Welcome to my world. A career in sport, physical fitness and training and sport development spanning close to 50 years has resulted in an accumulation of experience and knowledge of sport and sport organisations that made me appreciate how important good governance and the selection of competent and inspirational leaders is to the successful development of a sport and its controlling bodies.
I spent the first part of my career as an athlete and coach in the voluntary sector of sport and ventured into the world of sport science. At University I was surrounded by incredibly talented sports people many of whom became legends of their respective disciplines. Apart from a massive inferiority complex, this also gave me a passion for sport that led to an exciting and interesting career both professionally and as a volunteer.
I started out as an exercise physiologist and was heavily involved in the physical conditioning of both athletes and the general public. I developed specific and innovative expertise in testing and monitoring physical fitness parameters both generally and in specific contexts.
Then came a 20 year stint in sport development before moving into academia to do research and teach in the area of governance and sport organisations, focussing on the Olympic Movement, at the University of Kent, University of Stirling and Chengdu University Stirling College. This was built upon a wide and varied experience in developing athletes for participation in Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and World Championships, in both highly developed and very undeveloped sporting systems.
I remained heavily involved in coaching and physical conditioning across a broad range of sports and assisted in the preparation of athletes across 7 Olympic Games, 8 Commonwealth Games and 8 South Pacific/Pacific Games.
The experience skills and knowledge that I have gained in sport may or may not be worth sharing, but here we go. You are welcome to use anything that I put here. Acknowledgement would be nice but not necessary. If my thoughts lead someone to doing something great that will be reward enough.
