How to become a champion

What makes a sporting champion? This intriguing question will be explored in a one-day conference at the University of Teesside on Wednesday 4 February from 9am-4.30pm. Entitled, ‘Making of Champions’, the conference will take place in the University’s Centuria Building and the new £6.5m Olympia Building, both on Victoria Road, Middlesbrough.

The conference has been organised by the University’s Sport & Exercise section, within the School of Social Sciences & Law. The conference will be attended by academics and students from the discipline of Sport & Exercise science. Subjects under discussion include:

The role of masculinity in sport The effect of exercise on autism Measuring mental toughness

Dr Jim Golby, Subject Leader in Sport & Exercise, said: “The session on mental toughness will look at the tool used to obtain the interesting results of a joint project between the Universities of Teesside and Strathclyde. Using psychological performance criteria, the mental toughness of four countries who took part in the 2000 Rugby League World Cup were measured. The countries were Wales, England, France and Ireland and revealed that England’s players did have a different mental attitude. This conference will showcase the diverse range of sport and exercise research being undertaken in the University.”

Another important paper to be delivered during the conference is entitled ‘Roger Bannister: Cultural capital and the making of champions’. The paper will be delivered by Professor John Bale, Professor of Sport Geography at the University of Keele and also Professor of Sport at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. He is currently organising a conference at the University of Oxford to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Roger Bannister’s breaking the four-minute mile record.

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