Ifeel I should be writing about the snow - BASES

www.bases.org.uk
ISSN 1754-3452
The official publication of the BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF SPORT AND EXERCISE SCIENCES
ISSUE 23 | SPRING 2010
Applied Sport Science
Health and Exercise
Update
Olympic and
Paralympic Diaries
Promoting Issue 23 | Excellence Spring 2010 | in The Sport and Exercise Scientist Sciences | 1

Programme
• Exciting programme that will challenge your thinking:
– Internationally renowned keynote speakers
– “Challenging the Dogma” theme, engaging discussion
and debate on controversial and unresolved issues
– Wide-ranging symposia with something for everyone
– 400+ opportunities for oral or poster free
communication presentations.
Social Events
• Experience the warmth of Scottish hospitality in
some of the city’s most breathtaking locations:
– Civic Reception hosted by the Lord Provost in Glasgow
City Chambers
– Gala Dinner and Ceilidh in award-winning Kelvingrove
Art Gallery and Museum
– Fourth Annual BASES Golf Challenge.
Why Glasgow?
• Glasgow is one of Europe’s most vibrant and
cosmopolitan cities:
– Easily accessible by road, rail and air
– One of top 10 cities in the world to visit (Lonely Planet,
2009)
– Packed with bustling bars and restaurants to suit every
taste and budget
– A retail paradise, with Buchanan Street named one of
the top 10 shopping streets in the world
– Gateway to the Highlands and the glorious West of
Scotland coastline.
For further details about the Conference, visit:
www.gla.ac.uk/BASES or email BASES@bio.gla.ac.uk
2 | Issue 23 | Spring 2010 | The Sport and Exercise Scientist www.bases.org.uk

Editor l Dr Sarah Rowell
Production Director l Dr Claire Hitchings
Editorial Advisory Board l Dr Melissa Day, Dr Lee Ingle, Dr Dominic Micklewright,
Claire-Marie Roberts, Len Parker Simpson, Dr Ken van Someren
Book and Resource Review l Dr David Tod
Advertising l Dr Claire Hitchings - chitchings@bases.org.uk
Proofreading l Abi Masha, Coachwise Business Solutions (enquiries@coachwisesolutions.co.uk)
Publisher l Mercer Print, Newark Street, Accrington BB5 0PB. Tel: +44 (0)1254 395512 • info@mercer-print.co.uk
BASES l Leeds Metropolitan University, Fairfax Hall, Headingley Campus, Beckett Park, Leeds, LS6 3QT
Tel/Fax: +44 (0)113 812 6162/63 - jbairstow@bases.org.uk
Website l www.bases.org.uk
Front Cover Image l Courtesy of Gordon McGregor
Disclaimer l The statements and opinions contained in the articles are solely those of the individual contributors
and are not necessarily those of BASES. The appearance of advertisements in the publication is not a warranty,
endorsement or approval of products or services. BASES has undertaken all reasonable measures to ensure that the
information contained in The SES is accurate and specifically disclaims any liability, loss or risk, personal or otherwise,
which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly of the use and application of any of the contents.
Copyright © BASES, 2010 l All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in substantial part without permission
of The SES Production Director is strictly prohibited. An archive is available in the Member Area at www.bases.org.uk
Copy deadline 1 May 2010 for Issue 24. All contributions welcomed. Information for contributors www.bases.org.uk
Chair | Prof Jo Doust - j.h.doust@brighton.ac.uk
BASES Executive Officers | Dr Claire Hitchings - chitchings@bases.org.uk (Wednesday and Thursday only),
Debbie Pearce - dpearce@bases.org.uk
Divisional Chair of Physical Activity for Health | Dr Jason Gill - j.gill@bio.gla.ac.uk
Divisional Chair of Sport and Performance | Dr Dominic Micklewright - dpmick@essex.ac.uk
Divisional Chair of Education and Professional Development | Dr Richard Tong - rtong@uwic.ac.uk
Non-Executive Directors | Graham Wilson and Sue Anstiss
www.bases.org.uk
Office Manager | Jane Bairstow - jbairstow@bases.org.uk Tel: 0113 812 6162
Education Officer | Kate Yule - kyule@bases.org.uk Tel: 0113 8126165
Administrative Assistants | Marsha Stankler - mstankler@bases.org.uk (Workshops)
(Monday-Thursday only) Tel: 0113 812 6163. Jane Gillott - jgillott@bases.org.uk (Membership)
(Tuesday and Thursday only) Tel: 0113 812 6164
CONTENTS
4 l BASES NEWS
6 l LONDON 2012 DIARIES
In a new series The SES follows the preparation of the British Sailing and Paralympic teams in the build up to 2012
10 l THE SPORT AND EXERCISE SCIENTIST
Prof Edward Winter FBASES explores the history of sport and exercise science and BASES
12 l PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Dr John Buckley, Gordon McGregor and Annette Cole profile their work in the prevention and rehabilitation
of cardiovascular disease and the importance of BASES accreditation
14 l APPLIED PRACTICE – SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY ON ICE
Sarah Fenwick provides a vivid and honest account of psychological support in challenging circumstances
16 l APPLIED PRACTICE – WHAT USE IS SPORTS SCIENCE?
Len Parker Simpson interviews leading triathlon coach Jack Maitland
20 l RESEARCH – BASES EMERGING RESEARCHER MEDALS
The 2009 award winners share their stories
22 l STRICTLY FOR STUDENTS – GETTING YOUR FOOT IN THE DOOR
Three recent graduates offer their insights into how they stood out from the crowd
26 l BOOK REVIEWS
The Sport and Exercise Scientist – published quarterly by BASES
27 l FIVE BOOKS THAT INFLUENCED ME
Prof Andy Lane discusses five resources that have influenced his career
29 l RESEARCH – BASES INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL GRANT AWARD WINNER
Dr Mark Wilson on his research into Gaze and Cognitive Control in Motor Performance: Implications for Skill Training
30 l A WEEK AT THE WINTER OLYMPICS
Reflections from James Ruskin
The BASES Board
BASES Office Staff
| FOREWORD
Ifeel I should be writing about the snow,
although it will probably all be long gone
by the time this comes to print. At the time
of writing, the cancellations and interesting
journeys are still fresh in most people’s minds.
Was I the only person to wonder over the changing
nature of the snow and the difference in its
snowball-making ability? Something that is sure
to be high in the minds of those helping athletes
and coaches in their preparations for the Winter Olympic and
Paralympic Games.
Such practitioners are at the applied end of our profession as sport
and exercise scientists: A profession that encompasses a diverse
range of skills, experiences and delivery environments. The key remit
of The Sport and Exercise Scientist (The SES) is to contribute to the
continuing professional development of sport and exercise scientists
– it therefore must contain articles and information that are relevant
to and also challenge the thinking of all BASES members.
How well are we doing towards this remit? By the time you read
this hopefully you will have taken part in the online survey on the
The SES, which is being sent to all members. In sending this out it
seemed appropriate to also look back at the last members’ review in
2007.
A brief summing up of the feedback you gave then about how to
improve the publication could be that, for some, it’s a bit samey,
overly technical and written by the in-crowd; hence your suggestions
for more case studies, letters, career-based articles and to accept
unsolicited submissions from members.
Do I have a disappointment after six months as editor? Yes. Is it a
surprising one? No. Many members read The SES, but few interact
with it. If the publication is truly to be for members, then a more
vibrant exchange between the Editorial Advisory Board and the
readership is needed – that’s my belated new year challenge to you
all. This is your publication, please help to make it such.
Dr Sarah Rowell
Editor
saz@srowell.demon.co.uk
6
30
14
Issue 23 | Spring 2010 | The Sport and Exercise Scientist | 3

