Student Story: Alan Campbell, Olympic Medallist

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Alan Campbell is an Olympic rower competing for Great Britain and is also studying for an OU degree. Alan’s coach encouraged him to think about his future after rowing and so Alan enrolled onto a degree in Leadership and Management. Having a competing career as an athlete whilst also trying to complete his studies has not been without its challenges, but Alan is due to complete his studies in 2016 and compete at his 4th Olympics games in Rio.

Alan Campbell 2

“My rowing coach, Bill Barry, was the person who encouraged me the most to study. He’s a businessman himself and had a business background outside of rowing. He’s an Olympic silver medallist from 1964 but realised that rowing will come to an end one day. As an athlete there will come a time when you get too tired and can no longer compete, so there has to be something beyond sport, or beyond rowing for me. Effectively one career will be coming to an end and I need a way into another career, the OU presented that opportunity for me.

Alan Campbell 3The OU was convenient, well known and could fit around my life. The fact is that I wouldn’t have been able to go to a normal university and attend lectures whilst being an athlete. My life involves attending training camps around the world and I’ve got a family at home, so I need to be able to study whenever I can and not when someone else tells me to study. I don’t know of any other university that can offer that opportunity in the same way and at the same level.

My OU experience so far has been a very positive one. It’s a degree and it’s not easy – it’s a hard thing to fit around an already busy life, but you’ve got to make time for it. There are times when I’ve had to cram work in at the last minute, times when I’ve been up very late and I shouldn’t have been because I had rowing the next day. There have been times where I’ve found it very frustrating but I’ve always felt like I’ve been well supported. I seem to be getting good marks and doing well at the same time.

CAS000301_highres_0I’ve had to contact the tutors previously for extensions, which I’ve fully utilised, and sometimes for a re-mark. What I like about the OU tutors is that they haven’t all come from a purely academic background, they are from business backgrounds and a lot of them still work full time in their field and the OU is part time for them. I’ve found whenever I’ve asked them questions related to my course they are talking from personal experience too – this is something I’ve always found much more helpful.

Alan Campbell 4If I had to sum up my overall OU experience I would say that it’s been tough but rewarding. It’s given me an opportunity for the future.

My advice would be to have a look at degrees you like the look of and to start with level 1 courses and certificates – they really give you an insight into what studying is like. I feel like my degree will open up a lot of opportunities for me and that people will notice the OU degree. Unlike a lot of other athletes, I didn’t finish my degree first time around – I started an Engineering degree before I left to go rowing. But my OU degree will be relevant because it’ll be more recent. I’ll come out of rowing in 2016 after Rio, which will be my 4th Olympics, and will finish my degree in 2016 too.”

If you are interested in studying sport and fitness at The Open University please visit our ‘Study with us‘ page.

Join our team: Lecturer in Sports Coaching

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Lecturer in Sports Coaching

Faculty of Education and Language Studies; Based in Milton Keynes
£31,656 – £46,414
circulation date : 03/03/2016
closing date : 31/03/2016
We are seeking someone to join our growing and vibrant team of nine staff involved in writing online/print materials, overseeing teaching activities and coaching related research that connects with our BSc (Hons) Sport, Fitness and Coaching. You will contribute to supporting some 2400 students mostly in sports-related employment and coaching.You will have excellent knowledge of coaching science and practice including a good understanding of sector training and development, based on some experience of working in higher education. You will be research active and have evidence of external collaborative activities; this experience may contribute to the possible development of a coaching related Masters programme.Your ongoing teaching will be in writing module materials and assessment administration. You will have an excellent command of written and spoken English, and will be used to communicating to a variety of audiences online and in print.

Experience of having used information and communications technology to enhance learning is also required.

Closing date: 5.00pm 31 March 2016

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE POST AND HOW TO APPLY CLICK HERE.

The road to ruin: are Ultra-endurance events worth the risk?

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By Candice Lingam-Willgoss

Sport, exercise and physical activity hold different significance and meaning to every individual, whether it is a part of your daily life, something you watch from a distance or something all-consuming that defines who you are. Maintaining a regular routine of exercise is frequently cited as being highly effective for prevention and treatment of many chronic diseases and unequivocally improves cardiovascular health (Sharkey and Gaskill, 2007). However, with ever growing participation in ultra-endurance events all over the world research has started to look in more detail at the impact this type of exercise has on the human body (IAU Ultra Marathon, 2013).  Ultra-endurance is the term given to events that last for over 6 hours, with the term ultra-running being applied to distances over a marathon distance of 26.2 miles (Wortley and Islas, 2011).  People seem to seek out these ultra-type events in order to test themselves, with Hinton (2016) a former double ironman competitor reporting ‘Ironman didn’t break me, mentally or physically.  I wanted to know my limits’ and while this form of challenge carries with it a huge sense of achievement and success, is there a downside to it all?

