A S P O R T I N G C H A N C E

186 187

A S P O R T I N G C H A N C E

In a region renowned for its love of active outdoor lifestyles, the development of sports and exercise sciences at the

University of the Sunshine Coast was quick off the blocks. This teaching and research focus has been matched by investment

in partnerships, programs and shared facilities that have engaged all levels of the community and industry, from Little

Athletics children to Olympians and Paralympians, with diverse benefits for students and staff.

AS A TEENAGER, Brendan Burkett pursued his twin passions of sport and science through playing rugby league and studying engineering. As an adult, he became a world champion athlete and a nationally accredited sport scientist. As a new tutor at USC in 1998, only a year after the University introduced science courses, the swimming gold medallist, professional engineer and soon-to-be PhD graduate started constructing a degree to suit students of the sporty, outdoorsy Sunshine Coast.

The Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science took its first enrolments in 1999 and remains one of USC’s most popular and enduring disciplines, one of five in the thriving School of Health and Sport Sciences. Along with biomedical sciences, nutrition and dietetics, occupational therapy and public health, the school headed by Professor John Lowe focuses on preventing disease and disability to improve people’s quality of life. Brendan Burkett is now Professor of Sport Science (Biomechanics), a USC lecturer and researcher of 18 years who is respected by staff, students and the wider community for his determination to help the University punch above its weight and serve its region.

According to Professor Burkett, his career success was more about taking opportunities than striving for long-term goals. The date he became a professor, for example, did not spring quickly to mind. “I never started off (in academia) saying, ‘Oh, by the time I’m 50 I want to be a professor,” he said, sitting at his desk on the fifth and highest level of USC’s Health and Sports Centre, nicknamed the Tower.

Standing up to seek clues from the certificates and memorabilia on his office walls, he remembered the milestone was “after Beijing”. The

reference was to China’s 2008 Paralympic Games, one of three that Professor Burkett attended as national sport science coordinator for the Australian swim team, after competing as a member of the team in four Paralympics between Seoul in 1988 and Sydney in 2000. (The year he debuted as professor was 2010.)

One of the earliest opportunities taken by Professor Burkett was in Europe in 1990. After growing up in a beach town halfway along the Queensland coastline, moving to Brisbane to gain his university engineering degree, and travelling overseas for swimming

competitions, he landed in The Netherlands for a world titles where he won silver. Reading a local newspaper with the help of the team’s translator, Brendan saw an ad for an engineer on the oil rigs in the North Sea. It was a notoriously dangerous environment, with workers airlifted on and off platforms in all weather, but he wanted to give it a go. His application was accepted. The last step was the medical in France.

“The doctor was asking where I was from and then he said, ‘Have you had any operations?’” Professor Burkett recalled. “I said, ‘I’ve had my appendix out. And my leg cut off.’”

There was a pause.

GIVING STUDENTS A

SPORTING CHANCE

UNDERSTANDING HUMAN HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE: BRENDAN BURKETT CONDUCTS TESTS IN A USC SPORTS LAB

... and then he said, ‘Have you had any operations?’ Professor Burkett recalled.

I said, ‘I’ve had my appendix out. And my leg cut off’.

188 189

A S P O R T I N G C H A N C E

“The doctor looked up through his bifocals and said in French, ‘What

do you mean?’ And I said, ‘My appendix – just here.’”

Pointing to his abdomen, Professor Burkett laughed at the memory.

The French doctor had not found it funny and refused to test him.

“I said, ‘Look, you have to give me a go, that’s what we do in Australia.’

I was persistent and he rang someone and reluctantly started the

physical test, all this running up and down steps and climbing ropes

and things in a two-hour timeframe. And I passed. I didn’t know it at

the time but I was the first person with that type of disability to work

on the oil rigs.”

Even back then, Professor Burkett’s active lifestyle was not

hindered by his use of a prosthesis in place of his right leg, which

was amputated in a Brisbane hospital in 1985. The then 22-year-

old had been seriously injured when his motorcycle was hit by a

car that left the scene.