NEWS |
Call-out for hosts –
2012 BASES Annual
Student Conference
If you are interested in applying to
host the Student Conference in 2012,
then please send in your application
by 30 April 2010 to Jane Bairstow –
jbairstow@bases.org.uk
Guidelines on how to host a BASES
Conference are available at www.
bases.org.uk/Publications-Documentsand-Policies
n
High Performance Sport
Accreditation awarded to
Dr Paul Gamble
Dr Paul Gamble from Heriot-Watt
University has been awarded BASES
High Performance Sport Accreditation
in the area of strength and
conditioning. n
Masterclass in golf
psychology
Dr Brian Hemmings has organised
a four-day masterclass in golf
psychology over two weekends in
May 2010 for qualified practitioners,
those on Supervised Experience and
postgraduate students with an interest
in golf. Visit www.golfmind.co.uk for
full details. n
ELEKTRAVISION
Accreditation amnesty
BASES is offering an opportunity for members
whose Accreditation has lapsed within the last five
years to apply for BASES Re-Accreditation. The
submission deadline for the amnesty is 1 July 2010.
Re-Accreditation accepts that an Accredited individual
has already demonstrated they meet “the knowledge, skills and understanding necessary to be
safe and fit to practise as a sport and exercise scientist”. Re-Accreditation requires the applicant to
demonstrate continued delivery of services and development as a practitioner. Further details on
the Re-Accreditation process can be found at www.bases.org.uk/Individual-Accreditations n
BASES Honorary Fellows Undergraduate
Dissertation of the Year Award
Enhad Chowdhury is the winner of the BASES Honorary Fellows
Undergraduate Dissertation of the Year Award and wins the prize
of a £200 BASES voucher for the best undergraduate dissertation
made by a 2009/10 final-year UK undergraduate in the area
of sport and/or exercise sciences. Enhad is from the University
of Bath. The dissertation was entitled “The effect of exercise
in moderating changes in insulin sensitivity with short-term
overfeeding and reduced physical activity” and was supervised by
Dr James Betts. n
Laboratory Accreditation awarded to University
of Ulster and Wolverhampton Wanderers FC
Both the University of Ulster and Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club have been awarded
BASES Laboratory Accreditation, which is a quality-assurance process that provides clients and
service purchasers with a means of confirming the appropriateness of a laboratory to conduct
physiological testing. A laboratory may be accredited for research and/or scientific support,
dependent upon the accreditation of its director(s). n
2010 Annual Student Conference:
Free pre-Conference workshop
The Student Conference team at Aberystwyth University is pleased to announce that a free
pre-Conference workshop will be given by Prof Jo Doust and Dr Richard Tong on the evening of
Tuesday 30 March 2010. The workshop is focused upon building a career in sport and exercise
science and is in keeping with the Conference theme of “Unlocking Your Future”. Delegates will
learn how to tailor their CVs to potential employers, develop the experiences and qualifications
to set them apart from other applicants and learn strategies for securing successful careers in the
sport and exercise sciences. Delegates will also be able to network with two of the leading sport
and exercise scientists in the UK. If you are interested in attending this workshop, then please
contact Dr David Tod – dvt@aber.ac.uk n
Prof Jo Doust (left) and
Dr Richard Tong
4 | Issue 23 | Spring 2010 | The Sport and Exercise Scientist www.bases.org.uk

Movers and shakers
Prof Greg Whyte and Sport Relief
Prof Greg Whyte, a
BASES High Performance
Sport Accredited
Physiologist, is heavily
involved in Sport Relief
2010. The first project is
with Christine Bleakley
from The One Show, who
is attempting to
waterski across
the English
Channel.
The second
project is a
cycle ride from
John O’Groats to
Lands End with a variety of
celebrities, including David
Walliams, Jimmy Carr and
Davina McCall. The final
project for 2010 was with
Eddie Izzard who ran 43
marathons in 51 days. n
Congratulations
www.bases.org.uk
Prof Greg Whyte
Christine Bleakley
To Dr Dominic Micklewright and his wife Sarah on the birth of
their son, Harry on 21 January. n
| NEWS
Calendar of Events
Some key BASES events to watch out for in 2010
March (April)
31-(1) | BASES Student Conference
University of Aberystwyth, Wales
david.lavallee@aber.ac.uk
i
April (May)
22 | BASES Exercise for Health Practitioners’ Workshop
NEC Hilton Metropole Hotel, Leeds
23 | BACR Exercise Professional Group Study Day
Birmingham NEC
i vivienne@bacrphaseiv.co.uk
or tel 01252 720640
30-(1) | The Growing Child in High Performance Sport -
International Congress
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Birmingham
i www.british-gymnastics.org/site/index.
php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1133
May
1 | BUES submission deadline
31 | Functional Movement Screen and Y Balance Test
Wolverhampton Wanderers FC
i fayvale@wolves.co.uk or tel 01902 687007
June
1 | BASES International Travel Grant submission deadline
8-9 | Second World Conference on Science and Soccer
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University,
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
i www.nmmu.ac.za/defaultasp?id=6785&bhcp=1
9-12 | ISBNPA 2010 Annual Meeting
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
i www.togpartners.com/isbnpa
10-12 | North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and
Physical Activity Conference
Hilton El Conquistador resort, Tucson, Arizona
i www.naspspa.org/conf/
10-12 | First World Congress on Cycling Science
Napier University, Edinburgh
i www.lifesciences.napier.ac.uk/cycling-conference/
conference.htm
July
1 | BASES Accreditation/Re-Accreditation submission
deadline
1 | BASES HPSA submission deadline
7-10 | Conference on Creatine in Health and Sport
University of Cambridge
i www.creatineconference2010.org.
11-16 | International Congress of Applied Psychology
Melbourne Australia
i www.icap2010.com/
September
1 | BUES submission deadline
1 | BASES International Travel Grant submission deadline
6-8 | BASES Annual Conference
University of Glasgow
i www.gla.ac.uk/BASES
Issue 23 | Spring 2010 | The Sport and Exercise Scientist | 5

