Award winning student

Ben Wills with the Olympic torch

Congratulations to Ben Wills (BSc Sport Coaching) who recently won the Student Volunteer of the Year award at the first ever Solent Employability and Enterprise Excellence awards. In his application, Ben outlined his personal development throughout the degree. “When I began my degree at Solent I was interviewed and subsequently set up a career plan with my course leader, together with being given interviews with three representatives from the rugby industry. I have since been given amazing opportunities to go on courses, volunteer and develop myself within the sport. I currently coach about 18 hours a week across a range of different programmes. During my first year I was provided with a volunteer placement at a London Irish School of Rugby which was fantastic in gaining exposure to an elite set up. I was also used by Hampshire at several coaching sessions and festivals throughout the county, working within a variety of situations and groups such as the Romsey Rugby Club women’s initiative.” 

Ben coaching at Twickenham

Matt Johnson, Course Leader for the BSc Sport Coaching comments “As Ben's Course leader, I am thrilled that Ben won. He has worked so hard over the last two years and thoroughly deserves this title. He has demonstrated tireless commitment to developing his CV and making a difference through rugby. I have absolute confidence that he will leave Solent as a very knowledgeable and skilled coach capable of making a difference in whichever environment he decides to work in."

His employers were equally positive in their praise for Ben. Gavin Williams, RFU Coaching & Playing Development Officer added, “Ben has distinguished himself through a combination of hard-work, commitment and passion for volunteering. He is a great role model for both the young people he coaches and for his peers within the University.” 

Ivan Torpey, Hampshire Regional Rugby Development Officer comments, “since arriving at Solent University Ben has made a very positive impact to the development of rugby in Hampshire.  Supporting our RFU Community Rugby Coach, Ben was instrumental in introducing the game of Tag Rugby to three new local Junior schools in Shirley.  This programme culminated with thirty children playing Tag rugby at Twickenham in a ‘Curtain raiser’ ahead of the England v New Zealand autumn International. Tim Allen, Hampshire Rugby Director added to these sentiments by claiming “Ben has undertaken all the jobs we have thrown at him in Hampshire Rugby with his usual calm efficiency and dedication and has excelled in all the roles.” 

Congratulations to Ben on this outstanding achievement.

Student success stories

With their three-year degree almost complete, students from BSc Sports Coaching have secured exciting positions and have had time to reflect on their experiences at Solent.

Daryanne Ryan has just been accepted onto an MSc in Sport and Exercise Psychology working under some of the UK’s leading Sport Psychologists. Daryanne, pictured below with her Course Leader Matt Johnson and Dr Stewart Bruce-Low at the end of year leavers party, comments “3 years at Southampton Solent is just not enough. My time at the university has given me the tools, freedom and support to shape my career and skills. Through the specific units and amazing support from the staff I was able to gain invaluable experience acting as a Mental Skills Coach at a number of clubs, such as AFC Bournemouth, Southampton Gymnastics and the London Irish Rugby club”.

Amy Rodger has secured a coaching position at Portsmouth Northsea Swimming Club, with a contract being written up for her to coach her own squad of children. Amy says of her experience at Solent, “my experiences at Solent have been amazing, the wide range of opportunities and guest lectures meet everyone’s needs; from working with GB Wheelchair Rugby, to training a female FIFA referee, and talks from the Southampton FC Strength and Conditioning Coach to the English Institute of Sport Lifestyle Advisor of the GB Diving and Sailing. I was offered a placement with the divers at the Quays in my second year which the university helped fund, and I also gained NGB award during that time. This led to working with Lindsey Fraser, one of the GB diving coaches, and some of the GB squad; to where I am now, a coach on the Talent Identification squad.”

These are just 2 examples of the types of positions students from our courses take up upon leaving university.

Solent lecturer helps AFC Bournemouth gain promotion

AFC Bournemouth were near the relegation zone at the start of the season and hoping simply to stay in League One, but this season they have  broken club records for winning streaks and are being promoted to the NPower Championship. Matt Johnson, Senior Lecturer in sport psychology has been providing sport science support to AFC Bournemouth’s first team this season and is thrilled to be part of this success story.

