My Advice to the next 10,000: Sport and Exercise Science Students for 2019/2020

Afternoon Everyone! 

I hope you all had a great Christmas break and Happy New Year :) 

This is my first post of 2019 looking at Sport Science and the changes in the field. 

In particular, discussing my suggestions to the next cohort of Sport Science (and Exercise Science) students regarding what they need to be doing to ensure they have the best possible chance to land graduate jobs in an ever changing industry. 

These are my own words, feel free to reply below in the comments section. 

Looking forward to hearing your replies


Now get stuck in!!!!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for 'fair use' for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favour of fair use**

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I remember reading Steve Ingham's Tweet a few years ago (2015ish), and it was great advice to the Sport Science community, making us aware to do more and look to expand our skills to a very saturated and competitive field. To this day it still is very relevant, yet the current situation of the market hasn't improved but there is an alternative which I am going to explain and outline. 

Tweet by Steve: https://twitter.com/ingham_steve/status/648154612168527872?s=20 

I feel I have had plenty of experience to make this point as I have done the following; 

• Undergrad in Applied Sport Science
• Masters in Sport and Exercise 
• Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE)
• Working on research papers covering esports, image and performance enhancing drugs
• Worked as a gym instructor and PT for many years
• Ran my own online business 
• Placements in Drug and Alcohol clinics, Sport Science Departments and coaching from local to international level (across a range of sports)
• Hopefully start a PhD in October 2019

So with have a variety of experiences linked to sport and health I want to share my thoughts on how the market looks post graduation from doing a degree and generally where students end up if they don't do more than just their degree. 

For a more detailed account of my background for those interested please refer to my Linkedin account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-richardson-b0039278

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*BACKGROUND READING* 

The current state of the Sport Science and Fitness Industry is summarised in a blog post I did back in 2018 (below), as part of my PGCE course. This was me addressing issues in the industry and my current thoughts on it. For anyone who needs to understand more what is currently going on in the Sport Science industry please read that then read the rest of the article;

https://strengthtrainingforyou.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-lure-of-being-sport-scientist.html 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To help understand the destinations of students from a BSc Sport Science (Sport and

Exercise) or equivalent degree, I have utilised the work of the HESCU (Higher Education

Careers Services Unit). 

This is to make comparisons to graduate outcomes, numbers who graduated, courses they

go onto, numbers of postgraduate students and comparison to other fields of study. All the

figures produced come from this link; 

luminate.prospects.ac.uk/what-do-graduates-do

utm_source=hecsu.ac.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=redirect 

This link shows all the courses that are on offer at Higher Education across the UK. This is

per academic year.  

They are laid out as such (below is an example);

Credit: HESCU, (2017). [online] Available at: https://www.hecsu.ac.uk/assets/assets/documents/What_do_graduates_do_2017(1).pdf 

What I have done for this article is make graphs looking at Sport Science data sets since

2012/13 - 2017/18 investigating the number of students who choose to take up further

study. This is either for a PhD, PGCE or MSc compared to the number of BSc Graduates

and other subject fields. Now for reference, when a report is produced by HESCU it is 
done a year ahead of when the data is collected so I have adjusted this in the graphs. 

These graphs show the following data 6 Months post BSc completion of any Sport Science
related degree; 

Figure 1.0 Number of Sport Science Graduates since 2012/13 - 2017/18 compared with

same year Survey Responses

Hence the title there is roughly 10,000 graduates per year. Also, the response rate on average is between 75-78% per year so this means the data set is a representative sample of the sport science population to make comments on. 

Figure 2.0 Postgraduate destinations for students completing a BSc in Sport Science

PhD students steadily increasing per year since 2012 with only slight decrease from 16/17 - 17/18. PGCE increased consistently from 2012 - 2015 however, it has levelled off for the meantime. Finally, the number of MSc students has risen sharply, this is mainly due to the availability of Postgraduate funding (which is also evident across all other subject sectors). 

 Figure 3.0 MSc students V Total number of students who did a BSc in Sport Science 

Many of the MSc's student's go onto do include; MSc Sport Science, Sport and Exercise, Sports Management, Sports Psychology, Sport and Exercise Nutrition, Sport Therapy, Sport Biomechanics, Strength and Conditioning and Physical education (PE). 