LONDON 2012 | 9 ISSUES TO GO
Team GBR sailing
Behind this sailing success lies a wide support
network of sport scientists and support staff. Dr
Pete Cunningham is the Senior Sports Science
Officer, heading up sport science support, as
well as providing physiological support to the
upper tier of performance sailors. His team
consists of a nutritionist, two sport psychologists,
two strength and conditioning specialists,
another physiologist, a physiotherapist, masseur,
meteorologist and two technical/performance
analysts. The team works alongside
approximately 20 contract coaches to support
British sailing. With such a diverse support team,
one of Pete’s main roles is to ensure effective
communication between them.
At present, sailing has a full performance
programme with 36 sailors, as well as seven
sailors on the Paralympic performance
programme. There are also 25 sailors on
development programmes and a further 25
sailors as training partners, aspiring to be on the
Development Squad programme. The British
sailing team’s success at world level means that
all of their programmes are full and even sailors
boasting international success are fighting for
places as numbers on the top-tier performance
programme are set by UK Sport.
Funding
After the Beijing Olympics, some of the most
successful large sports, including sailing, suffered
financial cutbacks from UK Sport, despite
their performances at the Games. In January
2009, a restructure within the sport science
team took place. This restructure produced
substantial savings financially, but also reduced
sport science support in a number of areas,
including physiology, strength and conditioning,
physiotherapy and nutrition. The team receive
most of their funding through UK Sport and
the National Lottery, although they also have
a number of major private sponsors who
contribute up to approximately 20% of their
funding.
Sailing facilities
The sailing support team are currently
based at two main sites: the University of
Chichester and the Royal Yachting Association
(RYA) performance centre in Weymouth.
Approximately half of their sailors live in and
around Weymouth, although the centre
now includes a hotel and accommodation
facilities. The performance centre also boasts
a world-class gym, aerobics training rooms,
London diaries
- GB Sailing
Drs Melissa Day and Pete Cunningham
The media spotlight on the 2008 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games illuminated a number of sports that exceeded all expectations of
sporting success. Among these, the British sailing team led the way, having had their most successful Games since the start of the modern
Olympics. Out of 11 possible medal opportunities British sailors returned home with six, comprising four gold medals, one silver and one
bronze. Whilst celebrations of this immense success continue, the focus now is firmly on how to retain Britain’s place as the world’s top sailing
nation. Here, we introduce the sport science support behind this success as the team starts to look ahead to the London 2012 Games.
Olympic Sailing Cascais 204
technical training facilities, classrooms and even
a workshop. The University of Chichester
provides a base for all laboratory work and
testing.
Targets for London 2012
At the 2012 Games, there will be 10 potential
medal opportunities for sailing. Baseline targets
for these Games are to achieve three medals,
although stretch targets are aiming at five. One
of the main projected difficulties is sustaining the
high level of performance that was achieved in
Beijing. Having experienced success, the British
sailing team are keen to continue to head the
field, but are acutely aware of these difficulties.
Expectations will be high so they are keen to
use their previous experience and knowledge
to continue this success in front of a home
crowd and are currently working hard on
creating a “home advantage”.
Short-term targets
For the sport science support staff, the primary
focus is on the 2012 Games and any Olympic
sailing events taking place in Weymouth prior
to the Olympics. Sailing normally benefits from
two official Olympic Test Events in the years
running up to the Olympics, but, in this cycle,
there is only one Test Event organised by the
London Organising Committee for the Olympic
Games, which is scheduled for 2011. The RYA
has taken this on board and is running its own
Olympic-class regatta in Weymouth waters in
2010, namely the Sail for Gold Regatta. This
will be an early indicator of how the team’s
Olympic preparations are going, as previous
RYA research suggests teams that are successful
in Test Events at Olympic venues often deliver
at the Games themselves. The RYA aims for all
sailors to be at peak fitness for this event, which
will include all 10 Olympic classes. It is assumed
that all countries will use this as an early Test
Event as it will take place at the official Olympic
venue at approximately the same time of year
as the scheduled dates for the 2012 Games.
This means it will be a worldwide event likely
to include around 1,000 boats and, for the
British team, it provides a key date in the racing
calendar to ensure all strategies are up and
running in the bid for Olympic success.
In the run-up to London 2012, The Sport
and Exercise Scientist will concentrate on
the preparations of the GBR sailing team,
documenting their pathway to the Games and
focusing on the role of applied sport science. n
Drs Melissa Day and Pete Cunningham
Melissa is a Senior Lecturer in
Sport and Exercise Psychology at the
University of Chichester.
Pete is the Senior
Sport Science Officer
for the RYA. He began working with the
RYA on a part time basis in 1993. In
1998 he became full time and has seen
the team go from strength to strength.
6 | Issue 23 | Spring 2010 | The The Sport and Exercise Scientist www.bases.org.uk
COURTESY OF RICHARD LANGDON, SKANDIA TEAM GBR

| LONDON 2012
Paralympic Sports Science
COURTESY OF DUNCAN TUNBRIDGE BPA
Disability sport and specifically the
Paralympic Games have progressed
with considerable pace since those
early multi-sport events that began at Stoke
Mandeville in the late 1940s.
From the early days Ludwig Guttmann,
the originator of these competitions, had
a dream of Olympic equivalence. From a
two nation International Stoke Mandeville
Games of 1952, the event that would over
time be renamed the Paralympic Games,
has grown and evolved into the one of the
world’s biggest sporting events.
In Beijing 3,962 athletes from 146 nations
competed in front of record crowds and
an estimated global television audience of
3.85 billion viewers. Figures from the BBC
indicate that 2.2 million Britons tuned
in to watch the spectacular Paralympic
Opening ceremony. Britain’s interest in
Paralympic sport has always been high,
possibly because of the historical link, but
also because of our proud history at the
Games. ParalympicsGB, as the collective
team is now called, has only once been
outside the top 3 on the medal table since
Seoul in 1988; and for the past three
Games has finished second on the medal
table, losing out to Australia in Sydney and
to China in both Athens and Beijing.
As with their able-bodied counterparts,
Britain’s Paralympians have benefitted
from the increased opportunities that
National Lottery funding has provided,
with £48 million invested in the London
cycle. When this is combined with the
economies of scale made available
within those sports that are integrated
with their Olympic programmes, Great
Britain’s athletes are currently one of the
best funded non-professional groups in
the world. However, with this funding
comes expectation, and the target that
ParalympicsGB has set itself for 2012 is
to retain its second place in the medal
table, whilst also winning more medals
www.bases.org.uk
across more sports. In Beijing, GB was
represented in 18 of the 20 Paralympic
sports and won medals in 11 of them, so
the targets for 2012 are
certainly not those of a
team that is looking for an
easy time of it.
Lottery investment has
not only allowed more
athletes to train fulltime,
it has also brought
in more professional
coaching and administrative structures.
It has also allowed the sports to embrace
and embed sport science and sport
medicine into their programmes at levels
almost unthinkable only 10 years ago.
Over the course of the next two and
a half years as we complete our final
preparations into the London 2012
Paralympic Games, we will use The Sport
and Exercise Scientist to give you a unique
insight into how science is being applied
to Paralympic sport, whether this be
either through ongoing scientific support
programmes or through bespoke ‘special
projects’, we will give you a fly-on-thewall
view of some of the challenges and
successes of some of our sports and
hopefully stimulate your interest and
appetite for what can be an extremely
challenging and rewarding area to work in.
One sport that we will be tracking, and the
first sport that we will look at, is Boccia.
Whilst many Paralympic sports are either
a straight or adapted form of their Olympic
discipline, Boccia sits without an Olympic
counterpart. Its closest equivalent is the
French game of boules, and as boule has
French derivation, Boccia is the Italian
plural for bowl. In a very similar pattern
to boule, a white jack is thrown within the
Boccia court and players then attempt to
throw (or kick or roll in the case of Boccia)
their ball closest to the jack. Boccia is an
indoor sport and rather than the hard balls
Want more information on Boccia? Visit www.gb-boccia.org
Athletes from Great Britain’s BC1-2 Team
used in boule, Boccia balls are made of
synthetic leather with a granular filling,
often of a plastic or silicone base. The
relative softness of the balls allows for
easier gripping by athletes who may
have severely limited hand function.
Boccia appeared at as a Paralympic
event in Barcelona 1992 and in
Paralympic competition is played
in a singles, pairs or team format.
To ensure fairness across a range of
impairment severity, athletes compete
within classifications, and whilst
there are eight classifications in total for
Boccia (BC1 –BC8), only four of these
classes compete at the Games (BC1,
BC2, BC3 or BC4). Although there are
eight classifications for Boccia (BC1 –
BC8), only four of these classes compete
at the Games. Whilst most athletes that
play Boccia have Cerebral Palsy, there
is some provision for disabilities that are
non- Cerebral Palsy, but manifest in the
same or similar functional impairment.
The BC3 classification is a mixed Cerebral
Palsy and Non- Cerebral Palsy class, and
the BC4 classification is predominantly
for those athletes with an impairment of a
non-cerebral nature.
The Great Britain Boccia Federation (GB
Boccia) was created in 2007 to lead the
development of the sport in Great Britain.
In Beijing, Great Britain won gold in the
BC1-2 Team Event and a silver medal
courtesy of Nigel Murray (BC2 Individual).
The main remit of GB Boccia is to deliver
a World Class Performance Programme
to prepare athletes for major international
competitions. Matt Hammond is the
Performance Manager of GB Boccia and
is responsible for the Programme and with
making best use of the funding provided by
UK Sport. A key area of the Performance
Programme is the development of new
talent, which is the role of Glynn Tromans,
GB Boccia’s Talent Development Manager.
Matt, Glynn and the Elite Squad athletes
are supported by a multi-disciplinary
support team which includes Chris Wagg
(Sport Science Officer, English Institute of
Sport), John Marchant (Sport Psychologist,
Scottish Institute of Sport), Bob Smith
(Conditioning Contractor), Dawn Ibrahim
(Physiotherapist, English Institute of
Sport) and Duncan Tunbridge (Operations
Manager, British Paralympic Association).
The team’s roles will be expanded on in
future articles. n
Paul Davies, Head of Sport Science and Medicine
(Paralympic Sport). English Institute of Sport.
Chris Wagg, Sport Science Officer, GB Boccia.
English Institute of Sport
Issue 23 | Spring Spring 2010 | The The Sport and and Exercise Scientist | 7