“Working on the rigs was fantastic,” he recalled. “Thirty days on then

a month off to go snow-skiing or do swimming training or fly home

to sail in the Brisbane to Gladstone yacht race.” Professor Burkett

eventually moved to the Sunshine Coast “because I’d always enjoyed

holidaying here and didn’t want to wait until retirement to live here”.

By 1998, the year he finished his PhD (QUT) thesis, ‘A biomechanical

analysis of running for trans-femoral (above-knee) amputees’, he

was making his mark at a new university on his new home ground.

“It was another opportunity that just grew,” he recalled. “I was a

sessional tutor at USC, then a part-time lecturer. By 2000 when

I competed in Sydney, I was working here full-time.” He not only

participated in the Sydney Paralympics that year, he also carried the

Australian flag at the opening ceremony.

Professor Burkett’s accolades now range from a Medal of the Order

of Australia (OAM) to inductions in sporting halls of fame and

academic achievements. But when asked about career highlights,

he paused. “It’s the reward of seeing the lights go on for a student.

You’re teaching and you think, ‘wow, that’s connected with them,’

and you see them go on and succeed.”

Scott Barker was in the first intake of sport and exercise science

students at USC in 1999. The schoolboy rugby league player had

graduated Year 12 in Brisbane with a high enough score to study

a human movement degree at a big Brisbane university but opted

to commute to the Sunshine Coast for the new degree, which

sounded more practical for his game plan to carve a career in the

professional sport industry. Around the same time as enrolling at

USC, Mr Barker had written a letter to Wayne Bennett, the then

coach of Brisbane’s premier National Rugby League (NRL) team the

Broncos. He started volunteering at team training, doing everything

he could, from holding up the tackle bags to filling water bottles.

Fast forward 16 years …

The USC graduate is now Head of Performance Analysis for both the

Brisbane Broncos and Australian Rugby League teams. “I’ve been

very lucky to do a lot of the things that people in the sport and

exercise science world would love to do,” he said. “I’ve worked at the

highest levels in Rugby League, with some of the best players and

coaches of all time, and have been involved in some big tournament

wins with our national team.”

Scott has been an innovator in the area of sports technology. He strives to be ahead of the game and where

it’s going. Working at the highest levels in the game with the best teams

for a long period of time is his great achievement in this industry.

WAYNE BENNE T T

Mr Barker was offered the top job back at the Broncos in late 2014

by Wayne Bennett, Australia’s most successful NRL coach, after

working for Mr Bennett in previous years at teams including the

Broncos, the St George Illawarra Dragons in Wollongong and the

Knights in Newcastle. It was another high in a long career which

took off in 2001 when Mr Barker was recruited full-time at the

Broncos while still studying his USC degree part-time. Ever since,

he has been at the centre of the action in coaches’ boxes at all NRL

matches, providing Mr Bennett with the latest analysis to boost both

player and team performance.

“Again I’ve been lucky to travel all over the world with the teams I’ve

worked with, wherever they’re playing,” he said. “From 2005 to 2008

I travelled to France at the end of every NRL season, working with the

French National Rugby League team. In 2013, we won the World Cup

final in England with the Kangaroos (Australian rugby league team).”

Mr Barker took a moment to reminisce during last year’s pre-season

– a tough, six-days-a-week regime for those behind the scenes in

preparation for what he called “the fun part” of his job, the winter

football season. He recalled how USC fired his desire for innovation

in the field and taught him the theory to support his ambition.

“I used uni to do my job better and to learn why we did things,” he

said. “I took seven years to finish a three-year degree but I have no

qualms about that because I could see the benefits of working my

way up in the industry while getting the theoretical knowledge to back

it up. My outside work commitments were always accommodated

by USC. I still remember the lecturers clapping as I got my certificate

(at the 2006 graduation ceremony at Sippy Downs), probably thinking

‘He’s finally gone!’”