Watching the actor/comedian Eddie Izzard take on yet another ultra-marathon event in the name of Sport Relief is a prime example of the potential downside to endurance competition. Izzard is currently embarking on the challenge of 27 marathons in 27 days, and while he has already earned the title Marathon Man following his 2009 achievement of 47 marathons in 51 days this current challenge (one he failed to complete in 2012) carries with it the additional factor of 30 degree heat (Izzard, 2016).  Izzard doesn’t look well, he was forced to take a rest day on day 5, and now three days later the strain on his body is starting to visibly show (BBC, 2016).  The warning 4 years ago was that if he didn’t stop he would die (Izzard, 2016), but is the challenge worth the potentially permanent damage he could do to his body?

Physical Effects

Many of us have experienced delayed onset of muscle soreness (DOMS) which tends to occur 24 hours after exercise (Sharkey and Gaskill, 2007). Although uncomfortable DOMS will probably be the least of Izzard’s worries. Endurance events put increased stress on the body, in particular on the immune system making a person vulnerable to risk of infection (Walsh, et al, 2011). Specifically, a substantial body of work accumulated over the last 20 years has shown that intense endurance exercise, such as running, swimming, cycling or rowing results in significant changes in white blood cell count (Lancaster and Febbraio, 2016). While exercise is universally shown to have health benefits (up to one hour daily), researchers looking at long distance races have cautioned that as well as inhibiting the immune system this form of exercise may lead to overload of the heart atria and right ventricle which could ultimately make someone more prone to unfavorable heart arrhythmias later in life (O’Keefe, et al, 2012).

That said there is much contrary evidence to support that those who do participate in ultra-sport in a measured manner are very happy and due to the slower paced and reduced impact compared to elite marathon runners actually get far less overuse injuries (Wortley and Islas, 2011).  Research by Krouse et al, which looked at female ultra-runners also concluded that they tended to have much better mental health, and psychological coping strategies (2011).

Age

An interesting factor that could actually be in Izzard’s favour is his age, research into this area has found that being over 40 can be a huge advantage when it comes to endurance sport. Knechtle et al (2012) found that when looking at results from the 100km ultra-marathon the percent of finishers significantly increased for the 40–49 and the 50–59-year age groups indicating that this is an optimum age to compete in these type of events. This was also echoed by Hoffman and Krishnan, (2014) who found that runners over 40 tended to have a lower occurrence of injury. Another key benefit of age is that it comes with a higher level of resolve, older athletes tend to have more mental strength than younger athletes (Li, 2016 cited in BBC, 2016). So while we see Izzard ‘physically wilting’ his determination is at an all time high, giving him the willpower to push on (BBC, 2016).

What’s clear is that endurance sport is a way of life, and that ultra-athletes are a unique subculture of people who are striving to challenge themselves both mentally, physically and emotionally. I am constantly in awe of many of my friends who take on such extreme and challenging competitions, whether they are competing in 24 hour running races or 250km treks across the desert. Their motives are pure, as Varvel a multiple ultra-competitor sums up, saying there is a sense of ‘self-fulfilment’ and these varied experiences are seen as ‘life-affirming’ (2016). The primal desire to be at one with nature and bond with others in the face of adversity are all needs that are met by the world of ultra-racing.

References

BBC. (2016). How will 27 marathons affect Eddie Izzard. BBC News. Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35599544. Accessed 28th February 2016.

BBC, (2016). Marathon Man. Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/tag/marathon-man . Accessed 1st March 2016.

Hinton, L. (2016) Personal Communication. 24th February 2016.

Hoffman, M.D. and Krishnan, E. (2014). Health and Exercise-Related Medical Issues among 1,212 Ultramarathon Runners: Baseline Findings from the Ultrarunners Longitudinal TRAcking (ULTRA) Study. PLOS. 10. Available at http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0083867. Accessed 29th February 2016

IAU Ultra Marathon. (2013), available at http://iau-ultramarathon.org. accessed 1st March 2016

Izzard, E. (2016). Marathon Man. Available at http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/eddie-izzard/eddie-izzard_b_9328140.html. Accessed 1st March 2016.

