THE STANDARD OF sports science support available to Britain’s leading athletes and coaches will be improved following an agreement between the UK Sports Institute and the British Association of Sport and Exercise Science (BASES).
The agreement will see both organisations working alongside the British Olympic Association to deliver enhanced training and support services for those sports scientists working with Britain’s top athletes.
It will establish a career pathway and development opportunities – such as workshops, scholarships and mentoring – for sports scientists wishing to work with UK Sport’s World Class Performance Programmes (or their home country equivalents). A fast-track system aimed at developing the next generation of high-performance sports scientists is also being developed and a BASES symposium will be incorporated at next year’s World Class Coaching Conference.
Deidre Anderson, UK Sports Institute Programme Manager, said: "This is an excellent opportunity to enhance the development of the sports science practitioners and ultimately the services they deliver to World Class sport."
Professor Les Burwitz, Chair of the BASES Sport Science Special Committee, welcomed the agreement, adding: "British athletes and coaches need to be given every advantage possible to be successful at World, Olympic and Paralympic level. This BASES and UK Sports Institute agreement promises to invest in sport scientists and enhance essential systems to support such an aspiration."