Figure 4.0 PGCE V MSc student numbers post BSc in Sport Science 

Can clearly see the jump in MSc numbers which is directly related to the introduction of the postgrad student loans. The stagnation of the PGCE numbers is hypothesised to be the lack of funding and reduction of available jobs as a PE teacher in the field. Most PGCE courses are advertising funding for every subject bar sport science or PE. I personally predict either the PGCE numbers to remain the same or begin to decline in the next report. 

Now we shall look at graduate employment for those 6 months post their BSc. This includes

full time, part time work and includes continuing any further study; 

Figure 5.0 Students in either Full-Time, Part - Time or Study post 6 months BSc Sport Science 

Blue is total number of graduates per year as aforementioned in Figure 1.0 to be used as a comparative reference. Orange is combined numbers of Male and Female in work (both full and part time) and in study post 6 months course completion. Grey is Males in work (both full and part time) and in study post 6 months course completion. Lastly, Yellow is Females in work (both full and part time) and in study post 6 months course completion. 

As graduate numbers increase those in work or study across both genders decrease! Interestingly enough where Males and Females data are in 2012/13 is nearly the same in 2017/18. 

Now to change from bar charts to pie charts! I will now show everyone the breakdown of areas of work for those in full time and part time study post 6 months completing their Sport Science course. This will be broken down per year. 

Figure 6.0: 2012/13 Graduate Destinations 

Most popular destination was the IT sector for Sport Science graduates in 2012/13. Actual science was 1.3% of the graduate population. 

Figure 7.0: 2013/14 Graduate Destinations 

Most popular destination in 2013/14 is other professionals, associate professionals and technicians. Unknown occupations have increased by nearly 3% since previous year to now 11.1% of total graduate population. 

Figure 8.0: 2014/15 Graduate Destinations 

Consistently for the last 3 years the retail section of graduate destinations has remined the same (15-17%). This too can be said fir the business, HR and finance sector (5-7%)

Figure 9.0: 2015/16 Graduate Destinations 

Childcare, Health and Education occupations at 9.90% whereas it is nearly doubled by the market for graduates working in retail which is at 16%. 

Figure 10.0: 2016/17 Graduate Destinations 

Science is at its lowest sitting at 1.20% compared to all other graduate destination fields. A positive comment would be Health professionals is nearly at 6.50% and Educational professionals is at 7.60%. All these areas added would represent the most relevant fields students would go into yet it doesn't even form 25% of the total market. 

Figure 11.0: 2017/18 Graduate Destinations 

Health professionals is at 7.20% increasing from previous year. Good to see the unknown bracket of occupations is  almost non existent. This makes tracking graduate employment a lot easier. Educational professionals is at 

7.10% of the graduate market. However, science is still at 1.30%, which for a science subject such as sports science is very poor. This is a reflection on the market doesn't have enough jobs. 

There is a recurring theme that many sport science graduates do not go into their field of      study post graduating. This can be hypothesised as there isn't a market for the money there (yet) when compared to other science fields as shown in Figure 12.0. With the average starting salary for all degree subjects is sitting at 22.5k per year. Sport Science doesn't reach that, probably closer to 17-21k. Whereas compared to the likes of Physics ranges from 20k - 31k. 

Figure 12.0 Science Starting Salaries 

Image Credit: https://luminate.prospects.ac.uk/what-do-science-graduates-do

Then in the same report credited in the above image, it goes onto state the 
following; "Science graduates also had the lowest employment rate compared with 
graduates from other disciplines (Figure 13.0)". 

Figure 13.0: Employment Rates 

Image Credit: https://luminate.prospects.ac.uk/what-do-science-graduates-do 

"However, compared with the previous year's figures (2016/17), unemployment rates

have again reduced, with above average reductions in all areas other than sports 

science (Figure 14.0)". 

Figure 14.0: Unemployment rates in Science Subjects 

Image Credit: https://luminate.prospects.ac.uk/what-do-science-graduates-do 

The proportion of students progressing into postgraduate study increased across all areas 

of science (leading postgraduate study destination across all subjects) (Figure 15.0)". 

Figure 15.0 Postgraduate Popularity per Subject Area

Image Credit: https://luminate.prospects.ac.uk/what-do-science-graduates-do

Despite the substantial bursaries offered for students to train to teach secondary 

school biology, chemistry, physics and geography, student uptake of 

postgraduate qualifications in these areas was lower than the national average. 