This year, the 2010 BASES Annual
Conference will be moving north of the
border to Glasgow. Founded in 1451, the
University of Glasgow is the fourth
oldest University in the English-speaking
world, and was the academic home of
Adam Smith, James Watt, Lord Kelvin,
John Logie Baird, Joseph Lister and Sir
John Boyd Orr. In the spirit of these
pioneers, who have done much to shape
the world we are living in today, we
hope to make this year’s Annual
Conference a catalyst for academic
discussion and debate that will drive
forward thinking in the sport and
exercise sciences. The theme of the
Conference is “Challenging the
Dogma”, and we hope to engage
delegates and challenge their thinking
by addressing important unresolved and
controversial issues in the field head on.
Challenging Keynotes
The Conference opens with the Dr
Andy Cathcart Keynote Symposium on
“The factors which limit maximal
oxygen uptake: The Head, the heart
or an integrated peripheral system”.
This session was the brainchild of our
late friend and colleague, Dr Andy
Cathcart, who was tragically killed in a
cycling accident while in South Africa
in April 2009, and is named in honour
of his memory. The symposium will
take the format of a 3-way debate
between Prof Tim Noakes from the
University of Cape Town, arguing that
the “Central Governor” (i.e., the head)
.
limits V02max; Prof Björn Ekblom from
the Åstrand Laboratory of Work
Physiology in Sweden, arguing for a
cardiovascular limitation (i.e., the
heart); and Prof Peter Wagner from
the University of California, arguing
that an integrated peripheral system is
the key limiter.
Day 2 of the Conference will start with
another keynote debate, asking “Does
dehydration impair exercise
performance?”. Prof Ron Maughan
from Loughborough University will
argue that dehydration does impair
exercise performance, while Prof Tim
Noakes will take the less conventional
viewpoint that it does not.
The afternoon of Day 2 will feature
“The Great Drugs Debate”. At the
time of going to print, confirmed
speakers include Prof Bengt Kayser
from the University of Geneva, who
will argue in favour of more pragmatic
and less dogmatic ways of dealing with
drugs in sport, and Prof Martial Saugy
from the University of Lausanne, who
will talk about the use of blood
profiling to detect doping.
On Day 3, there will be two keynote
sessions related to physical activity. In
the morning, Prof John Reilly from the
University of Glasgow will debate with
Prof Terry Wilkin from Peninsula
Medical School on the topic “Can we
modulate physical activity in
children?”. Prof Wilkin will present
data in support of the Activitystat
Hypothesis, which argues that physical
activity levels in a child are set
centrally and are not changed by
environmental intervention; Prof Reilly
will argue that it is possible to alter
environmental factors to increase
children’s activity levels.
The closing keynote session will be
from Prof John Speakman from the
University of Aberdeen, who will use
objective data collected from doubly-
labelled water studies in humans and
other animals to address the question:
“Are we really less active than we
used to be: what does the objective
evidence show?”.
Varied Symposia
Supporting the keynote sessions is a
wide and varied range of symposia.
Every time-slot will comprise at least
one symposium each for those with a
primary interest in sports performance
and those with a primary interest in
health; so there will be something for
everyone throughout all 3 days of the
meeting. More details of symposia are
available on the Conference website
www.gla.ac.uk/BASES
Further highlights include:
• Sport science support for elite
cycling: The reality of managing
the world-class performer
• Sports nutrition: What’s new?
• A joint BASES, Royal College of
Physicians and Fitness Industry
Association symposium
• Two joint BASES and European
Federation of Sport Psychology
symposia
• Behaviour change in clinical
populations
• The female athlete: A multidisciplinary
perspective
• Measurement of physical activity in
free-living environments
• International Centre for East
African Running Science
symposium
• Ethnicity, environment and health
• Health benefits of high-intensity
exercise.
8 | Issue 23 | Spring 2010 | The Sport and Exercise Scientist www.bases.org.uk

This year, the 2010 BASES Annual
Conference will be moving north of the
border to Glasgow. Founded in 1451, the
University of Glasgow is the fourth
oldest University in the English-speaking
world, and was the academic home of
Adam Smith, James Watt, Lord Kelvin,
John Logie Baird, Joseph Lister and Sir
John Boyd Orr. In the spirit of these
pioneers, who have done much to shape
the world we are living in today, we
hope to make this year’s Annual
Conference a catalyst for academic
discussion and debate that will drive
forward thinking in the sport and
exercise sciences. The theme of the
Conference is “Challenging the
Dogma”, and we hope to engage
delegates and challenge their thinking
by addressing important unresolved and
controversial issues in the field head on.
Challenging Keynotes
The Conference opens with the Dr
Andy Cathcart Keynote Symposium on
“The factors which limit maximal
oxygen uptake: The Head, the heart
or an integrated peripheral system”.
This session was the brainchild of our
late friend and colleague, Dr Andy
Cathcart, who was tragically killed in a
cycling accident while in South Africa
in April 2009, and is named in honour
of his memory. The symposium will
take the format of a 3-way debate
between Prof Tim Noakes from the
University of Cape Town, arguing that
the “Central Governor” (i.e., the head)
.
limits V02max; Prof Björn Ekblom from
the Åstrand Laboratory of Work
Physiology in Sweden, arguing for a
cardiovascular limitation (i.e., the
heart); and Prof Peter Wagner from
the University of California, arguing
that an integrated peripheral system is
the key limiter.
www.bases.org.uk
Day 2 of the Conference will start with
another keynote debate, asking “Does
dehydration impair exercise
performance?”. Prof Ron Maughan
from Loughborough University will
argue that dehydration does impair
exercise performance, while Prof Tim
Noakes will take the less conventional
viewpoint that it does not.
The afternoon of Day 2 will feature
“The Great Drugs Debate”. At the
time of going to print, confirmed
speakers include Prof Bengt Kayser
from the University of Geneva, who
will argue in favour of more pragmatic
and less dogmatic ways of dealing with
drugs in sport, and Prof Martial Saugy
from the University of Lausanne, who
will talk about the use of blood
profiling to detect doping.
On Day 3, there will be two keynote
sessions related to physical activity. In
the morning, Prof John Reilly from the
University of Glasgow will debate with
Prof Terry Wilkin from Peninsula
Medical School on the topic “Can we
modulate physical activity in
children?”. Prof Wilkin will present
data in support of the Activitystat
Hypothesis, which argues that physical
activity levels in a child are set
centrally and are not changed by
environmental intervention; Prof Reilly
will argue that it is possible to alter
environmental factors to increase
children’s activity levels.
The closing keynote session will be
from Prof John Speakman from the
University of Aberdeen, who will use
objective data collected from doubly-
labelled water studies in humans and
other animals to address the question:
“Are we really less active than we
used to be: what does the objective
evidence show?”.
Varied Symposia
Supporting the keynote sessions is a
wide and varied range of symposia.
Every time-slot will comprise at least
one symposium each for those with a
primary interest in sports performance
and those with a primary interest in
health; so there will be something for
everyone throughout all 3 days of the
meeting. More details of symposia are
available on the Conference website
www.gla.ac.uk/BASES
Further highlights include:
• Sport science support for elite
cycling: The Reality of managing
the world-class performer
• Sports nutrition: What’s new?
• A joint BASES, Royal College of
Physicians and Fitness Industry
Association symposium
• Two joint BASES and European
Federation of Sport Psychology
symposia
• Behaviour change in clinical
populations
• The female athlete: A multidisciplinary
perspective
• Measurement of physical activity in
free-living environments
• International Centre for East
African Running Science
symposium
• Ethnicity, environment and health
• Health benefits of high-intensity
exercise.
Issue 23 | Spring 2010 | The Sport and Exercise Scientist | 9

