Show your support for local Paralympian Aaron at live Channel 4 broadcast

Dr Bruce-Low and Aaron Phipps.

Staff, students, family and friends will get a chance to cheer on Southampton’s Paralympic wheelchair rugby ace, Aaron Phipps, during a live broadcast for Channel 4 at Solent University’s sports science department, on Friday 7 September.
 
A crew from Channel 4 is coming into the University’s Centre for Health, Exercise and Sport Science, where Aaron has trained, as part of a live feature to cheer on the British Paralympic team. The University is hoping to gather a crowd of supporters to come along to the filming to show their support for Aaron. 

Aaron – who started wheelchair racing in 2007 before switching to rugby in 2009 – has represented Great Britain at three major competitions. 

“Wheelchair rugby is fast-paced; it's the only full-contact wheelchair sport,” said Aaron. 

“The Paralympics are the highest level an athlete can compete at and it will be amazing to represent my country. 

“Our coach, Tom O'Connor, has been very inspirational and Solent University’s sports science team, headed by Dr Stewart Bruce-Low has helped me a lot." 

Wheelchair rugby – originally known as murderball because of its aggressive, full-contact nature – is played on an indoor court and involves teams of up 12, with four players per side on court at any one time. 

Since making its Paralympic debut in Sydney in 2000 the game has gone from strength to strength, and tickets for the sport at London 2012 sold out in record time. 

Filming starts at 7.40am with live slots at 8.15am and 8.45am, and supporters are asked to come to the venue at least 15 minutes before filming starts.

Here's your chance to show your support and cheer Aaron on, so please let the Press Office know in advance if you'd like to come along by emailing press.office@solent.ac.uk.  Flags and noise welcome!

Applied Sport Science students heavily involved in GB Wheelchair Paralympics preparation.

This week students from all 3 years of the BSc (Hons) Applied Sport Science course helped Dr Stewart Bruce-Low undertake a battery of fitness tests to monitor baseline values of the GB Wheelchair Rugby Elite Squad. This meant an early start for all students in order to be at Stoke Mandeville to start setting up the tests at 7.30am. The successful testing day was followed by a high intensity workout for the players led by Dr Bruce-Low ably aided by the students. On the long drive home it was very clear that all students had gained huge amounts from this experience and are already looking forward to the next testing day early in the new year.

Sport Science students run testing day for GB Wheelchair Rugby

On the weekend of 20/21 November, 30 students from the BSc Applied Sport Science degree ran a fitness testing day for GB Wheelchair Rugby. This provided a wonderful opportunity for the students to collect data and work with athletes that are being selected for the development squad. Attached below are some videos of the day with Patty Cornelius the Team Manager, some of the students helping out on the tests as well as one of our Applied Sport Science students feeding back about the day and the future. 
All the students showed high levels of professionalism throughout the testing days and were a credit to the university, and those students who excelled have now been selected to work with the elite squad next week. This is yet further evidence of how the opportunities afforded to students on the Applied Sport Science degree here at Southampton Solent University provide real-life experiences that enhance employability and hence should make us your first choice for a career in this exciting industry.

2012 Paralympic opportunity for Applied Sport Science student

Phil Zealey (pictured far left), one of our third year Applied Sport Science students is pictured here applying the knowledge learnt on his course to the real world experiences that we expect our students to undertake. 

This was pictured in early October after GB Wheelchair Rugby won the silver medal at the European championships in Switzerland. His role was to act as one of 4 students from Solent on either our BSc Applied Sport Science or BSc Sport Coaching courses who delivered the performance analysis for the squad. This role will take Phil to the Paralympics in London in 2012. Phil has shown extensive dedication in both his studies and his practical work which has afforded him this opportunity. Keep checking the blog for details of Phil's progress as he and squad prepare for 2012! Go GB!

Wheelchair Basketball at the 7th Annual Paralympic World Cup.

The coming week sees the 7^th Annual Paralympic World Cup take place in Manchester, UK, where athletes compete on the World’s stage in further preparation for 2012.  The event will host over 300 athletes from across the globe and in 2010 saw 14,650 spectators descend upon Manchester. The event hosts several sports including Athletics, Swimming, and notably for Southampton Solent University, Wheelchair Basketball.

James Fisher (Technician Instructor and Associate Lecturer on the Health, Exercise and Sport Science portfolio) has been an Assistant Coach with the Great Britain Women’s Wheelchair Basketball team since their return from Beijing, 2008.

Recently the Women’s team have improved their ranking to 6^th in the world but face some tough competition from Germany, Canada, and Japan. James commented "Every UK tournament is a great opportunity to play in front of a home crowd and further prepare for playing in London (2012). The team continues to make excellent progress and we have some rookies playing in the PWC this year to continue trying new things and looking at different combinations. This will be a great tournament; both Germany and Canada (ranked 2nd and 3rd, respectively) will provide the tough challenge needed to continue to improve".

The team have a busy schedule through 2011 including the Under 25 Women's World Championships in Canada (July) and the European Championships in Israel (September) as well as smaller tournaments. Watch this space for progress.

You can follow the Paralympic World Cup on Channel 4! Take a look the the advert below.