Knechtle, B., Rust, C.A., Rosemann, T. and Lepers, R. (2012). Age-related changes in 100-km ultra-marathon running performance. Age. 34 (4), 1033-1045.

Krouse, R.Z., Ransdell, L.B., Lucas, S.M. and Pritchard, M.E. (2011). Motivation, Goal Orientation, Coaching and Training Habits of Women Ultrarunners. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 25 (10), 2835-2842.

Lancaster, G.I. and Febbraio, M.A. (2016). Exercise and the immune system: implications for elite athletes and the general population. Immunology and Cell Biology. 94. 115-116.

O’Keefe, J.H., Patil, H.R., Lavie, C.J. et al. (2012). Potential adverse cardiovascular effects from excessive endurance exercise. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 87(6), 587-595.

Sharkey, B.J. and Gaskill, S.E. (2007) Fitness and Health. Champaign. Human Kinetics

Varvel, M. (2016). Personal Communication. 24th February 2016.

Walsh, N.P., Gleeson, M., Shepard, R.J. (2011). Position Statement Part One: Immune function and exercise. Exercise Immunology Review, 17, 6-63

Wortley, G. and Islas, A.A. (2011). The problem with ultra-endurance athletes. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 45 (14), 1085.

Taster material from OU sport and fitness modules

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If you are interested in studying with us and would like to find out more about the sport and fitness modules available as part of our BSc (hons) Sport, Fitness and Coaching degree at The Open University you may find these taster materials useful.

E114 – ACTIVE BODIES: INTRODUCING THE STUDY OF  SPORT AND EXERCISE


E119 – WORKING WITH PEOPLE IN SPORT AND FITNESS

 

E235 – SPORT AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION

 

E236 – APPLYING SPORT AND EXERCISE SCIENCES TO COACHING


E312 – ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVEC DEVELOPMENT

E315 – CONTEMPORARY SPORT AND EXERCISE ISSUES

 

 

For more information on the Sport and Fitness qualifications we offer click here.

 

Why sportspeople convicted of violence against women forfeit their right to be ‘stars’

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By Helen Owton and Lisa Lazard

When Floyd Mayweather took on Manny Pacquiao last year in what was billed as the “fight of the century”, the pair of us made the conscious decision not to watch the bout, despite an interest in boxing both as spectators and participants.

Unlike some reporters, who claimed to be banned from watching it – ours was a defiant choice because we were more concerned with what it must have been like for the victims of Mayweather’s domestic violence. We were – and are – disappointed that a sportsperson so lacking in moral character is afforded celebrity and status. Whatever you may or may not think about the sport of boxing, violence outside the ring is never ok and yet too often the men (because it is overwhelmingly men who engage in domestic violence) are looked up to as role models.

Mayweather was sentenced to jail for three months after being found guilty for attacking his partner, Josie Harris. The boxer, who committed the offence in front of his two children – who heard him threaten to make her “disappear” – was allowed to return to the ring where his legions of fans lionise him for doing in the ring what he was imprisoned for doing in his home. This sends altogether the wrong message on domestic violence.

Back in the limelight: Floyd Mayweather.
Reuters/USA Today Sports

Or take the example of premier league footballer Danny Simpson, who served just 300 hours of community service for attempting to strangle his ex-girlfriend (the mother of his child). This hasn’t prevented him from turning out for his club, Leicester City, who are in poll position to win the league title and their players to make the leap to sporting superstardom.

This is a longstanding debate – and an important one. When Ched Evans wasn’t allowed to return to his club Sheffield United in 2014 – after serving two years of a five year sentence for rape, it allowed society to question whether people who have been convicted of crimes of violence against women should be allowed to continue to occupy the exalted status of “sports star”.

As Charlie Webster stated in her interview, after she resigned from Sheffield United as patron when the club allowed Evans to return to training after his release: “rape is not a trivial subject”. She argued that sexual asssault and violence against women should be taken more seriously than it is, particularly given the psychological and physical consequences of these crimes. Her argument was that whilst she believes in rehabilitation, she does not believe that it is right to put Evans back into exactly the same very privileged position where young boys and girls look up to him.