However, sports science students were the most likely to choose a postgraduate 

qualification in education. This is unsurprising given the well-known progression 

route to teaching for this subject area" (Figure 4.0 and Figure 17.0)". 

Despite this well - known progression route, PGCE course rarely or never support the 

funding of sport science/PE or any related course. It is mainly the core subjects of STEM 

and traditional topics they get the funding as they are in need of teachers and sport is an 

over subscribed destination to work as a teacher. Mainly because there isn't enough jobs

in it's own area. 

Comparing Sport Science to other Fields 

For this section I am comparing Sport Science to 4 other fields as a talking point. These are;

• Psychology 
• English
• Sociology 
• Biology

Figure 16 shows the number of students per subject area who go onto do a postgraduate course(regardless of discipline) 

Figure 16.0: Number of Postgraduate Students across 4 Fields of Study

Sport Science (dark blue) has been steadily increasing since 2012/13 as to all other fields. Particularly the field of Psychology has a higher percentage who already do postgraduate work but with the introduction of student loans this has sky rocketed. If I was to hypotheses why, it would be most psychology degrees at undergraduate level are not clinical psychology which means landing a job is far harder. 

Figure 17.0: Postgrad Popularity per Subject Area

Image Credit: https://luminate.prospects.ac.uk/what-do-science-graduates-do. This is a similar reflection to the situation in the sciences category as shown earlier. 

Figure 18.0: Number of students who go from different Subject Fields to do a PGCE 

Myself coming from a PGCE course last year, I have always been curious to see how does the popularity of sport compare to the other subject areas. As predicted sport is one of the most popular backgrounds for any PGCE student. 

I am surprised at how close it is to English, and its trajectory predicts it will surpass it. For me, English is a core teaching subject in any curriculum and gets funding yet its popularity is dropping. However, little to no funding, low job availability and still sport science students choose to do a PGCE. Maybe this is simply the drive and passion these students have to better upskill themselves and combine the teaching with another subject area (which many do). Or get the qualification and teach in another area (delivering a course for a company) or teaching within a company or institution. 

Figure 19.0: Number of students who go from different Subject Fields to do a MSc

Psychology leading this a mile off. All fields showing progression and with the introduction of the student loans all areas have seen significant increases. 

Figure 20.0: Number of students who go from different Subject Fields to do a PhD

I wasn't aware that Biology was so popular to do PhD research. Psychology has stagnated but not declining, similar to what sociology is. English and Sport increasing slowly. 

Figure 21.0: Average Salary Earnings for Social Sciences Subject Areas 

Image Credit: https://luminate.prospects.ac.uk/what-do-social-science-graduates-do. Very similar to sport science regarding average earnings as both psychology and sociology range from 17k - 25k. 

Figure 22.0: Unemployment rates in Social Sciences Subject Area 

Image Credit: https://luminate.prospects.ac.uk/what-do-social-science-graduates-do. Another common theme the unemployment rate is nearly the same as the sciences. 

No more graphs you will be pleased to hear! 

If you want access to the data file it is linked here: 

Recap of Main Points; 

1. Number of graduates in sport science is increasing
2. Number of people doing a MSc, PGCE and or a PhD from a sport science undergrad is increasing 
3. Number of students post degree at undergraduate level who are employed is decreasing 
4. Sport Science unemployment isn't improving unlike the other sciences which are
5. No funding or little funding to do a PGCE when with a Sport or PE background. When compared to other subjects which do get the funding. 
6. Less than 25% of graduates end up in a work place that is specifically related to their study area. That is consistent from 2012/13 - 2017/18. 
7. Science subject areas have the lowest employment areas when compared against all subjects
8. Science subject areas have the highest progression towards further study when compared against other areas
9. Sport Science jobs have on average less earnings when receiving a starting salary when compared to the average subject starting salary earnings 
10. Number of MSc's across all subjects have increased which is to be expected due to the introduction of the postgraduate loans. I would predict this will continue to increase for the next few years. 
11. Those in employment post undergraduate degree completion for 2017/18, matches almost the same in work for 2012/13. This shows a decline in the industry. 
12. Sport Science is very similar in terms of employment prospects, postgraduate study numbers, unemployment data and average salaries as Psychology and Social Sciences. 

So.……...What can I do to better my Prospects? 

