops form part of the first year Gym Training unit and provide students with a certificate of attendance and 4 REPs CPD points. Unit Leader Martin Skivington comments, "these workshops help to increase the confidence and competence of students delivering group exercise classes and provide an introduction to the skills required to plan, deliver and evaluate circuit training classes. Further opportunities are available throughout their studies for students to gain a full qualification in this area, which significantly enhances their  employability skills."