Jennifer Russell
I wanted a degree experience that would allow me to learn not only from my experiences but...
Principal supervisor: Distinguished Professor Aaron Coutts
Degree: PhD in Sport and Exercise Science
My key research areas and interests fall under the best practices for quantifying physical demands of sport, optimising physical preparation models and return to play protocols.
My research project aims to evaluate and compare current external load monitoring techniques in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and describe the external load demands of NBA athletes over the course of an entire season to help determine a practical, evidence-based approach to future load monitoring practices in the NBA environment.
The combination of industry and academic experience that my supervisor Aaron Coutts has, was one of the biggest draws to completing my research degree at UTS. Additionally, my co-supervisors Blake McLean and Franco Impellizzeri have similar backgrounds in balancing the demands of high performance sporting environments while maintaining a high standard for their research. I wanted a degree experience that would allow me to learn not only from my experiences and personal journey, but from mentors with first-hand experiences of their own.
I sought out supervisors that were supportive of students embedded in professional sport. From there, I narrowed down supervisors that had experience in research projects involving high performance sport and emerging technologies.
With this PhD work, the hope is to be able to contribute an inside perspective to demands associated with the NBA. This in turn, would hopefully impact athletes in the NBA in a positive way by helping better inform the support staff in their organizations. Additionally, the hope is that it can impact preparation and training for younger athletes that aspire to play at the highest levels.
I would advise that future students have some well thought out ideas about how you would like your higher degree in research to go, but always retain some flexibility to roll with the changes that are inevitable. Remember that situations don’t have to be positive or ‘significant’ to be learning opportunities.
The connections to the incredible faculty and staff and getting to work with experts in different areas has been the most valuable aspect of my research student experience at the Faculty of Health at UTS.
Find out more about Higher Degree Research at UTS.
