Lauren McGuigan

I am currently a Performance Expert for Nike on the Applied Innovation Performance Team. My previous professional experiences include sports science roles with the Charlotte Hornets (NBA), Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA) and the U.S. Soccer Federation. Before I transitioned to a sports science focus, I worked as a collegiate strength and conditioning coach at the University of Washington and Wake Forest University.

I am passionate about learning and growing as a person and a professional and being a part of a larger performance team where I am able to contribute my skills and experiences to build more robust and resilient athletes.

Most of my career has been on the strength and conditioning side - I am fairly new to the sports science profession. Therefore, I chose this degree to help build a more solid foundation of best practice in sports science as well as learn and continue to develop in other areas of performance to help me as a practitioner in my current role.

I chose to study at UTS for the opportunity to learn and connect with the highest regarded practitioners in the field. I wanted to gain better insight into the experiences of these practitioners and gain a network of sounding boards to help me navigate as I move forward in my professional career. The flexibility around choosing my own study plan and being able to study around my job demands was also important in my decision to study at UTS.

The most rewarding aspect of the course so far is interacting with the professors and the other students and being challenged to apply the course content into assessments that are relevant and that I can apply in my current job to improve my approaches and how I communicate with other performance professionals.

With this degree, I hope to improve how I plan, deliver, and analyse the training process to improve the health and performance of our athletes.

I think that seeking out the right professors and mentors is the most important thing you can do to advance your career. The professors are committed to helping you to improve as a performance professional by challenging your current thought processes around High Performance Sport and providing invaluable feedback and advice. 

Find out more about studying High Performance Sport at UTS