Mr Barker’s imagination was captured by new applications of video

and computer technologies coming into sport at that time. “The USC

degree got my creative process going,” he said. “Some of the degree

wasn’t relevant to my job but some of the techniques would really

grab me and I’d think, ‘Yeah, we could adapt these for the team.’

“I was lucky enough to have Brendan Burkett help me on a couple of

projects and we were trying to push the boundaries in sport science.

I’ve kept in touch with him. He’s respected because he’s been in

the industry, he’s been an athlete and he’s very humble about his

achievements, and you want to learn off people like that.”BRENDAN BURKETT

CARRIES THE AUSTRALIAN FLAG

AT THE 2000 SYDNEY PARALYMPICS

WAYNE BENNETT AND SCOTT BARKER AT SUNCORP STADIUM BRISBANE 2015

190 191

A S P O R T I N G C H A N C E

One project Mr Barker put to good use at the Broncos was the biomechanical analysis of goal kicking with 3D motion capture. This involved using three-dimensional technology to examine the movement of players’ bodies as they kicked goals, in order to educate them on how to improve their technique.

“When digital video came into the market, first in cricket in the late 1990s, I helped develop some software for a league version that’s now used in all 16 clubs. Things like that had never been done in rugby league at the time. I just threw ideas forward to Wayne and I was never afraid to fail because he knew I was trying to make the environment better for the team. Now rugby league is a leader in sport science and technology. We even have requests from overseas professional sporting teams to come and visit and see what we do. That’s the biggest thing I got out of USC – it opened this world of possibilities of how to make sport better.”

Mr Barker also enjoyed sharing his developing knowledge and industry experience with fellow students, tutoring at Sippy Downs in courses such as sports medicine and video analysis. “In one of my last subjects I had to do practical hours in an approved industry and I did mine at the Broncos, but I also took on another USC student to do his hours there at the same time.” Years later, Mr Barker has passed his top tips to many more interns.

On the eve of the Broncos playing in the NRL finals in Brisbane last September, Wayne Bennett recalled how he met Mr Barker, and the value of his work over the years. “Scott first turned up to the Broncos after writing me a letter in 2000. He turned up day after day, with no promise of a job or payment of any kind. He was willing to do all

the jobs no-one else wanted to do. This probably stood out to me the most. Later, Scott showed he was never afraid to try new things to improve the performance of the team or player. He has been an innovator in the area of sports technology. He strives to be ahead of the game and where it’s going. Working at the highest levels in the game with the best teams for a long period of time is his great achievement in this industry.”

Professor Burkett remembered conversations with Mr Barker over the years. “It took Scott longer to get through the degree but he did it while going from volunteering at Broncos’ training to becoming their full-time performance analyst. Scott was analysing all their games, feeding the results back to Wayne Bennett and his coaching staff. He’d phone me and say, ‘I’m trying to do this ...?’ Next thing he’s sitting beside the head coach for Australia at test matches. He found an area he was passionate about and USC supported him.”

It’s this commitment to students and staff that has kept people like Professor Burkett at the University. “USC has become nationally and internationally recognised in areas such as Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) accreditation, working with elite athletes and being home base for the national high performance Paralympic swimming program,” he said. “To have all of these features here, so that a young person on the Coast can come here for world-class facilities and staff, I think that’s our biggest achievement.”

In the late 1990s the future wasn’t so clear. Ambition was strong but resources were scarce as the few dozen staff sought to fund their fledgling disciplines. Unlike the founding faculties of arts and business, science and sport required expensive equipment and

THAT’S THE BIGGEST THING I GOT OUT OF USC – IT OPENED THIS WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES OF HOW TO MAKE SPORT BETTER.

SCOTT BARKER

facilities. “When I arrived at USC there were two buildings, everybody knew each other and we were flying by the seat of our pants,” Professor Burkett said.