Okay, I do admit what I showed in all the graphs may seem negative but I see it as an opportunity to adapt and capitalise in a changing market. 

In previous posts I have made, esports is the next big thing and the value of the industry is astronomical. Just check out the links below; 

Link: https://strengthtrainingforyou.blogspot.com/2018/12/esports-series-part-1-of-what-is-esports.html

Link: https://strengthtrainingforyou.blogspot.com/2018/12/esports-news-monthly-review-december.html

Other big shifts in sport include, the UK moving towards healthcare more and more. I seen just recently in Middlesbrough, a gym instructor job advertising at 26k per year working in a mental health clinic delivering exercise. Personally I think this is fantastic I did a work placement and got paid work in this area it was very enjoyable and fulfilling. 

Now look at a university sport science lab technician job role which requires a lot more qualifications and experience is at 21-23k per year. Other examples in a previous post show a national level rugby coach getting paid nothing in Ireland, Head of Sport Science for a semi pro football team under 15k per year. 

Link: https://strengthtrainingforyou.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-lure-of-being-sport-scientist.html

The Market has changed ladies and gentleman, there is more emphasis on health to the general population is what is happening and is needed. 

This is evidenced in government documents from Sport England and UK Sport. 

Link: https://www.sportengland.org/news-and-features/news/2016/may/19/sport-england-triples-investment-in-tackling-inactivity/

Link: https://www.sportengland.org/media/10629/sport-england-towards-an-active-nation.pdf

This change to focus on health, participation, lifestyle changes, reduce inactivity, promote better physical and mental well-being is best described by Nick Pearson (Chief Exec of Parkrun Global); 

"This feels to me like a watershed moment, this long awaited directional change in strategy". 

Here is my recommendations to give you the best chance in the field of sport. These are my comments and solely my own views. 


The 2019 Sport and Exercise Student 

If you where to task me to create the "Ideal Sport and Exercise Student" in a lab to reflect the changes of the industry and have the student ready to tackle anything it may come out looking like this; 

Image Credit: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/372884044130367967/ 

I am joking of course but the principle is the same, what would I want a Sport and Exercise graduate be able and capable of doing post completion of their degree. To me, they should be able to do the following; 

• Can do public speaking. 

• Convey scientific language into laymen’s terms. 

• Create, carry out and defend research projects.

• Have an active online presence through Facebook, Linkedin, personal blog, personal website and or other application. 

• Technically proficient with all lab equipment.

• Consistently doing continued professional personal development (CPPD) towards their goal.

• Be able to work with athletes 1-1, small groups and large teams delivering fitness testing, data reports, coaching skills and training recommendations to all aspects of the team (player, assistant coaches, nutritionists, therapists and Head Coach). 

• They should also be able to work with multiple teams across their degree. Aim for 3 sports (increases chances of employability). Utilise student union sports teams. 

• Reflective Practice embedded into their daily routine (not just an assignment for the sake of it).

• Be able to work with the general public across a wide array of topics. This are including but not limited to; obesity, diabetes, elderly, children, special needs, disability sport, mental health (PTSD, Depression, Anxiety etc), ex – army, weight loss clients, weight gain clients, pre-surgery clients etc. 

• Can confidently do data analysis through SPSS and Microsoft Excel from 1^st year onwards (needs to be shown from 1^st year, excel > spss). 

• Working towards GP referral,  BASES  and or UKSCA additional qualifications. 

That is the skills covered now gaining experience and sourcing said experience

Listening to Those in Work

What I suggest to any aspiring sport scientist is to listen to those already in work and reflect on their thoughts. This is lived experiences and may hold some useful information that will have some effect on your future career pathway. This list could include the following; 

• PT (owns a  gym)

• PT (works in a commercial gym)

• Sports Commerce (selling sports goods in a shop or online)

• Army/Navy

• PE Teacher (private school and or secondary school)

• Lecturer (at Higher Education and Foundation Education) Researcher/PhD student

• Lab Technician 

• Mental Health Gym Instructor 

• Online Trainer (sells programmes online)

• Nutritionist/Dietician 

• Physiotherapist 

• Marketer/Sales rep 

• Manager (perhaps through a graduate scheme or a manager of a health centre/gym)

• Sports Journalist (for a newspaper, website, team or company)

• National Level Coach (various sports)

• Sports Development Officer (across different sports)

• Anti – Doping Officer

• Sports Activator 

• Boot Camp Trainer 

• Outdoor Adventure Coach

• Data Analyst (applicable to any area of work that manages huge amounts of data)

• UKSCA Strength and Conditioning Coach (attend a talk/conference or workshop  by UKSCA or just search up UKSCA coaches in your area)

• BASES Sport and Exercise Scientist (talk by BASES)

With relevant skills and a range of experiences on offer to help you understand and see what areas you need to work on and gain practice. The next part is laying it out to achieve these targets in a realistic time frame. 

