Invaluable Insight

 

By James Skitt - 20.11.09

Winning graduates from the fifth cohort of UK Sport’s Fast track Practitioner Programme (FPP) were given an invaluable insight into world class professional sport when they spent the day with the England Rugby Union team at Pennyhill Park recently.

Graduates including English Institute of Sport (EIS) Physiotherapist Joe Collins, who won the prize for the best interview, along with members of the group whose final Performance Impact project was judged to be the best on this year’s course, were invited to attend as reward for their achievements.

Collins told eis2win.co.uk: “I was delighted to be offered this opportunity to visit the England set up and gain a valuable insight into the world of professional sport and discuss some of the differences and challenges between Olympic and professional sport.”

The visitors were given the opportunity to discuss the structure and culture of the England set up with RFU Head of Science and Medicine Roy Headey, before observing a variety of training sessions as England prepared for last weekends clash with Argentina.

Collins, who now works with Fencing and Multi Sport for the EIS, added: “For me personally it was great to have the opportunity to spend time with the medical staff there, especially Phil Pask the Physiotherapist, discussing their medical set up, the development of best practice for athlete injury management and injury risk minimisation, and the ongoing commitment to building effective working relationships with the clubs, all of which is extremely applicable to my role.”

The Fast track Practitioner Programme, which operates in partnership with all the Home Country Sports Institutes (HCSI’s), the British Olympic and Paralympic Associations and the sport’s national governing bodies (NGB’s), aims to assist in the training and development of young sport science and medicine practitioners who are starting out on their careers within elite sport.

22 practitioners graduated from the 2008/09 programme, including those from a range of disciplines, bringing the total number of graduates in the five year existence of the programme to 107.

Earlier this year UK Sport announced that the future delivery and development of the programme would be entrusted to the EIS from 2010.

The 2009 FPP winners were:
Winner of the interview process:  Joe Collins
Performance Impact Project winners: Chris Loxston, David Rydings, Emily Pearson, Joe Taylor and James Glover

This year’s Performance Impact Project was:

To carry out a needs analysis of an allocated sport/event and its current world wide performance trends and to determine where and how you would focus your attention in order to make a performance impact for 2012.

UK Sport and the English Institute of Sport would like to take this opportunity to thank Roy Headey and the members of the Elite Rugby Department at the RFU for creating this opportunity.

Photography © Getty Images