“There were regular staff get-togethers where we’d have a coffee and a yarn with the Vice-Chancellor. We thought it was pretty exciting to have a uni on the Coast, and wondered what it could do.” The positive feelings were reflected across a region with no history of tertiary education. “People thought the uni was fantastic for the Coast, though they didn’t know what it did or what it would do.” (See ‘The power of an idea’)

The Sunshine Coast was famed for its surf lifesaving prowess and the Mooloolaba and Noosa Triathlons, but the first sporting runs on the USC board were due to the Australian Rugby Union team, when the Wallabies set up their training camp at nearby Caloundra in 1999. “One of our catering staff knew one of the coaches and introduced me to them,” Professor Burkett recalled. “The next thing I’m down at team training, analysing the biomechanic techniques of John Eales’ lineout jumping, and head coach John Connolly was asking me to measure the scrums as well.” John Eales AM was a former player who became Australia’s most successful ever rugby captain. John Connolly’s coaching was legendary. Professor Burkett was certainly keen to further the partnership.

“I got a $5,000 internal research grant from the Dean to put towards a set of load cells, which accurately measure force,” he recalled. However, a set of load cells cost $50,000. “That was bottom shelf. And I needed four sets to measure on a scrum. There was no way we had $200,000 of equipment.”

Ingenuity struck. “I tracked down a guy at Maleny who had industrial grain scales that were highly calibrated, got them for $4,000, put them inside a scrum machine, and the next thing we’re measuring how hard a world champion rugby team pushes on a scrum.” There was satisfaction on both sides. “The coach was saying, ‘This is fantastic, we’ve never had this measured before, what else can you do?’ So I worked with them right up to the World Cup.”

The Australian rugby team won the Cup that year. “It gave us a buzz,” Professor Burkett smiled. “During the game, television commentator Gordon Bray used the term ‘biomechanically efficient Wallabies’ for the first time, when they won a scrum. Of course our role was small but it proved to me that USC can make things happen – that we can connect with the community, have an impact, attract more students, grow our research credibility.” (In 2013, the Wallabies again based themselves on the Sunshine Coast, using USC’s facilities to train for the once-every-12-years British and Irish Lions Test Series.)

As science became integral to the increasingly professional world of sport, the University of the Sunshine Coast gained momentum. “We spent 12 months becoming the first university in the country to gain National Sport Science Quality Assurance from the AIS in Canberra,” Professor Burkett said. “There were 34 other universities at the time with relevant degrees but we made a strategic move. We were young and wanted to make a niche for ourselves.

“We still have that accreditation, in anthropometry (body measurements), field testing, oxygen consumption and ergometry (exercise measurements). We are competitive and that’s one of USC’s many strengths: finding a market that relates to our

THE WALLABIES TRAIN AT USC IN 2012 THE WALLABIES MAKE TIME FOR AUTOGRAPHS AT USC IN 2012

MARK MCKEAN192 193

A S P O R T I N G C H A N C E

demographics, our community, while gaining national and, in some

cases, international respect.”

Elite athletes attracted to the Coast’s moderate weather,

environmental diversity and lack of big-city distractions soon

developed links with the University. Its early sport science testing

with the Australian women’s water polo team, for example, saw a

spike in the popularity of water polo in local schools resulting in

many state and national age champions. With the Coast’s landscape

defined by ocean surf, tidal rivers, lakes and canals, it’s no surprise

that water sports were drawcards. The opening of the Olympic-

standard USC Pool in 2011 was a catalyst for teaching, research

and industry engagement, including the establishment of Swimming

Australia’s High Performance Paralympics program to connect top

swimmers with student researchers and expert staff. The peak body

recently contributed $1.5 million over five years to the program.

A photo taken during the pool’s opening in 2011 showed the breadth

of talent supporting the University.

“We’re creating athletes and a coach education environment but

most importantly we’re providing practical cases where USC

students can learn from real-life experiences, whether they want

to research or work in sport, exercise physiology, rehabilitation,

nutrition, psychology, occupational therapy or other health areas,”

said Professor Burkett, who is also on the board of the Queensland

Academy of Sport.