Matt Johnson (second from the right) enjoys promotion success with AFCB

Matt plays a key part of the ‘team around the team’ at Bournemouth, attending training sessions once a week alongside the other background staff to produce the best player performances. He works with individual players on the training ground and also does group work with the team working on leadership, team spirit and dealing with the game pressure. “I love doing my job, I love helping people achieve their full potential and achieve their dreams and psychology is just part of that jigsaw, helping people to find that other gear”, Matt comments. “When they’re successful on the field I know I’ve played a little part in that and that’s where you get the buzz”

As a member of staff Matt builds rapport with players and develops their relationship to a level where he can help them work on the controllable factors in their performance. “It’s not all been easy and different players have different needs – it’s about working through the good and the bad and keeping the focus and professionalism.”

This fairy-tale story brings a huge change, to the players, to Bournemouth as a town and at a local level many will be inspired to get involved in sport or physical activity. There are also great opportunities for Solent to provide students with more real world employment experiences through such collaborations - our graduates are already working with AFC Bournemouth’s academy, supporting up and coming players and current students shadow Matt in his work.

The collaboration promises to increase in the future and Matt will continue to work with the team to overcome their next big challenge of staying up in the Championship and invite players to use the extensive facilities we have at Solent for pre-season preparations. Solent also works closely with football clubs in Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Southampton with different staff involved in each project.

HESS research update - low back pain

Back in 2006 the Centre for Health, Exercise and Sport Science secured funding to purchase the MedX Lumbar Extension Machine for the purpose of specific testing and strengthening the lower back, and for treating chronic low back pain (CLBP). 

Since then, Laboratory Director Dr Stewart Bruce-Low has also received funding from Backcare, a charity funding research into low back pain, to conduct research to further understanding of the condition and its treatment. Dr Bruce-Low has already published several studies conducted using the equipment and now his doctoral student, James Steele, has published further evidence demonstrating its efficacy and refining understanding of the approach it utilises.

The first study completed by James in his course of doctoral research has involved examining the effects of the range of motion utilised during exercise for strengthening the lower back in people suffering with CLBP. For some sufferers, pain is experienced in the extremes of the range of motion (either bent fully forwards or backwards) and so investigation as to whether exercise can be effective even when avoiding these positions is of great value.

The results of James’ study demonstrated that, regardless of the range of motion utilised, participants training for 12 weeks using the lumbar extension machine significantly improved their strength and significantly reduced their pain and disability.

The reasoning why such strengthening exercise is so effective is due to the suggestion that, in people suffering from CLBP, the muscles that extend the lower back are weak and deconditioned. Thus James conducted further analyses on his data to uncover whether the improvements in strength were associated with improvements in pain and disability. The findings revealed that the participants with the greatest increases in strength also had the greatest improvements in pain and disability, suggesting a link between the two.

James presented preliminary results from this research last year in Edinburgh at Physiology 2012 – the main annual conference of the Physiological Society, and the study has also been published in the medical journal Spine. This study offers further evidence to the effectiveness of a brief, infrequent specific exercise program using a high intensity of effort to strengthen the lower back muscles, in rehabilitating those with CLBP. The research team are in the midst of a number of further studies in this area so look forward to the results of those in the near future.

Solent graduate helps launch a Bollywood fitness craze

Former Solent health and fitness student Nirzari Vyas recently performed at the International Fitness Showcase in Blackpool as part of the Pure Energy team to showcase their Just Jhoom! (Just Dance!) Bollywood Bhangra CD. Although she was originally meant to be performing just as a backing dancer, Nirzari ended up co-teaching parts of the session which she found both nerve-wracking and exciting.

 

Nirzari (centre) at the International Fitness Showcase

Just Jhoom! is the first and only Bollywood fitness class accredited by REPs and Nirzari, who completed her training in April 2011 comments, ‘it was an amazing electric atmosphere, and I really feel I’ve found my passion in the fitness industry. Although I still have my duty manager job, I am working hard to get the freelance side of my career going and I teach Jhoom classes within the local community, at a private health & fitness club as well as a specific class for people with limited movement and/or disabilities. This class is definitely the most challenging yet the most rewarding’.

Nirzari performs on stage

Nirzari is clearly relishing this fantastic opportunity, none of which would have been possible without her degree and the added value vocational qualifications she gained whilst studying at Solent. Nirzari adds, ‘if you had never made it compulsory to do the REPs Level 2 award, then I would never have done my Exercise to Music qualification, without which I would have not been able to do my Just Jhoom! training...so this is also a thank you for the wonderful years at Solent and pushing us all in the right direction and for the inspiration you provided. You're all truly a wonderful team of lecturers!’