For us here at SABEL our research partnerships are very important, not only for sharing ideas and resources but to also feel a part of a connected tribe. On Monday I headed down to the northern New South Wales town of Lismore to touch base with sports science researcher Jamie Hetherington. We met at a skill acquisition conference earlier in the year in Singapore and at the time he was telling me about the exciting partnership they were setting up with an English premier league football club. A couple of months later in August, it opened as SCU set up a football academy partnered with Liverpool football club. The academy details can be found here!
This exciting partnership is unique in having a leading university, SCU paired with such a storied footballing franchise. The academy also provides new world-class sporting infrastructure, high-level coaching expertise, and the ability to perform world-class research benefiting the entire Northern Rivers region. The rest of the SCU facilities were also really impressive with highlights including an extensive S&C research recovery gym, the well-equipped Biomechanics lab, and the university’s brand new learning centre.
It was great catching up with Jamie and meeting the team and I’m looking forward to reading the publications that come out of the Academy. Maybe they’ll even uncover a future Liverpool star player too!
Sports Technology Blog 