As it happens, Evans has not played professional football since being released on licence in October 2014 and is appealing his conviction. The case was referred to the Court of Appeal in October 2015.

But the question remains: after a sports star is convicted of crimes of violence against women, is it appropriate that they should be allowed to return to the privileged position they occupied before they offended, where they are undoubtedly role models for young fans? While these sportspeople are undoubtedly skilled and talented, is it fair that this ability overshadows the trauma they caused to their victims whose welfare is all-too-often forgotten.

Role models

If sportspeople are often seen as role models a sportsperson cannot be judged only on their sporting success because young people who choose their role models judge them on their moral character as well. Sportspeople seem to be celebrities who hold power and are given, as David Marshall wrote in his book: Celebrity and Power: “a voice above others, a voice that is channelled into the media system as being legitimately significant”.

What sort of messages do we give the younger generation if we allow people who have been convicted of abuse to continue to be sporting heroes and celebrated on a world stage where they continue to hold power and be glorified? Does this merely serve to trivialise the seriousness of domestic abuse and violence against women. When we see the Twitter jokes about Mayweather and DV during such events it’s clear that we still have a long way to go for the public to recognise the seriousness of domestic violence.

Journalist Lucy Hunter Johnston believes “a convicted rapist couldn’t be a teacher, doctor or police officer”. Shouldn’t “sports star” be among this list as well, given that “boys look up to footballers, not their Dads” and the link between major football tournaments and an increase in domestic abuse.

And if some sport stars are uniting to support the Violence Against Women campaign then doesn’t this seem to be a valuable argument to include “sports star” among this list to recognise that any violence against women is not tolerated in sport?

More than 26,000 people have signed a petition launched recently by Women’s Aid that calls for better protection of children in families with a history of domestic violence – showing that there is a widespread acceptance of the serious implications of domestic violence. But at the same time, while everyone seems to believe the general principle that violence against women is wrong, public perceptions suggest that they all too often let celebrities off the hook.

Should we give celebrities extenuating circumstances or is it too difficult to comprehend that after years of personal investment of following a celebrity or a sportsperson, we could be wrong about them? Let’s face it, regardless of how much public information we receive about celebrities or how well we think we know sportspeople we won’t know what goes on “behind closed doors”.

The Conversation

Helen Owton, Lecturer in Sport & Fitness, The Open University and Lisa Lazard, Lecturer in Psychology, The Open University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Blindside of Rugby Six Nations: Where are the women?

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By Helen Owton

Women’s sport tends to receive less coverage in the media than men’s sport making female sports role models less available to young people, particularly in sports that are more traditionally male dominated such as football and rugby. During the sensational Six Nations 2016, we have seen another example of unequal exposure of sport. Whilst women’s football seems to be increasing their exposure, women’s rugby still have even further to go.

On Saturday 27 February 2016, the TV coverage and social media was trending with #EngvIre #RBS6Nations tweets about the Six Nations game; this was the men’s rugby.  Afterwards, England Rugby sent out the following tweet:

Englandrugby tweet

And requested changing the hashtag to #SendHerVictorious.

England women maintained their unbeaten record by defeating Ireland (13-9). Despite their win, the next two rounds might prove tough for England; will they have the skill, speed, strength and tactics to beat Wales on 12 March 2016 at Twickenham and then France (away) on 18 March 2016? On Sunday 28 February, Wales beat France 10-8 and Italy took their first victory by beating Scotland 22-7 [full fixture list here].

Yet all these sensational women’s Six Nations games had no TV coverage and the fans were left hunting the internet for a link on England Rugby which streamed the England match live. The audience at home were not happy; people all over the world were complaining about the lack of live TV coverage, online streaming problems and the clear disparity of the women’s exposure compared to the men’s.

RL tweet

Mozambique tweet

Whilst the Six Nations website shows the current up-to-date standings for the men’s Six Nations, there is not one for the women’s Six Nations event. The newspaper coverage before and after the Six Nations women’s rugby games was equally poor. In 2016, this disparity simply does not make sense.

Risk and rugby

When Sarah Chester suffered a fatal injury in 2015 after being tackled in a rugby game evoked arguments of whether women should even be playing rugby despite men’s fatal injuries from rugby as well. We’ve seen similar fears in women’s boxing which is a moral (women who box risk fatal injury) in the well-known film Million Dollar Baby. Some might argue that these are fear tactics aimed at putting women off traditionally male-only sports.  However, the inclusion of women’s boxing at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2015 European Games at Baku has been a sign of progress.