Research at USC has been backed by its Centre for Healthy Activities,

Sport and Exercise (CHASE), established in 2006 to specialise in

preventative health and rehabilitation, as well as the enhancement

of sports performance. By 2015, USC Sport facilities included a

$10 million indoor stadium with courts for ball sports, badminton

and futsal; playing fields for rugby union and league, AFL and soccer;

and an athletics track approved by the International Association of

Athletics Federations.

When Swedish personal trainer Cecilia (Cicci) Severin arrived on campus

in 2011, she had no idea that soccer – and in particular the groin pain

commonly suffered by its kickers – would become her Honours degree

forte. “I hadn’t played football (soccer) since I was eight,” she recalled.

Ms Severin enrolled in USC’s sport and exercise science program

without a strong sense of direction, but with her father’s expectation

that she would get a university degree in Australia. “He’s pretty

excited about it now,” she laughed in 2014, after she not only topped

her grade in First Class Honours but also won a scholarship to

study a PhD in rehabilitation at the University. In April that year she

presented at the first Asia-Pacific Football and Futsal Seminar, held

in Melbourne. By November, she was in Qatar accepting an invitation

to present her findings to the first World Conference on Groin Pain

in Athletes. Last year, she was one of the speakers at USC’s Friday

Night Sports Talks, a series of lively public information sessions

hosted by the USC Basketball Club.

Ms Severin’s research identified differences in the kicking

biomechanics of players with groin pain, compared to those without

the injury. “The motion lab here was fantastic for recording the

pelvic and hip joint kinematics of the players,” she said. Supervised

by senior academics with industry expertise, sport scientist Dr Mark

Sayers and physiotherapist Dan Mellifont, Ms Severin’s study was

expected to inform further USC research, given its relevance to

kicking across other football codes.

Dr Sayers now coordinates the sport and exercise science program,

a decade after he joined the University while gaining international

renown as biomechanist and special skills coach for the New

Zealand All Blacks rugby union team. “Ultimately, this research is

working towards developing a screening test to prevent groin pain,

which could benefit many sports,” Dr Sayers said. Mr Mellifont

and his wife, Dr Rebecca Mellifont, a Senior Lecturer in Anatomy

and former sport scientist for the Australian Paralympic Swim

Team, have also spent the past decade at USC helping students

achieve their goals.

Ms Severin, who came to the Sunshine Coast not for the beaches but

for a career, said USC had inspired her to work in injury prevention

and rehabilitation. “This may sound weird but it’s not necessarily

the location keeping me here, it’s just that I absolutely love what I’m

doing,” she said. “I love the research side of things. I love tutoring at

USC. I love working with football clubs. I love the people here.”

She said the support of Sunshine Coast FC (Fire) had been invaluable,

providing not only participants for her study but also on-the-job

experience as she was often first on the scene to treat injuries, from

concussions and sprains to ruptured muscles and fractures. “I’ve

AUSTRALIAN AND FRENCH SWIMMERS PLUS STUDENTS FROM SUNSHINE COAST GRAMMAR SCHOOL WITH THEN SPORTS

MINISTER PHIL REEVES AT USC POOL OPENING 2011 CICCI SEVERIN WITH YOUNG BASKETBALL PLAYERS

I love the research side of things. I love tutoring at USC.

I love working with football clubs. I love the people here.

CICCI SEVERIN

also been taking University students for placements with my teams, from under-12s to seniors, so I’ve got a lot going on,” she smiled.

Ms Severin, whose doctorate is investigating aquatic therapy, said she aspired to work in professional sports. “This university has provided me with the experience and exposure I need to get there, and its support for my PhD will make a huge difference to my career opportunities.”

