Volunteers wanted for project (From Worcester News)

Volunteers wanted for project

11:24am Monday 14th November 2011 in Equestrian By Sara Pawsey

THESE days just having the skill or talent to take part in a sport is nowhere near enough if you want to succeed at the higher levels.

All round physical fitness is a must and it might surprise some to know that among the fittest of sportspeople are Grand Prix racing drivers, who on the face of it do all their competing sitting down.

But because of the stresses their bodies are under an exceptional level if fitness is required and much the same can be said for equestrianism, where the uninitiated might think it’s all down to the horse.

With that in mind a project is being undertaken at the University of Worcester which could have a significant impact on Britain’s chances of future success in horseback sports.

Exciting research investigating female physical fitness is taking place on the campus in Oldbury Road.

PhD student Jenni-Louise Douglas is looking for event riders aged 18 or above competing at novice, intermediate and advanced level one-day eventing.

Participants will undertake a fitness test to assess their aerobic fitness, core stability, lower and upper body strength, balance and reaction time.

The testing will be done by sports scientist research students in a state-of-the-art laboratory.

Participants will also be asked to complete a couple of short questionnaires about themselves and their riding and training activity.

Ms Douglas said: “If you do decide to take part you will receive a detailed physical fitness report to take away with you to help you with your training.

“The results of the study will help us identify if differences in physical fitness exist between the different levels of competitor.

From this we should be able to identify if certain fitness elements are associated with higher levels of performance.”

A previous subject leader and lecturer in equine sports sciences at Hartpury College, near Ledbury, Ms Douglas decided to continue her academic career by embarking on the three-year PhD research programme at Worcester, to investigate ‘the effectiveness of sport specific strength and conditioning interventions on performance related fitness in female novice equestrian event riders’.

As well as her interest in horses, she is also a REPS (register of exercise professionals) accredited L3 advanced personal trainer and L1 UKSCA (United Kingdom strength and conditioning coach) and so the combination of her love of horse riding and passion for training led her to study such a novel subject area.

If you would like to be involved in the programme and are able to travel to the university in St John’s, Worcester, then e-mail Ms Douglas at jennilouise.

douglas@ worc.ac.uk.