FEATURE |
THE SPORT AND EXERCISE SCIENTIST
Prof Edward M Winter FBASES Explores the History of Sport and Exercise Science and BASES
At last September’s BASES Annual Conference at Leeds Metropolitan
University, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the formation of BASES at
the equivalent conference in 1984, at what was Bedford College of Higher
Education. As this year sees the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society, it seemed
appropriate to mark these occasions by recording BASES’ past, present and future
in three articles that will appear in The Sport and Exercise Scientist over the
course of the year. These articles will provide a largely personal reflection from
one whose particular interest is in physiology, was there at the outset and has
been proud to see the Association grow and develop. This is the first of the three
articles in which I will present an overview of the Association’s gestation.
Origins
It is tempting to think that sport and
exercise science is new and, indeed, the
introduction of the first undergraduate
degree in 1976 is comparatively recent.
For those who were not born then,
34 years might be a long time, but in
the context of humans’ 200,000-year
presence on earth in general, and science
in particular, 1976 is but a short time
ago. However, as outlined by Porter in his
superb 1999 text “The Greatest Benefit to
Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity
from Antiquity to the Present”, interest in
sport and exercise has a history measured
in millennia.
Hippocrates (c460–c370BC) was involved
formally in sport and exercise through his
association with athletes who competed
in the ancient Olympic Games and his
formulation of the founding principles of
medicine that included interests in the
prophylactic and therapeutic aspects of
exercise. Pre-dating even this, although
less well documented, was Ayurvedic
(Hindu) medicine of the far east, which
is still practised today and acknowledges
beneficial aspects of exercise.
In the second century
AD, Galen (c129–216AD)
was formally appointed by
Emperor Marcus Aurelius
to tend to the surgical
and medical needs of
gladiators and assist
their trainers and lanisters (managers) in
nutritional and training practices. Those
of us who have seen Ridley Scott’s film
Gladiator might not have appreciated
the factual accuracies portrayed in
infrastructures that supported the sporting
super-heroes of that time. Contrast
Hippocrates and Galen with today’s
home countries’ Institutes of Sport and
2,500 years later. The principles are little
changed.
During the Renaissance, Da Vinci
(1452–1519) and Galileo (1564–1642)
were intrigued by the exercise capabilities
of humans and, in particular, how our
Da Vinci anatomical notes
size and shape influence performance.
The Royal Society was formed in 1650,
and the Society’s journal “Philosophical
Transactions” was first published on 6
March 1665 with Henry Oldenburg as
founding editor. Oldenburg is credited
as the inventor of peer review, which
characterises scientific publications today.
19th and early 20th centuries
The reintroduction of the Olympic Games
in 1896 occurred after the recognition
by Berzelius in 1807 of lactic acid in the
muscle of hunted stags, the suggestion
by Hermansen in 1894 that “inogen”
was responsible for chemical changes
in muscle, and shortly before Fletcher
and Hopkins’ formative work on lactic
acid in 1907. Moreover, the 1896 Games
accompanied the training colleges for
women’s physical education that were
already under way, which pre-dated,
by some 30 years, the introduction of
equivalents for men.
In 1922, Archibald Vivian Hill was
awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology
or Medicine for “his discovery relating to
the production of heat in muscle” and
Otto Fritz Meyerhof for “his discovery
of the fixed relationship between
the consumption of oxygen and the
metabolism of lactic acid in the muscle”
(http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/
medicine/laureates/1922/). Much of
Hill’s work was based on investigations
with athletes that continued until his
death in 1977. The seventh edition of
McArdle, Katch and Katch’s text “Exercise
Physiology”, which will be published this
year, records the parallel introduction and
development of scientific approaches to
sport and exercise in North America that
occurred in the 19th century.
While the origins are undoubtedly
traceable to Hippocrates, it is not easy
to document the precise history of sport
and exercise psychology because few
studies were reported before the 20th
century. However, although the American
Coleman Griffith is often credited as being
the founder of sport psychology, his lab
in the University of Illinois in the ’20s is
pre-dated by work in Germany in 1830
on the psychology of calisthenics and an
1884 study of the effects of hypnosis on
muscular endurance. Perhaps the most
famous early study is that of Triplett in
1897, which is considered a landmark
study of social facilitation effects.
1960s and 1970s
In the ’60s, physical education was well
established as an academic discipline
for men and women. However, it was
probably only Birmingham University,
10 | Issue 23 | Spring 2010 | The Sport and Exercise Scientist www.bases.org.uk

1896 Olympics
through the prescience of Albert
Munrow, that had offered a degree in
the area since 1948. Training of physical
education teachers had always involved
anatomy and physiology, but, increasingly,
attention became more focused on these
disciplines as well as biomechanics and
psychology. In addition, scientific support
for UK athletes was provided on a small
but growing scale.
Key developments reflected and
influenced further changes. In 1963, the
Robbins Report on Higher Education was
published and this led to the introduction
of the Bachelor of Education degree,
which had a profound effect on the
training of physical education teachers.
In 1964, the Council for National
Academic Awards was formed to validate
degrees in Colleges of Education and
similar non-university institutions. In
1974 teaching became an all-graduate
profession and three loose bodies of
pioneering academics had emerged
or were forming: the British Society of
Sport Psychology in 1967, the Sport
Biomechanics Study Group in 1976 and
the Society of Sports Sciences in 1977.
The latter was largely for those whose
interests were the physiology of exercise.
Each group had annual meetings at
which results of research were presented.
Membership of the groups was in tens
rather than hundreds, and a membership
of thousands was only a distant vision.
Impetus for sport and exercise science
was growing and, in 1976, validated by
the CNAA, the first undergraduate degree
in sport science was introduced by, what
is now, Liverpool John Moores University.
The late Prof Tom Reilly Honorary
Fellow of BASES was prominent in its
introduction and subsequent growth.
There were approximately 30 students on
the course.
Shortly after, other institutions introduced
similar courses and the development
of masters courses followed, from
approximately four in 1973 to well over
100 today. These undergraduate and
masters courses led to marked increases
in the number of PhD programmes and
now some 10,000 students graduate in a
sport- or exercise-related area in the UK
www.bases.org.uk
annually. That is remarkable growth in 35
years.
The formation
The three discipline-based groups were
also growing, and there were increasingly
strong suggestions that coalition of these
groups into one body, but with different
sections, would be the way forward.
These suggestions gathered momentum
as more undergraduate programmes were
introduced; professional and other longestablished
sports turned increasingly to
sport and exercise scientists for advice,
and research in sport and exercise was
recognised for its legitimacy.
In 1984, all of this culminated at the
conference in Bedford, although plans
had been laid and discussed for some
four years beforehand. Members of
the three early bodies voted to merge
and form the (BASS), with Prof Clyde
Williams OBE Honorary Fellow of BASES
as the Association’s inaugural Chair. After
a gestation of approximately 2,500 years,
BASS was born.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Profs Stuart Biddle
Honorary Fellow of BASES, Tudor Hale
Honorary Fellow of BASES, David Kerwin
FBASES, Craig Sharp Honorary Fellow of
BASES and Clyde Williams OBE Honorary
Fellow of BASES for their help in
producing this article. Like me, they were
there at the birth. n
References
McArdle W.D., Katch, F.I. & Katch V.L.
(2010 seventh edition). Exercise Physiology:
Energy, Nutrition and Human Performance. Philadelphia,
PA: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
Porter, R. (1999). The Greatest Benefit to
Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity. New York, NY:
HarperCollins, London.
Prof Edward M Winter FBASES
Edward is Professor of the
Physiology of Exercise in the Centre
for Sport and Exercise Science at
Sheffield Hallam University. He
was involved in the formation of
BASES and played prominent roles
in matters such as the Association’s
accreditation scheme and other developments.
| FEATURE
Prof Tom Reilly
A number of members
have passed on their
thanks for the tribute
to the late Prof Reilly
in the last issue of The
Sport and Exercise
Scientist and, in some
cases, sorrow that they
were not able to contribute.
One such member was Prof Craig
Sharp, who knew Tom from the early
’70s. Craig wrote: “We communicated
on all sorts of things – indeed, just
before he died he had sent me articles
on hurling (as I had also done some
work on the sport, when in Limerick),
and on chronobiology (I examined his
DSc thesis on that topic) – and he was
quite pleased when, through my PhD
student Lygeri Dimitriou, I ventured
into his great love (well, one of!) –
chronobiology.”
As a tribute to Tom, Craig sent
in a poignant poem by Norman
MacCaig, called “Praise of a Man”:
“He went through a company like a
lamplighter –
see the dark minds, one after another,
begin to glow, to shed
a beneficient light.
He went through a company like
a knifegrinder – see the dark minds
scattering sparks of themselves,
becoming razory, becoming useful.
He went through a company
as himself. But now he’s one
of the multitudinous company of the
dead
where are no individuals.
The beneficient lights dim
but don’t vanish. The razor edges
dull, but still cut.
He’s gone: but you can see
his tracks still, in the snow of the world.
His glances were directive, seemed to
move
Pawns on a secret chessboard. You
could fancy
You saw pieces in their wooden dance
Leap in geometrical obedience
From square to square.
Now stop like broken clockwork
when silence spoke its checkmate.”
Issue 23 | Spring 2010 | The Sport and Exercise Scientist | 11

