• Question: If you had to convince an indecisive 13-year-old student that wants to be a scientist when she grows up who still doesn't know in what area of natural science she wants to work in (like me (; ) into dedicating her life to Sports Science, what would you tell her?

    Asked by Alba? to Andrew, Dan, Emilia, Helen, Katy, LauraAnne, Stephanie on 7 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Dan Gordon

      Dan Gordon answered on 7 Nov 2016:

      Wow. So here goes. Sports science is the most extraordinary field of discovery to be working in. You get the chance to work with and develop elite athletes, help children and the elderly with physical activity and day-to-day living and work with some of the most amazing and inspiring people that there are on this planet, the general public.
      The world is facing new challenges (diabetes, obesity, cancer) and at the same time is trying to push the boundaries of what the human machine is capable of. Be a sports scientist and be at the centre of this.

    • Photo: Emilia McAllister-Jepps

      Emilia McAllister-Jepps answered on 7 Nov 2016:

      Hi there, thanks for your question!

      I would say that Sports Science is probably one of the most diverse areas of science that there could be. From looking at chemical reactions in the body whilst people are doing certain types of training, to understanding the effects of the environment on athletes, being a sports physiotherapist, analysing the changes in weather to map a ‘perfect conditions’ algorithm that can be used to neutralise any racing result……the list goes on!

      I am a Talent ID athlete, which means that a bunch of scientists looked at test results from their area of speciality and analysed where my potential lay in terms of sport. Lots of sports are now using Talent ID schemes to encourage people to participate in their sport. If you had the chance to use your passion for Science to discover someone who was then able to go and compete for medals, and maybe win at an Olympic games, I would say that was a great reason to consider Sports Science.

    • Photo: Katy Griggs

      Katy Griggs answered on 8 Nov 2016:

      A job is varied in Sport Science, you can either work with athletes helping them improve their performance or in health helping people increase their physical activity levels. Sport Scientists can work at the cellular level or whole body level. So under the umbrella term “Sport Science” you have lots of choice in terms of what you can specialise in.

    • Photo: LauraAnne Furlong

      LauraAnne Furlong answered on 9 Nov 2016:

      Sport science, and the things we look at in sport science, can help to make a real difference to someone’s life. Things we do in sport science aren’t just limited to helping an athlete win an Olympic medal, it actually ranges from understanding how and when to teach children different skills, working with athletes, encouraging people to do more physical activity, understanding how the body works, and simplifying things we do in the lab so we do more experiments out in the real world in everyday life, to understanding what happens our brains and bodies as we age, figuring out what the best treatment for a particular injury or disease could be, and designing equipment to help you do something, be it to go as quickly as possible or even to help someone walk again. There are lots of little steps to be taken, and it gets more exciting as time goes on because the technology to do experiments is improving all the time. Thirty years ago we would never have imagined we could measure movement like we do now, and twenty years ago taking videos of a muscle and tendon inside your body as you run was almost unimaginable; but here we are now and not only have we been able to do these things, but there’s even more potential to take better measurements of more things now! We can do work from very basic mechanisms of how things work, to making the measurements very relevant to a doctor or physio for example. Each experiment builds to another, you figure out one thing and then you need to find out something else. It’s a very exciting area to be in, as there are new opportunities being created all the time, and the real driver in the area is to help people be the best they can so there is always an end goal to aim for.

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