Student Checklist per Year at University 

(Or checklist for anyone's personal development) 

This is what I think students on a sports course should be trying to do to get the most out of their time and maximise building links, networking and gaining experience for their own personal development. 

1^st Year 

• Attend and make career appointments with a careers advisor at university or in local job centre

• Set up a social media platform that will be the basis (hub) for promoting you as a brand and source of information/content. This may be a  blog/YouTube/Facebook page for your work/business. I personally like blogging. It is good if you run your own business or are looking to get into reporting as it is free and fun way to develop your writing style. benefit of this you will attract a following for the work you produce.  People will tend to flock to articles and blogs that resonate with them such as current trends that are personal to them.  If you nail an article that gets a lot of people talking it is a good way to pick up clients who buy into what you say

• Linkedin account created to act as a living CV for the professional side of you. Here is my account as an example https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-richardson-b0039278 It is very important to have one as it is for employers to read in addition to your CV when you submit it for job applications. It is essentially an online portfolio of all your work experience, qualifications, projects and references from previous employers/colleagues.

• Attend a careers fair or event and reflect on it (who did you speak to, why did you speak to them, what did you ask them, was it relevant, what did you learn, what will you do next, would you have done anything differently)

• Sort out a volunteer placement with a local team or service of your interest. This will be the start of gaining experience and finding your feet in the industry. The more placements you do the better able you are to make a judgement on where and what you want to do in the future. 

• Logging hours in an excel sheet. This is important so you can track where, when and how long you are working for. It all adds up and looks impressive on a CV. 

• Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Challenges (SWOC) analysis should be conducted at the start and end of the 1^st year. Rationale for this is to set out goals and areas that need more time addressing weaknesses to reach long term target

2^nd Year

• Attend an external careers event (in the region or somewhere in the UK). 

• Continue placement from last year and look to expand skills within it (do a course  to support it or attend a coaching workshop) or take more of a lead role

• Try a new sport to coach or help in to gain further experience (go from a strength sport to an endurance sport)

• Enquire to get advice for your business or future career goal with local business and or start up advisors

• Multiple versions of CV created to be sent out for jobs and internships. One for teaching, one for research, one for lab work etc 

• CPPD is growing and you are reflecting upon it. 

• SWOC analysis is updated end of 2^nd year 

• Join clubs and societies both in and outside the university to boost your network, each and contacts. Learn off other fields (psychology, physiotherapy, biology etc)

3^rd Year

• Work on feedback from job applications.  

• SWOC Analysis is updated end of 3^rd year 

• CPPD is growing and consistent reflection is occurring 

• In part time work or full-time work supporting studies. This work should be in a relevant field related to their course 

• Student is aware of how they can achieve their career goal and so is their careers advisor/tutor 

• By third year student has had placements with 2-3 different sports teams (at the university or within the area) to make him or herself more employable

• Have an active online presence from the work done in the previous two years

I hope that is some actionable advice to help you start or continue making progress towards your desired career. Before I end this article I do want to show you a model which my university has made about preparing graduates for the market. I personally think this is great as it recognises the challenges students face and is emphasising a holistic approach to be ready for the market. 

As Teesside University brand it "Future Facing Learning" 

·

Future Facing Learning 

Image Credit: https://blogs.tees.ac.uk/lteonline/2018/10/10/future-facing-learning-continuing-professional-development/

I do like how the Future Facing Learning (FFL) is laid out especially since coming off a recent PGCE course it does resonate with me as an aspiring teacher/lecturer. Now if I was to try and expand upon each of the definition's this is what I think each means to me. 

My interpretation of what the strands are; 

1.      Future Ready: Students can cope with demands placed upon them in their chosen field of work and are ready to tackle new and existing challenges in their future employment.

