Teesside teams up for sport science training

Teesside University has teamed up with a local under 15’s football team, to provide fitness testing and coaching to help explore their athletic potential.

The team are Norton and Stockton U15’s, who will be working with three BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise students. The trio of student volunteers will be treating the team as live case studies, as part of their coaching placement module. They will also be going into sessions with the team to help out throughout the season.

The partnership was initiated by Paddy Hill, one of the team’s three coaches. He contacted Matt Wright, a Sports Development Officer in the University’s Sport and Well-being service, who in turn suggested working with students.

Social and educational sides to sport Paddy said: 'Matt’s been very keen so far and as football’s my passion I’m pleased this partnership is taking place. I want to encourage young boys and girls to stay in sport even if they don’t make it as professional football players. If they don’t become players their athleticism doesn’t disappear and there are social and educational sides to sport.

'This is a great link which allows the young footballers the opportunity to visit the University and gives them an understanding of sports science and performance preparation whilst giving our students valuable "real world" experience working with a squad. Hopefully, the link will help develop both the young footballers and our students.

'There are also other career pathways our young footballers can consider, such as coaching, physiotherapy or refereeing. Hopefully the training with the University’s students will show the team what they need to do as young athletes, for example when they look at sports nutrition. It’s important to highlight the benefits of sport as we head towards the 2012 Olympics. If this partnership is successful I’d like to roll the training back to our 12-and-13-year olds.'

Mark Hawkings, Head of the Sport and Well-being service at the University, added: 'This is a fantastic opportunity for these young footballers to sample the excellent facilities here at the University. Particularly, if they are considering going to university in future years. It also gives us the opportunity to showcase the skills of our students in supporting this type of activity.'

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