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT |
BASES Accreditation:
The Cornerstone of Three National
Leaders in Cardiac Rehabilitation
For three of the UK’s leading experts in the exercise component of cardiac rehabilitation, BASES Accreditation has been the
cornerstone of demonstrating their expert skills, knowledge and experience to fellow healthcare and medical professionals
Dr John Buckley, Gordon McGregor and Annette Coles have led the way in applying principles of sport
and exercise science in the prevention and rehabilitation of cardiovascular disease. All three now have
leading roles both clinically and professionally; John is President of the British Association for Cardiac
Rehabilitation (BACR), whilst Gordon and Annette represent BASES on the BACR Exercise Professionals
Group. This article profiles the work of John, Gordon and Annette.
Dr John Buckley
Dr John Buckley, a BASES Accredited Sport and Exercise
Scientist, has been appointed as President of the BACR from
October 2009 until October 2011. The BACR was established
in 1994 as a multidisciplinary association of professionals
involved in care, management, rehabilitation and prevention for
people with cardiovascular disease. John is the first sport and
exercise scientist to hold this post where, in the BACR’s 15-year
history, the post holder has always been a traditional healthcare
professional; either a nurse, physiotherapist or cardiologist.
John joined the BACR in 1994 at the same time as becoming
a member of BASES. Since then, he has achieved recognition
for BASES as a core association, the field of sport and exercise
science as a recognised profession and BASES Accreditation
as an appropriate professional qualification, as well as being
properly accepted within the multidisciplinary arena of cardiac
rehabilitation.
Dr John Buckley with his postgraduate students he teaches at the Asian
Heart Institute, Mumbai, India.
For more than 10 years, John has been a regular presenter at
BACR and BASES conferences on the topic of exercise and
cardiac disease, and has been a contributing author, tutor
and advisor to many BACR education resources and BASES
guidelines. For eight years, he served as a founding committee
member of the BACR Exercise Professionals Group. This
group officially joined BASES with the Association of Chartered
Physiotherapists in Cardiac Rehabilitation (ACPICR) and the
BACR Exercise Instructor Network as a recognised interprofessional
forum for advancing the standards of exercise
being offered to patients with cardiovascular disease. He was
the leading force in the drafting and signing of a memorandum
of collaboration between BASES, the ACPICR and the BACR,
COURTESY OF DR JOHN BUCKLEY
which has now become the catalyst towards setting national
competency standards for those working in the exercise
component of cardiac rehabilitation.
Having set up (at the age of 24) and run his own exercise and
physiotherapy business in Shrewsbury for 21 years, as well
as being a university lecturer (Keele University 1989–2006;
University of Chester since 2006), John hopes his knowledge,
skills and experience in business, higher education/research
and as a practising health and rehabilitation professional can be
transferred to leading the BACR’s Council and the association
as a whole.
John’s career in sport and exercise started as a professional
tennis coach whilst he was studying for his first degree in
Physical Education and Business Studies at the University
of British Columbia, Canada. He came to the UK in 1986 to
pursue his MSc in Sport Science at Loughborough University
before starting his business in Shrewsbury in 1988. He attained
BASES Accreditation as an exercise physiologist in 1996 and
completed his PhD at Keele University in 2003.
Since 1994, he has worked in cardiac rehabilitation as a lead
exercise practitioner or advisor to a number of hospitals in
the West Midlands, including Shrewsbury, North Staffordshire
and Coventry/Rugby. Since 2006, he has headed up the MSc
in Cardiovascular Rehabilitation at the University of Chester,
which includes being a front-line clinical tutor with the cardiac
rehabilitation team at the Countess of Chester Hospital,
and leading the postgraduate certificate in Cardiovascular
Rehabilitation at the Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai, India.
For four years, John chaired the BASES Division of Physical
Activity for Health and is presently Founding Chair of the
BASES Exercise Practitioners’ Interest Group, which, with over
200 members, is BASES’ largest interest group and a very
active one. Since 2003, he has been a lead advisor on behalf
of BASES to SkillsActive/the Register of Exercise Professionals
on the national standards for Exercise Referral and Advanced
Exercise Instructor Level 4, and part of the BASES working party
on the National Occupational Standards for sport and exercise
scientists. He has written books and published research in
leading sports medicine and exercise science publications.
He acts as an advisor on exercise and health to many of the
broadsheet newspapers and to television networks, which has
involved appearances on the BBC.
He continues with his lifelong athletic interests through middledistance
running and playing tennis for his county senior men’s
team. He is also known for playing lead trumpet for the BASES
Blues Band.
12 | Issue 23 | Spring 2010 | The Sport and Exercise Scientist www.bases.org.uk

Exercise class in Vancouver
Annette Coles
Annette’s chosen career route as an exercise physiologist,
working within the field of cardiac rehabilitation, reflects her
firmly held belief in the role that physical activity can play in
both physiological and psychological health and well-being,
and nowhere is this more evident than in patients with coronary
heart disease.
Her journey began at Loughborough University, completing
a BSc in Sports Science and Physical Activity, in which she
specialised in exercise physiology. With this under her belt,
she continued her studies in the US, completing a masters
degree in Cardiac Rehabilitation. It was at this point that her
enthusiasm for physical activity and health-related behaviour
grew, and it became clear to her that clinical populations offer a
very diverse and rewarding working environment.
Annette has been working in the field of cardiac rehabilitation for
over 10 years and is currently employed by Plymouth Primary
Care Trust, where she is enjoying the challenges of working
within an expanding cardiac rehabilitation and heart failure
service. In addition to her clinical exercise role, she is a tutor for
the BACR Phase IV Exercise Instructor Training course and sees
this as an important adjunct to her work in terms of maintaining
standards and facilitating evidence-based practice nationally.
Annette became a BASES Accredited
Sport and Exercise Scientist in
January 2009 and now represents
BASES on the BACR Exercise
Professionals Group committee.
Annette believes very strongly in the
role of professional accreditation
and the way it reflects our collective
intention to maintain high standards
of practice and credibility within our
field. She feels that the establishment
of professional standards is becoming increasingly important
as the crossover of exercise scientists into the clinical domain
becomes more widely recognised and accepted.
In terms of her own personal development, becoming Accredited
is a major step forward for her, providing direction, focus
and support from a well-established regulatory body. It is an
achievable standard that all graduates working in this field should
aspire to achieve and she anticipates this level of professional
recognition becoming the goal of every exercise scientist.
www.bases.org.uk
Annette
working with
one of the
cardiac patients
COURTESY OF ANNETTE COLES
| PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Gordon McGregor
Gordon is a BASES Accredited Sport and Exercise Scientist
and currently heads up cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation
services at University Hospital, Coventry where he is a senior
clinical exercise physiologist.
He has overall responsibility for the operational management
and strategic development of the cardiac and pulmonary
rehabilitation exercise programmes in addition to maintaining
a clinical caseload. In pursuit of a PhD, he is currently
completing a research project in conjunction with Brunel
University, examining the acute and chronic responses of
cardiac rehabilitation exercise training as determined by
cardiac biomarkers, echocardiography and cardiopulmonary
exercise testing. He represents BASES on the BACR Exercise
Professionals Committee and is the National Health Service
(NHS) Liaison Officer for the BASES Exercise for Health
Practitioners Interest Group.
Gordon chose to become Accredited in 2006, in order to ensure
credibility in fulfilling his role and to promote excellence in
practice and recognition for exercise physiologists within the
NHS. He holds a firm belief in the added value exercise science
support brings to, traditionally, nurse- or physiotherapistled
cardiac rehabilitation programmes. Although still not
fully embraced by all NHS Trusts, the work of the exercise
physiologist within the NHS is a fast-developing resource and
one that is beginning to gain recognition for the expertise it
can provide in supplementing the skills of a multidisciplinary
clinical team. It is clear that those programmes benefiting from
the addition of an appropriately qualified BASES-Certified or
Accredited exercise physiologist deliver an enhanced evidencebased
service that ultimately impacts favourably on patient care.
To ensure professional integrity and medico-legal assurance
within the NHS, Gordon sees the achievement of BASES-
Certified exercise practitioner status and, ultimately, BASES
Accreditation as essential benchmarks for exercise scientists
wishing to pursue a career in the NHS. The confirmation of
a specified level of competence provided by Accreditation
enables a profession less familiar to traditional clinical staff to
position itself at the appropriate level in a clinical world. It is
Gordon’s belief that the employment of Accredited individuals
will continue to gain momentum in the NHS and Accreditation
will eventually be an essential job requirement for those wishing
to pursue this career path. n
Issue 23 | Spring 2010 | The Sport and Exercise Scientist | 13
COURTESY OF DR JOHN BUCKLEY

