BTEC Extended Diploma in Sport students recently attended an ‘Experience Sport’ Day at Nottingham Trent University.  Students visited the Clifton campus and enjoyed a number of taster sessions, as well as a chance to view the impressive sports facilities.  The first workshop looked at the impact of Sports Psychology, and particularly how this can affect an athlete’s mind-set whilst competing.  Students were able to gain skills in relaxation and imagery to help their own sports performance.

The second session was based in the impressive Biomechanics Laboratory, using multi-million pound equipment to analyse athletic movement.  Joseph Hempsall was our willing volunteer, who had a number of motion sensors attached to various joints to analyse the mechanics of his running action whilst on a treadmill.  The analysis highlighted a number of improvements Joe could make to make his running action more fluid and efficient.

The final lesson looked at Nutrition and Physiology, and students were surprised when they analysed how long they needed to exercise in order to burn off the calories in a cookie.  They used gas collection techniques to see how much energy they had expended in ten minutes and were disappointed that it wouldn’t have burnt off the 50 calories in one cookie!  The BTEC Sport students really enjoyed their first taste of Higher Education and they are looking forward to researching other institutions in preparation for Upper 6.