Women’s sports media exposure

Since 2012, the talk appears to have been about what legacy was left for women’s sports but there is a very long way to go before there is gender equality in all sports. Despite the growing awareness of gender inequality in sport, it is well documented that women’s sport remains second to men’s sport in many ways (e.g. media coverage, wages, prize money, sponsorship and status), which has wider implications for equality in sport, and in society. Cooky, Messner and Hextrum (2013) reported that televised coverage of women’s sports was at its lowest yet at 1.6%. Whilst coverage increases slightly for major events (e.g. Wimbledon, Olympics), the type of coverage has been subjected to critical analysis. The report ‘Women In Sport’ (2015, p. 3) produced the following figures on women’s media coverage:

  • Women’s Sport makes up 7% of all sports media coverage in the UK
  • Just over 10% of televised sports coverage is dedicated to women’s sport
  • 2% of national newspaper sports coverage is dedicated to women’s sport
  • 5% of radio sports coverage is dedicated to women’s sport
  • 4% of online sports coverage is dedicated to women’s sport

Additionally, they found that women’s sport received 0.4% of reported UK sponsorship deals in sport between 2011-2013. This sponsorship gives further greater exposure to men’s sport. Fink (2014) argues that “female athletes and women’s sport still receive starkly disparate treatment by the sport media commercial complex compared to male athletes and men’s sport” (p. 331). It’s 2016 and the way women’s rugby was reported demonstrated how rugby is still rated as second-class to the men’s. This then feeds messages that rugby (and other sports) participation is more appropriate for boys and men than for girls and women; that women are naturally inferior to men, and that women’s sport is less important than men’s sport. A lack of exposure to skilful sportswomen from a broad range of sports in the media could be a reason why the use of derogatory ‘like a girl’ comments perpetuates.

Whilst an argument could be made that there isn’t enough money generated in the women’s game to pay women higher salaries, improving the media coverage to the 9.63 million viewers who watch men’s rugby might generate the interest in women’s rugby thus improving their wages and the value of women’s sport. However, arguing for media coverage to be increased is difficult in light of the seemingly lack of value placed on women’s sport. If a report in 2015 on business leadership roles estimates that without any more efforts to promote women’s equality in management, it will take 100 to 200 years to achieve gender parity, then how long will it take to achieve gender parity in all sports? Given the statistics and the missed opportunity for the British press to report a double win in the women’s and men’s rugby Six Nations this week, the future looks long and winding.

The rugby world does seem to be making an effort to challenge stereotypes (e.g. Link to advert) and raise exposure (#SendHerVictorious) and respect to the women’s game but it’s about time the public and the media gave the women’s rugby the conversion they deserve!

  • Gender in sport is explored in our new module E314.

Video: Recovery – the next frontier in sporting progress?

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In this video experts in sport science discuss the strategies used to enhance recovery in elite sport.

Recovery is covered in our new module E314 starting in October 2016.

Note: This video is also available in the OpenLearn Chasing Perfection video collection

Video: Injury rehab in rugby – keeping it personal with devices and data

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With the 6 nations in full flow we thought it was time for a rugby related post. In this video staff from Saracens RFC discuss the technological resources available to injured players.

Wearable technology is covered in our new module E314 starting in October 2016.

Note: This video is also available in the OpenLearn Chasing Perfection video collection

Join our team: P/T Tutor Vacancies at the OU on E314 Exploring Contemporary Issues in Sport and Exercise

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image We are pleased to announce that we are currently recruiting part-time tutors for our new module E314 Exploring Contemporary Issues in Sport and Exercise which starts in October 2016.

Details about the post and how to apply can be found here: http://www.open.ac.uk/jobs/tutors/vacancies

Further details about the module can be found here: http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/modules/e314

We also have a number of E314 related posts on this blog which are available on this thread:
https://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/OU-Sport/?cat=74

The module is delivered through distance learning, using online group tutorials, which gives you a unique opportunity to work with students from the comfort of your own home at evenings and weekends.

** THE CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS IS 31ST MARCH 2016 **

Student Story: Simon Hemsworth

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In this video BSc (Hons) Sport, Fitness and Coaching graduate Simon Hemsworth describes how studying with The Open University helped him to change his life and achieve his dream of becoming a PE teacher.  If you are interested in studying with us please visit the ‘Study with us’ section of this website.