Lyndell nets nifty scholarship
by Nicole Mikajewski
Hands-on
experience can come in various guises but for PhD student Lyndell Bruce
it means travelling around Australia and overseas as an elite sports
performance analyst.
The inaugural recipient of a sports-based scholarship offered at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) with Netball Australia and UniSA, Bruce travels with the AIS Canberra Darters and the Australian netball team, providing feedback to coaches on skill acquisition and training methods.
It is part of the research for her PhD thesis, Factors Contributing to Decision Making Expertise.
"A lot of students completing a PhD don’t get a practical understanding of what it is like on the sports field or in the industry," Bruce said.
"Being able to combine the two is invaluable for my PhD research."
Director of the Human Movement and Health Studies program in the School of Health Sciences and one of Bruce’s supervisors, Dr Annette Raynor said the experience was not only assisting Bruce’s studies but would greatly influence decision making in Australian netball.
"This is a great opportunity for a student to apply their theoretical knowledge to a practical situation as she is able to assist the coaching process," Dr Raynor said.
"At the same time she is producing and creating findings that will influence the development and training of an elite Australian sporting team."
Bruce sees the potential for her research to influence decision making in other sports as well as netball.
"As the principles of skill acquisition and decision making are very broad, I would like to apply them across other domains," Bruce said.
"Through the AIS, I get to help staff from different sporting industries with their specific testing and decision making."
Dr Raynor said the partnership between the stakeholders would create opportunities for other students wanting to study or work in Australia’s sports industry.
"For students going through UniSA’s Human Movement and Health Studies program or the sports science pathway, exciting opportunities are now available as we have this new relationship with the AIS and Netball Australia," Dr Raynor said.