St Mary's MSc Strength and Conditioning Programme Appoints International Experts

The MSc Strength and Conditioning at St Mary’s University, Twickenham has strengthened its lecturing team by adding three giants in the field with decades of experience between them as adjunct senior lecturers. Dan John, Dr Daniel Baker and Steve Magness, all highly experienced coaches and authors, have teamed up with the distant learning postgraduate degree’s faculty, to provide students with an unmissable learning opportunity. The new lecturers will contribute to the programme’s annual summer onsite offering, which runs for two weeks in June and is the culmination of the year’s study. All three lecturers will attend from 17^th to 21^st June to provide students with a range of lectures and hands-on, practical workshops. Programme Director of MSc Strength and Conditioning Dr Dan Cleather said, “I can’t wait until next Friday. I am incredibly excited about the sessions that Steve, Daniel and Dan will be running. I believe that our MSc in Strength & Conditioning is already one of the best in the world, and that our new adjunct lecturers will help us to take our offering to the next level.” Daniel, Steve and Dan are all exceptional coaches, experienced educators and published authors and scientists, with all three areas informing their teaching. Some of the topics that students can look forward to include ‘the integration of science and coaching practice’, ‘velocity-based resistance training’, and ‘easy strength’. Students will have the opportunity to spend time with each lecturer within small groups, giving them unrivalled access to some of the finest minds in the field. “I am really excited to be lecturing at St Mary’s and contributing to the education of strength and conditioning professionals in the UK. I feel that my experience as both a strength and conditioning coach for over 20 years at elite and professional level plus my role as a coach educator with both the Australian Strength & Conditioning Association and ECU University provide me with a unique insight into what is required to be a successful strength and conditioning coach,” commented Daniel. It’s expected that these appointments will raise the profile of the already popular and successful postgraduate programme, not only in the UK and Ireland but overseas. The addition of teaching from this select group of specialists to the existing course, combined with a research active faculty and the University’s new strength and conditioning facilities are guaranteed to be a hit with students old and new, home and away. “The University has put together a world-class team of instructors to go along with the first-rate facilities and research that goes on. I can’t say enough about the opportunity to combine world-class research and practice in one setting,” commented Steve, who is the current cross country coach at the University of Houston. He added, “By integrating both sides, St Mary’s is paving the way forward for best practice in the world of strength and conditioning, and sports science. I’m looking forward to not only being able to pass on knowledge to the students, but also learn from my colleagues as well. It’s an honour to be named as a lecturer at St Mary’s.” For Dan, this appointment has helped him to fulfil a personal goal he’s had since he was a boy: “When I was about 11, I saw a movie. Now, I don't remember the title and I don't remember the movie; I remember watching a teacher change lives. The movie moved me and I decided then, that I wanted to make a difference as a teacher. I struggled with some issues (a speech impediment) but this is what I wanted to do with my life. When I combine my passion for training and my dream of teaching, I can’t imagine a better a better end to my story than this appointment.”