Issue 31 Spring 2012 - Bases

Russ Coppack MBE and Prof Celia
Brackenridge OBE FBASES honoured
Russ Coppack, a Royal Air Force Warrant Officer has worked at the Defence
Medical Rehabilitation Centre, Headley Court for 22-years has been honoured as a
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his role in the rehabilitation
of injured military personnel. The award recognises his specific contribution to the
professional development of exercise rehabilitation practice and procedures across
the Armed Forces. Prof Celia Brackenridge FBASES, a pioneering campaigner and
researcher into gender
equality and child abuse in
sport, received an OBE in
the Queen’s New Year’s
Honour’s list. She is a
research professor and
a member of the Brunel
Centre for Sport, Health
and Wellbeing. The award is
for services to Equality and
Child Protection in Sport.
Have I got SES news for you…
In each issue we aim to highlight an aspect of sport
and exercise science that has caught the attention
of the media. In this issue we focus our attention on
a documentary that gives a real-life insight into the
world of elite sport.
In January, one documentary hit the news headlines,
providing a thought provoking and honest account about
the prevalence of depression in sport from former cricketer
Freddie Flintoff. The documentary, Freddie Flintoff: The dark side of sport aimed to
promote understanding about depression, the effects of depression in sport, and
the measures that can be taken to help those suffering from depression. Based on
his first-hand experiences Flintoff described his own battle with depression as well
as interviewing a range of professional athletes with similar experiences.
The impact of such a documentary may be far reaching, challenging public
opinion and provoking thoughts on applied practice. As Dr Joanne Thatcher from
Aberystywth University comments, “documentaries such as this illustrate the
complexities of mental health. Well known cases such as Freddie Flintoff highlight
that depression can occur despite having many aspects (such as fame, fortune and
sporting talent) that people may typically associate with happiness. It shows us that
the causes of mental illness are not always external and easily identifiable.”
Arguably, one of the most significant questions raised by Flintoff was the extent
to which the nature of sport and the sporting environment may have contributed
to the symptoms of depression in the athletes who were featured. This question
may highlight some key issues for the applied sport scientist. Dr Tim Holder,
University of Chichester, suggests: “The challenge for the applied sport psychology
practitioner often centres on establishing whether their competencies match
the demands of the mental health of the athlete. This may cause the practitioner
to question who is best to provide the service to the athlete and whether a
collaborative provision with clinical practitioners can adequately support the
athlete or whether referral is the best and only option.”
Have you recently seen or taken part in something that has hit the media
headlines? If so, and you would like to feature in this section or provide comments
please e-mail Dr Melissa Day m.day@chi.ac.uk
The Sport and Exercise Scientist n Issue 31 n Spring 2012 n www.bases.org.uk
From the Chair
Prof Jo Doust FBASES
Music to my ears
Congratulations to Karageorghis, Terry, Lane,
Bishop and Priest who lead the charts with
1,469 unique page views in three months of
their expert statement on The Use of Music in
Exercise. I am really pleased to see the success
of the BASES expert statement initiative. Seven
statements have been completed with more on
the way. We have reached agreement with the
Journal of Sports Sciences, subject to their peer
review, for them to also publish the statements,
opening up the readership to scientists around
the world.
A member poll revealed 95% think BASES
should continue to produce statements.
Members commented “Excellent to see
high-level academic input from experts being
organised and translated into evidence-based
practice statements. Exactly what BASES
should be doing.”, “Have waited for years
for the UK to do this kind of work and look
forward to more in the future.”, “Very useful
for teaching purposes and for gaining insight
into new areas of research.”
A handful of members expressed concern
about the selection of the expert teams, the
length (too short) and the quality control. The
opportunity to put forward a team to produce
a statement was openly advertised and
proposals subject to review by a panel. Not all
were supported. Each statement is reviewed by
BASES Fellows and the authors have to make
revisions.
As for length, some pragmatism is
needed. No academic sports body in the UK
has developed a portfolio of publications
designed to organise in an accessible way the
authoritative expertise for its members and a
wider audience. BASES is leading the way. Of
course, members also relate their expertise
through original papers and academic review
articles but these are for different purposes
and audiences to those of an expert statement.
Within BASES there is an immense body
of expertise and the first set of statements
feature many leading UK academics. We hope
members will again come forward when
we are able to promote a second round of
statements. All BASES expert statements can
be downloaded as PDFs at www.bases.org.uk/
BASES-Expert-Statements
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