Professor Burkett, whose research covers diverse facets of human health and performance, has long promoted the links between sport and health via multidisciplinary teaching and research at USC. “The two areas connect easily because they’re both about assessing humans, whether for health or sport outcomes,” he said. “If someone has a knee operation, we want to improve their function so they can walk and do the daily tasks of living. If that person is an athlete, we want to improve their function so they can compete in their sport. But the measures, methodologies, approaches and interventions we use are similar.”

Many graduates have combined the two fields with great success. Local representative cricketer John Turnbull, for example, turned his love for exercise physiology – developed at USC – into a career dedicated to helping injured and ill people.

THE USC ATHLETIC TRACK IS USED BY THE COMMUNITY MARK SAYERS

MARK MCKEAN AND VISITING JAPANESE ACADEMIC KOICHI KANEDA USE THE ORCA SWIM TRACKER FOR RESEARCH AT THE USC POOL

USC POOL

BRENDAN BURKETT

USC also runs the Sunshine Coast Sports Hall of Fame, which features Professor Burkett (1998) alongside Coast-based sports stars of the past 25 years, from motor sport’s Chris Vermeulen (2013) and tennis player Pat Rafter (2007) to surf lifesavers from the Holmes, Stokes and Kenny families (meet patriarch Hayden Kenny, 1993 Hall of Famer and 2012 USC Honorary Senior Fellow, in ‘Graduating by degrees’). Marayke Jonkers is not only in the Hall of Fame for her swimming performances at three Paralympic Games including Sydney 2000, she was also USC’s inaugural Outstanding Alumnus of the Year. She received the accolade in 2005, the same year she was named Queensland Young Achiever of the Year. The graduate of degrees in Arts (Communication) and Social Science (Community Work) has since founded a charity to help athletes with disabilities pursue their sporting potential. She inspired another USC graduate cohort after she was invited to address the October 2015 graduation ceremony. Ms Jonkers smiled from her wheelchair on stage before the crowded stadium and declared, “You don’t need to stand up to stand out.”

Professor Burkett is among the visionaries who intend to keep USC at the forefront of advances in health and sport. His commitment is personal; his own body a testament to the power of technology. In October 2014, he told a national television audience on the SBS ‘Insight’ program how he had recently become the first Australian osseointegration patient of Iraqi-trained orthopaedic surgeon Dr Munjed Al Muderis. The surgery implanted a titanium device directly into Professor Burkett’s right femur to enable a safer, more comfortable and stable attachment for the prosthesis.

It was a pretty scary thought but I’m glad I did it.

“It was a pretty scary thought but I’m glad I did it,” Professor Burkett told interviewer Jenny Brockie on the show, titled Cyborgs. “It’s literally changed my life. It’s made a tremendous difference ... The beauty is you twist and your whole foot will follow and go where you are and you feel everything on the ground ... You feel it’s an extension of your body.” Humour intact, he added that the technology wasn’t exactly robotic: “It doesn’t move by itself so you can’t say, ‘Take me to the bar to get another drink’.”

Professor Burkett remains in demand as a commentator on hot topics relating to the integration of technology in sport. A 2013 report by the International Paralympic Committee, of which he is a sub-committee member, described as “powerful” his opening speech to that year’s IPC’s conference in Germany. In the wake of controversy after the men’s sprints at the London 2012 Games, involving South African ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius, Professor Burkett’s talk addressed the battle of tradition versus technology, and whether new equipment in Paralympic sport was performance-enhancing or simply necessary for performance. USC researchers will join others around the world to continue the debate this year in the countdown to the Rio Olympics. ■

BRENDAN BURKETT ON SBS ‘INSIGHT’ PROGRAM

194 195

A S P O R T I N G C H A N C E

In 2014, USC academics and the Sunshine Coast Sports Federation hosted a sport education conference to provide the latest information on practices and research to delegates from across the country. Topics included the role of sport scientists in the wake of a national controversy about supplement programs in the NRL, strategies for keeping females fit and involved in sporting groups, and the importance of developing physical literacy in children.

