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POWER PROPONENTS
POWER PROPONENTS UWC’s investment in biokinetics is optimising the performance of its elite athletes
By Lynne Rippenaar-Moses
Increased investments by the University of the Western Cape (UWC) to improve sports performance amongst its elite athletes over the last few years has allowed the Biokinetics Practice and newly established High Performance Centre (HPC) to provide these athletes with niche training. This training improves their performance, helps minimise injuries and tracks habits, such as good nutrition and sleep, all of which impact on performance.
Both the Biokinetics Clinic and the HPC are based in UWC’s Department of Sport, Recreation and Exercise Science (SRES) at the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences.
“These investments are giving our athletes a cutting edge and provide them with access to high-performance support, training, equipment and software. Our athlete online monitoring system, for example, has become really important during the COVID-19 pandemic and national lockdown as it allows us to monitor and facilitate athletes training remotely. With this tool, we can assess what they are doing during training, their sleeping and eating patterns, and other information through wellness questionnaires,” explains Angelo Nelson, a qualified biokineticist from the HPC.
Biokineticists offer specialised exercise rehabilitation for people with orthopaedic and sports injuries as well as chronic illness. Nelson, along with fellow biokineticist Kirsten Huckle, forms part of a multidisciplinary team at the HPC comprising physiotherapists, medical doctors, a nutritionist, and strength and conditioning coaches that focus on developing and offering specialised training programmes to the Varsity Sports sporting codes.
High-performance training is very different from the “minimum exercise individuals do to help maintain a healthy lifestyle”, says Nelson.
“There are certain performance parameters that an elite athlete needs to meet in terms of strength,
power, agility, speed and explosiveness. A biokineticist in a high-performance setting takes a structured approach and creates a periodised plan to take the athlete through the entire sports season – from off-season to pre-season training as well as during the playing season. This plan ensures the athlete trains in a safe environment, that the training programme is structured to allow the athlete to peak at the right time, and protects the athlete from getting injured in the process.”
When athletes are injured, biokineticists also facilitate the process to get the athlete back
to their peak performance. “While physios are responsible for reducing athletes’ pain and getting them back to the activities of daily living, we take it a step further by preparing them for that competitive environment.”
Athletes also approach the centre to optimise certain aspects of their performance. ”For example, an athlete would consult with us if they are struggling with the speed component in their sporting code and want to focus on acceleration,” adds Huckle.
“While every sport is different, our job as biokineticists is to take the sport, whether we have experience in it or not, break it down into movements and put together a training programme to train those specific muscles that will help optimise the athlete’s performance and reduce the risk of injury.”
The Biokinetics Practice works closely with the University’s cricket team and athletes from sporting codes as diverse as boxing, soccer, netball, volleyball and hockey. The practice is used by undergraduate students for practical training while they study and by postgraduate students for research purposes and to complete the internship component of their biokinetics degree within the Practice’s internship programme.
“Interns are encouraged to see a certain amount of orthopaedic, chronic disease and special population cases as part of the criteria as set out by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) in order to graduate,” says Ghaleelullah Achmat, a lecturer and biokinetics manager at the Practice. He adds that this has allowed the facility to service staff, students and the communities surrounding UWC. “We regularly collaborate with other departments and receive referrals from health professionals, too.”
Biokinetics students must spend a minimum of 250 hours each semester doing supervised clinical work. In the past, the Practice was unable to accommodate all students at the facility at once but since the establishment of the High Performance Centre, says Achmat, it is possible to accommodate more students between the two departments. Students also get to shadow Nelson and Huckle.
“Through such internships, students can be assigned to
sporting codes for an entire year,assisting the strength and conditioning coaches to achieve student-athlete goals within the framework of team goals, thereby gaining experience in a practical and clinical setting – all under supervision. Sports Skills for Life Skills (SS4LS) is currently applying this model with the Varsity Cup Cricket team.”
High-performance sports has improved learning and teaching in the classroom as students also learn through sports training, mentorship programmes and working on real-life cases in different sporting codes. This also means UWC is sending out more experienced graduates that are better prepared for the sector, which, adds Achmat, is part of the University’s ethos of providing access to services for everyone and helping the development of the surrounding communities.
“We are now able to provide residents from communities surrounding the campus with an opportunity to train in a high-performance setting at a cost-effective rate while also creating public awareness about orthopaedics and chronic disease management. All this by bringing together biokinetics practice and services, student development, elite athlete training, and community development in our work every day.”
