We caught up with Gareth Crewe, Assistant Head of Sport Development at St Mary’s and now Sport, Health and Applied Science master’s student, on his experience starting an MRes at SMU.
Gareth joined SMU back in 2016 and is currently based in Hong Kong during his sabbatical.
We asked Gareth how he’s finding doing his master’s remotely from Asia, and what advice he has to anyone thinking of starting a remote postgraduate course.
Can you tell us what your time at St Mary’s has been like so far?
I actually joined St Mary’s back in 2016 in a role overseeing the SIMMSport children’s programme, along with other student coaching and volunteering programmes, and have had a number of different roles within Sport St Mary’s since then. My current role is Assistant Head of Sport - Development, however I’m currently on sabbatical in Hong Kong which started back in September. I decided this would be a great time to do my postgraduate study, so started my research master’s in Sport, Health and Applied Science at St Mary’s remotely.
What I love about St Mary’s is that it’s a small community, but a strong community. We’re very fortunate to have the green areas that we do on campus, it’s such a beautiful space to spend time in. There has been some change at the University throughout my time here, but I think that sense of community and the University values have remained strong. It feels great to contribute to the sports side of things, and as a department we’ve come on a long way - even winning national awards for the first time!
What made you choose to do a research master’s in Sport, Health and Applied Science?
I'd been thinking about doing postgraduate study for a long time and the Sport, Health and Applied Science MRes sounded really interesting to me. I particularly liked how it was a self-led master’s programme, as I really enjoyed the parts of my undergraduate degree that involved independent learning. Being able to take your study and research wherever you want to was really a big draw for me.
I knew I wouldn’t have been able to balance doing my master’s alongside my full-time role at St Mary’s and the coaching I do outside of work, so when my sabbatical request got approved it seemed like a great opportunity. The MRes provides great flexibility which means I’ve been able to do it remotely from Hong Kong.
How did you choose your thesis topic?
The title I've submitted for my proposal is ‘Examining the barriers and support for female goalkeeper coaches in England’.
From the start I knew I wanted to focus my research on goalkeeping in women’s football, as not only is football my passion, but I also come from a goalkeeping background and have worked in women’s football for around 10 years now. It’s fantastic that we’re seeing more and more women coming into the game as coaches, physios, and performance analysts, but there's still almost no female goalkeeper coaches. There’s also very little research into female goalkeeping, so that really inspired me too.
After having some really helpful conversations with academics who are just as passionate about football and women in sport, I was able to narrow my idea down with their help to a project that is both really interesting and also viable to carry out.
I think it’s important to say that coming into the course I didn’t know what I wanted to do exactly, but once I had a broad interest area the teaching staff were able to really help me find a topic. So, if anyone is thinking of doing an MRes but are worried that they don’t have a solid idea yet, it really doesn’t matter.
What has it been like working on your master’s remotely?
I’ve actually found it hasn’t been too hard being based in Hong Kong, as most of the work is self-directed anyway. This week we've had four hours of lectures and I've attended the ones that I could, but I haven't been at a disadvantage for watching the lectures back at another time.
I tend to split my work into chunks and do a bit in the morning and then more in the evening, rather than doing it all in one long sitting. This gives me a really good balance between committing the hours towards the master’s, while still giving me plenty of time to focus on other things like exploring Hong Kong.
Something I was a bit apprehensive about before starting the course was not having that face-to-face contact, but actually it’s really not been an issue. There have been times when I’ve needed some support on something, so I've sent an email and had a response back really quickly. The staff are always happy to jump on a call and have a 30-minute chat about any questions or problems that you have.
I’d say you really get out what you put in, so if you want to make it work you definitely can.
Do you have any highlights from your time in Hong Kong so far?
Honestly, so many things have been a highlight it’s hard to pick out just a few. But I think when you immerse yourself in a new culture, every day is fascinating.
If I had to narrow it down though, I’d say the geography of Hong Kong and getting to go on hikes in such amazing scenery has been a big highlight. Of course, the food is extremely good too. I love going anywhere where I can get my hands on some sort of dumpling.
The meeting of Western and Chinese culture in Hong Kong is also really unique and blows my mind. You can feel like you’re 10,000 miles away from home but also that you’re right at home at the same time. I’m still trying to get my head around that but it’s very special.