2.      Socially and Ethically Engaged: Students are aware of current and future issues that will affect their field, both facilitating and potentially inhibiting it. This will allow students to adapt and be proactive, to ensure they are employable, up to date with current events, aware of different needs of their clients/employer.

3.      Digitally Empowered: Students will not feel overwhelmed by the rapid advances of technology and can use all relevant applications, devices and software. Ranging from learning and teaching all the way to job specific technology.

4.      Research Active: Students will be actively engaged to produce new and innovating pieces of research to expand knowledge, improve the quality of life, service improvement and or challenge existing schools of thought. Alongside this research skills will be developed and expanded to ensure students can independently create their own research projects.

5.      Globally Connected:  Students will be able to work regionally, nationally and internationally with partners for placements, work experience, professional development and academic research. Joint projects will seek to improve the student experience to additional opportunities further afield.

Concluding Thoughts

Sport and Exercise has changed a lot in the last 5 years since I started back in 2013. It is important we embrace this change, adapt and be future ready. Not only for our own personal development but for us who teach/facilitate/impact the course/industry to help prepare the next intake of students. 

Areas that will come more apparent and relevant into sport science which we should embrace include; 

• Coding and app development 
• VR 
• Social Media marketing 
• Esports and Gaming 
• Global issues that will impact on regional and local economies (spheres of influence)
• Brand awareness and having a digital footprint 

Plan ahead, set targets and your goals will be achievable. 

I hope you have enjoyed reading that

Let me know what you think 

Have a great weekend

Take care

Kind regards

Andrew 

References

1. https://graduatemarkettrends.cdn.prismic.io/graduatemarkettrends%2F71780ba7-c66a-42ae-adfd-b2be9931d798_what-do-graduates-do-2013.pdf
2. https://graduatemarkettrends.cdn.prismic.io/graduatemarkettrends%2F99139973-629d-47bc-8a1e-40bf32eb42e7_what-do-graduates-do-2014.pdf 
3. https://graduatemarkettrends.cdn.prismic.io/graduatemarkettrends%2F1ab836d7-759c-48c2-ae62-e112c35a4787_what-do-graduates-do-2015.pdf 
4. https://graduatemarkettrends.cdn.prismic.io/graduatemarkettrends%2Ffd96fec3-0151-4130-a6ae-351dfb6b5ce3_what-do-graduates-do-2016.pdf
5. https://graduatemarkettrends.cdn.prismic.io/graduatemarkettrends%2Fa39da18d-999a-44f2-bd05-d38816fa26c9_what-do-graduates-do-2017-18.pdf
6. file:///C:/Users/arich/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/what-do-graduates-do-2018-19.pdf
7. https://luminate.prospects.ac.uk/what-do-graduates-do?utm_source=hecsu.ac.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=redirect

AAndrew Richardson, Founder of Strength is Never a Weakness Blog

I have a BSc (Hons) in Applied Sport Science and a Merit in my MSc in Sport and Exercise Science and I passed my PGCE at Teesside University. 

Now I will be commencing my PhD into "Investigating Sedentary Lifestyles of the Tees Valley" this October 2019. 

I am employed by Teesside University Sport and WellBeing Department as a PT/Fitness Instructor.  

My long term goal is to become a Sport Science and/or Sport and Exercise Lecturer. I am also keen to contribute to academia via continued research in a quest for new knowledge.

My most recent publications: 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1752928X19300216

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1752928X19301076 

My passion is for Sport Science which has led to additional interests incorporating Sports Psychology, Body Dysmorphia, AAS, Doping and Strength and Conditioning. 

Within these respective fields, I have a passion for Strength Training, Fitness Testing, Periodisation and Tapering. 

I write for numerous websites across the UK and Ireland including my own blog Strength is Never a Weakness. 

I had my own business for providing training plans for teams and athletes. 

I was one of the Irish National Coaches for Powerlifting, and have attained two 3rd places at the first World University Championships, 

in Belarus in July 2016.Feel free to email me or call me as I am always looking for the next challenge. 

Contact details below; 

Facebook: Andrew Richardson (search for)

Facebook Page: @StrengthisNeveraWeakness

Twitter: @arichie17 

Instagram: @arichiepowerlifting

Snapchat: @andypowerlifter 

Email: a.s.richardson@tees.ac.uk

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-richardson-b0039278 

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andrew_Richardson7