APPLIED PRACTICE |
Sarah Fenwick provides a
vivid and honest account of
providing applied support
in challenging circumstances
“It’s awful, the worst day of our lives”, and
a tearful “if it wasn’t for Tarka, I’d quit.”
were the statements (by satellite phone
from the top of the world’s third largest ice
cap) that led me to the most intense and
challenging seven minutes I’ve ever had in
my sport psychology career.
The objective was to provide psychological
support to Tarka L’Herpiniere and Katie-
Jane Cooper in the lead up to, and during,
their Rivers of Ice expedition.
Their challenge was to be the first
successful fully unsupported (using only
human power and no food caches) northto-south
crossing of the largely unexplored
Southern Patagonian ice cap.
Tarka has a lifetime of expedition
experience, whereas Katie quit her
career as a fashion model to join Tarka
on expeditions when they met four years
ago. One of their goals is to perpetually
discover how resilient, resourceful,
determined and flexible they can be. For
Katie-Jane tackles an ice climb
many different reasons and on many
different levels, this was to be the most
extreme and challenging expedition for
both of them, especially as they rated their
chances of success at less than 40%.
My challenges included: Having less than
a month to work with them individually,
as a team and as a couple before
they left; finding out what research is
available on teams functioning in extreme
environments; and, whilst they were on
the expedition, the satellite phone support,
which was restricted to 5–10 minutes,
often with a poor connection (the longest
connection was 12 minutes).
Getting to know them
Tarka and Katie were very aware that the
Rivers of Ice expedition would be, both
physically and mentally, a very high risk.
To develop their self-awareness and that
of each other (e.g., how they might [dys]
function and put themselves and the
expedition at risk, especially when under
Tarka L’Herpiniere and Katie-Jane Cooper
extreme pressure), we assessed their
“bright” and “dark” side personality styles
using Hogan Development Survey and
Hogan Personality Inventory (Hogan &
Hogan,1997). We focused on how they
could best manage themselves and each
other to maximise their ability to function
effectively as individuals, a team and a
couple. And we identified and practised
tools and techniques they might find useful.
We also explored and put into practice
tools and techniques to help them
manage themselves and significant others
in the build-up to departure. The topics
covered included managing their own and
others’ expectations and fears, managing
stress, “what-if?” scenarios and lastminute
changes to plans.
The research
I found a few articles that were available
on the psychological effects of this type of
environment. I also owe thanks to Paula
Brown who shared her learning from
working with Team QinetiQ (Cracknell,
Fogle and Coats) in the 2009 South Pole
Race.
Key moments
Day 7: Katie: “It’s physically OK, but
mentally horrible, I’m miserable. If only we
had visibility and could talk, it would be so
much better.” Tarka was just ahead but
her gregarious personality was struggling
with the perceived isolation due to the
strong wind and poor visibility. The focus
was on reviewing previously identified and
practised techniques (e.g., distraction
techniques, setting mini goals/rewards).
Day 12: After days of zero visibility, Tarka
lost his temper because the weather was
either making or breaking the expedition
and “you have the pressure of everybody
watching and wanting us to succeed.” We
focused on controlling the “controllables”
by refocusing energy and perceptions of
others.
14 | Issue 23 | Spring 2010 | The Sport and Exercise Scientist www.bases.org.uk
COURTESY OF TARKA L’HERPINIERE AND KATIE-JANE COOPER