The latter was based on a successful project which had immediate application in schools as well as implications for future generations. USC Research Fellow Dr Mark McKean, an exercise physiologist, strength coach and long-time USC staff member who also did his PhD at the University, led a team that screened and analysed the movement competencies of 1,000 local children. The team was later welcomed back into the schools to recommend changes to the physical education curriculum.

Global research shows links between children who can’t move well and health issues

such as obesity and diabetes.

“Global research shows links between children who can’t move well and health issues such as obesity and diabetes,” Dr McKean said later. “With increasing technology, safety issues and environmental restrictions, many children no longer grow up with a movement-based approach to fun and daily activity. To provide children with these basic foundations we must first understand the competencies required to develop this physical literacy.” Sunshine Coast Grammar School’s Head of Primary Paul Clegg said the research was making a difference to the lives of students now and into the future. “Children who are physically skilled are more confident, participate more, and are more likely to continue with physical pursuits later in life,” Mr Clegg said.

The quest to advance public health through exercise and activity has been championed on and off campus by USC Sport, coordinated by Gary Moore. Individual athletes and teams representing the University compete as the USC Spartans, with fast-growing success in Australian University Games events. Students and staff enjoy the facilities and regular social games like futsal, basketball and badminton.

USC Activate is a rapidly growing outdoor recreation club that organises weekend adventure activities such as kayaking and bush hikes. Hundreds of staff joined a new fitness membership drive in 2014, organised by the Human Resources division. The USC Sport Clinic provides performance and injury prevention assessments and programs for amateur and elite athletes from across the state, while dozens of regional organisations use the track, stadium, pool and gym.

SPARTANS MIXED TOUCH TEAM COMPETING AT NORTHERN UNIVERSITY GAMES HOSTED ON THE SUNSHINE COAST IN 2014

MARAYKE JONKERS

Olympic effort gets region on trackIn 1997, as Australia was gearing up for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, the Sunshine Coast’s sporting fraternity saw a golden opportunity to finally get a world-standard track and field facility to take the region to the next level in both competitive and recreational sport. As elite teams around the world eyed Australia, the region’s new university had just built a large distinctive clubhouse

(known as the Uni Club) next to its playing field and was offering a slice of its sprawling grounds at Sippy Downs for a synthetic running track, to be shared with the community.

Coast residents and visitors of all ages and skill levels now run, jog, throw and jump on the resulting 10-lane track equipped for hurdles, steeplechase, javelin, shotput, discus, hammer-throw, high jump, long jump, triple jump, pole vault and disabled throw events. It was completed in 1999, within months of the institution officially becoming an independent university through a special Act of Parliament.

“Our sports precinct memorandum of understanding with USC was quite innovative, focusing on sharing facilities,” recalls John Lockhart, former principal of Chancellor State College next to the tertiary campus. “The MOU meant my students had their athletics carnivals on a track where Olympians trained.”

I HAD NO IDEA WHY COACHES WERE WORKING US SO HARD OR GIVING US SO MANY ‘K’S. NOW I HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE TO APPLY THE THEORY.

BLAKE COCHRANE

Fundraisers help USC splash into sport scienceFifteen years after USC opened, it gained a pool – a $2.1 million, heated, 10-lane, 50-metre, Olympic-standard pool – for teaching and research as well as year-round training for athletes and recreational use by the public. The pool’s construction was watched via live web cam and when the official opening by then Queensland Sports Minister Phil Reeves was celebrated in the Sunshine

Coast Daily newspaper in October 2011, the jubilant faces of elite swimmers and local children belied the painstaking effort that had gone into securing the facility.

“We had a two-week training camp to open the pool, which could offer a whole range of testing using Queensland’s first remote-controlled underwater/above water synchronised camera,” recalls Professor Brendan Burkett. “We had the French Olympic team including then world record holder Alain Bernard, Australian Olympic champions Libby Trickett and Jess Schipper, the Australian Paralympic swim team who moved from Canberra to base themselves here, and our youngsters of the future. We had made a decision to value-add to the community and this was the result.