COURTESY OF TARKA L’HERPINIERE AND KATIE-JANE COOPER
Day 12: Katie: “Why am I doing this? What
is the point? It’s boredom, monotonous,
miserable, wet and cold.” We worked
on goals, refocusing on why she/they
were doing it, memorable moments and
the support she’d like from Tarka (and
reviewing her positive mantra).
Day 15: Katie: “Last night, I reached the
biggest low on the trip and burst into
tears.” She also reported a mild panic
attack. The satellite signal only allowed
us time to review using deep abdominal
breathing to manage her anxiety.
Day 18: Tarka: “It’s awful, the worst day of
our lives.” The conditions had got even
worse. Tarka also reported being extremely
frustrated so I worked with him on how
he could manage his frustration with the
uncontrollable weather (e.g., giving it
personality and giving himself permission to
vent his frustrations (though not on Katie!).
Day 18: Katie (tearfully): “If it wasn’t for
Tarka, I’d quit.” This was one of the most
intense and challenging seven minutes
I’ve had in my coaching career. We
refocused Katie on the reasons she was
there, what success meant to her, and
reviewed her strengths. Seven minutes,
later she commented: “Just talking I feel
so much better. I won’t quit.”
Day 26: Tarka’s frustration built up again
as hunger, cold and fatigue began to
get to them and the weather closed in
again. They were at beginning of the
most technically challenging point: An
8km stretch of crevasses, seracs and ice
cliffs that required not only good visibility,
but also absolute mental and physical
readiness. We focused on how they could
make best use of their strengths to tackle
this section.
Day 31: Tarka: “All gone very wrong”;
Katie: “This morning, I was terrified and,
today, we are fighting for our lives and the
end doesn’t matter any more.” They were
in a survival situation; their tent had been
shredded and crushed in a storm of 60knot
winds and over 4m of snowfall within
48 hours. This brief session focused on
dealing with survival decisions, “what-if?”
scenarios and leveraging Tarka’s strength
to remain calm and rational in such
stressful situations.
www.bases.org.uk
Tarka on Jorge Montt Glacier The outcome:
Tarka
and Katie
travelled
across the
ice cap for
30 days,
making good
progress
towards their
goal.
Although the
conditions
were
challenging,
they were still
within their physical capabilities and the
fastest to reach the Fella Reichert Cerro
Mayo section (75% of the distance) when
their tent was destroyed. Their decision to
descend the Spegazzini Glacier was their
best exit strategy.
Tarka: “I think it worked brilliantly.” This
was his reflection on the impact of working
with a sport psychologist. He has also
suggested that, for future expeditions, he
would like all team members to be both
bright and dark side personality profiled as
he thought this really contributed to team
effectiveness.
Katie: “I truly believe the bits we did
together made a difference. The work we
did together certainly helped me.” She
reports that on the expedition “I became a
different person” and that this was helped
by psychological tools and techniques.
Katie sums up her experiences with “I was
absolutely thrilled with how I coped and I
didn’t feel like a hindrance to Tarka.”
From the outset I was concerned about
how I would coach effectively in 5–10
minutes; however, this was helped by
focusing on really getting to know them
before they left the UK. I was fortunate
that they made this easy for me by
both being incredibly open and honest.
So when they phoned in during the
expedition, we quickly got to the point and
were very focused. Rather than replicating
Whitmore’s coaching model (Whitmore,
1996) Goal, Reality, Options, What to do
(GROW), it became RGOW as the opening
comment typically described the reality
of the situation. At times, it was difficult
not to be distracted by concerns of quality
and the length of the connection (several
phone conversations were conducted
during a howling gale).
After the call on Day 31, I found myself
particularly emotional and stressed by
their now “survival” situation. It rekindled
memories of my own helicopter evacuation
from a mountain, where I’d incurred
serious back injuries. I sought supervision
around this, which highlighted: (a) My
very strong empathy; and (b) I was
frustrated at not being able to provide a
solution (it wasn’t my role) and that it was
out of my control!
| APPLIED PRACTICE
Overall, this has been a fascinating project
to be involved in, and I am delighted to
be working with Katie and Tarka on their
future expeditions.
For more information on the coaching
work, see: www.rivers-of-ice.com/updates/
psychological/ and www.rivers-of-ice.com/
updates/psychological/assesment/
Katie and Tarka’s motivation to complete
this challenge is still strong, and they
have announced they will make another
attempt next year “fitter, fatter and faster”;
(for more information and contact details,
visit www.rivers-of-ice.com).
Learnings
What worked for me:
• Given the physical, environmental and
psychological stresses Katie and Tarka
would encounter, knowing their bright
and dark sides was key to maximising
strengths and managing potentially
dysfunctional behaviours
• Having an appreciation of the potential
physical, environmental and
psychological stressors built the clients’
confidence and added value in me as
their sport psychologist
• Given the short lead-in time, openness
and honesty were key to a successful
relationship
• Working through “what-if?” scenarios
in advance facilitated decision making
at critical times
• Reflection and supervision are crucial to
becoming a great sport psychologist.
What to address before the Katie and
Tarka’s next attempt:
• Identify and practise a wider range of
tools and techniques in greater depth
so they will know which ones work best
and use them automatically before they
really need them
• Work on appropriate and effective
coping strategies
• More in-depth work with similarities
and differences (e.g., motivations,
goals, personalities, etc) between the
team and the couple. n
References
Hogan, R. & Hogan, J. Personality Inventory (UK
Edition), Psychological Consultancy Ltd, 1997 (UK).
Hogan, R. & Hogan, J. Development Survey (UK
Edition), Psychological Consultancy Ltd, 1998 (UK).
Whitmore, J. Coaching for Performance, Nicholas
Brealey Publishing, 1996.
Sarah Fenwick (CPsychol, CBC, AC, MSCP)
Sarah is a BASES Accredited
Sport and Exercise Scientist and
a business/executive coach. For
more information, visit www.
sarah-fenwick.com; e-mail
sarah@sarah-fenwick.com or
telephone 07974 829955.
Issue 23 | Spring 2010 | The Sport and Exercise Scientist | 15

APPLIED PRACTICE |
What use is Sports Science?
Interview with Jack Maitland by Len Parker Simpson
Q Jack, people may or may not be
aware that you coach the triathletes
Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee. Alistair
finished 12th in the 2008 Beijing
Olympics and then, in 2009, became
International Triathlon Union (ITU)
World Champion by winning the series
at the age of 21. Jonny is two years
younger than Alistair and, in 2009,
during his final season as a junior, he
won the European Junior Triathlon
Championship and came second in
the ITU Junior World Championship.
While many will be aware of these two
athletes, we don’t know a whole lot
about you so can you bring us up to
speed with your background?
I grew up in the north-east of Scotland, and
I did every sport that was available at school.
At the age of 14 I got into orienteering and
that, in turn, led me to take up running. I went
to Aberdeen University to study computer
science and, although mainly an orienteer
while I was there, I also started fell running.
That became my main sport for a few years,
and I won the British Championship at my first
serious attempt. After graduating, I worked in
New Zealand, making orienteering maps and
did my first few triathlons there.
In 1990, triathlon was included in the
Commonwealth Games as a demonstration
event, and the incentive of representing
Scotland at the Games led me to taking part
in triathlon more seriously. I competed for
Scotland and Great Britain until 2002 when
I retired to become a full-time coach. I first
started working with Alistair later that year
when he joined the World Class Development
Squad that I was running with Simon Ward
in the north of England. Jonny joined the
squad two years later when he reached our
minimum age of 14.
My initial route into “coaching” was when I
was asked to share my experiences from my
running background with other triathletes.
This developed into me leading a regular run
session for the local triathlon club. I decided
to do the basic coaching awards and then
used various methods to fill in the gaps in my
knowledge and skills. For example, I identified
that I needed to improve my swim coaching
so I volunteered to help the City of Leeds
swimming coach, Ian Greyson, at one session
per week for six months in the lead-up to the
2004 Athens Olympic Games. I then set up a
weekly morning swim session for the triathlon
club so I could develop my skills with regular
coaching.
COURTESY OF JACK MAITLAND
In 2004/05, I participated in a “Coaching
Excellence” programme that was run by the
Yorkshire region of the English Institute of
Sport (EIS). The programme brought together
coaches from a number of different sports and
we had a monthly session with one or more
of the EIS practitioners. Each session focused
on an area of support, such as physiotherapy,
strength and conditioning, sports psychology
or nutrition. These were very valuable, both
in enlightening me as to the possibilities of
benefiting from working closely with the
support personnel and in seeing the benefits
of sharing ideas and experiences with other
coaches from a range of sports.
I have been based at Leeds Metropolitan
University for the last five years. For the first
three of those years, I was working fulltime
for British Triathlon and running a high
performance centre here for them. However,
the centre was closed and the northern squad
disbanded when British Triathlon decided to
concentrate its resources on one centre in
Loughborough. Fortunately, the University
stepped in to appoint me to a half-time
position as Carnegie Director of Triathlon
so I’ve been able to continue running my
programme here; though, sadly, the northern
squad has folded completely and the rest of my
time is spent working for TheTriathlonCoach.
com, which is the private business that Simon
Ward and I direct.
Q You’ve clearly been involved in
sport at a high level from a very early
age. When you were competing as
an athlete, what kind of support was
available to you and what was your
training structured around?
Alistair and Jack
I have had quite varied experiences in different
sports. The orienteering squad was well
organised and every athlete had to have a
coach. How much input they had varied
from athlete to athlete, and I was largely
self-coached, with my coach helping as an
advisor and intermediary to the selectors and
squad management. In fell running, there was
virtually no coaching so I organised my own
programme. When I joined the GB Triathlon
Squad, the sport was so new that triathlon
coaches didn’t really exist. However, there
were organised training weekends where we
had access to specialist coaching in the individual
disciplines. There was also a lot of knowledge
within the squad as many of the athletes had
performed at a high level in their background
sports so we shared our skills and helped each
other. We also received some physiological
testing; this was the first time I was able to
start using heart rate to control my training
intensities. However, it wasn’t until late in my
career, when the Scottish squad employed
Darren Smith from Australia as their coach, that
I got some good technical coaching that was
based on a triathlon model rather than what
was carried over from the individual sports.
Q What is the biggest difference
between the way training was
structured and prescribed during your
training and competing days and now?
I think that the biggest difference is in the
integration of technical coaching with video
analysis, physio-screening and strength and
conditioning. When I was competing, only the
swimming coaches did much technical coaching
and a lot of that was based on outdated ideas
and pool-based swimming. Now that physios
16 | Issue 23 | Spring 2010 | The Sport and Exercise Scientist www.bases.org.uk