“We’d been applying for funding and at meetings everyone was concerned about how we could make it happen. We wanted to do it for the community, not as a cash cow. We wanted to create an environment that would benefit the community and take the Sunshine Coast to the next level. And look at it now,” Brendan says, peering down from the Tower at the hub of activity around the pool one summer’s morning. “It’s helped bring in more than $1.5 million in grants. We’ve had 60 peer-reviewed research papers that relate to swimming. We’ve had eight PhD graduates working in swimming.”

The campaign for pool funding is remembered with pride – and some angst – by USC’s former and current Vice-Chancellors, Professors Paul Thomas and Greg Hill, long-time facilities manager Mark Bradley and former USC Foundation executive officer Andrew Pentland, and by community donors and in-kind supporters including Hall Contracting and builder Evans Harch.

In 2010, when USC started fundraising $300,000 to add to its own contribution matching the State Government’s $900,000 pledge, Professor Thomas expressed delight at seeing the project progress after many years. “A pool like this would have been seen as a luxury in the University’s early days, but today many of our academic and research programs will benefit enormously,” he said.

Even when the concrete was poured and the ceramic tiles were about to be installed in March 2011, another fundraiser called the USC Alumni Challenge was underway. Foundation board members offered to personally donate $80,000 if graduates could raise $10,000 in three months. 2004 business graduate, Coastline BMW dealer principal Tristan Kurz, covered both angles as the first USC graduate member of the Foundation board. Tristan, who received an Outstanding Alumnus award in 2012 partly for his corporate philanthropic leadership, funded the pool blocks as icing on the cake. Local philanthropist David Kirk recalled how the campaign’s final fervour prompted him to donate to ensure USC met its target.

By 2015, after four years of pool operations and with new generation

stars like world champion breaststroker Blake Cochrane embedded

in training and studying at USC, Greg Hill was looking to green-light

further master-planned stages of what will become an Aquatic

Centre, including a second pool for hydrotherapy.

Mark Bradley recalls the pool as one of the toughest facilities to

fund in the University’s first 20 years. “The money just wasn’t around

and we had to put our energy into other priorities,” he said. USC

had already won $5 million towards the sports stadium from the

Australian Government in the wake of Prime Minister John Howard

introducing voluntary student unionism in 2006, and the University’s

biggest ever public fundraising campaign, Building Excellence, had

reached its $5 million goal in 2008 for projects including the sports

tower. “So the pool had many starts and many failures to launch.

It got down to the pointy end of the date where we had to either

accept the government grant and match it, plus extra, or we lost

everything. I remember the meeting where we all finally said, ‘We

just have to do it.’”

‘What’s a senior fellow? We’re both carpenters, aren’t we?’ And Pat joked in his Irish way, ‘I’ll tell you one thing, it’s

going to cost us a dollar’.

Trevor Harch, whose co-owned company Evans Harch built much of

the campus over two decades, was at that meeting. “This is a funny

story because it started in 1999,” he smiles. “That’s when Pat Evans

and I got made honorary senior fellows of the University. I said to

Pat, ‘What’s a senior fellow? We’re both carpenters, aren’t we?’ And

Pat joked in his Irish way, ‘I’ll tell you one thing, it’s going to cost us a

dollar.’” Their business name now appears on an honour roll of USC

supporters displayed at the entrance to the whole sports complex.

Trevor said helping drive the construction of the stadium, tower

and pool was one of his biggest highlights. “We worked closely

with the University and the contractors on design and construction

to really save on price. Then we put up our hand to make sure the

pool happened, and lots of other local people and companies were

donating money or in-kind, and all of a sudden we were away.”

And for Pat, that honorary award for services to the University,

received at its first graduation ceremony in 1999, remains a

treasured highlight.

David Kirk’s decade of contributing to USC through his Kirk

Foundation was recognised last year when he became an honorary

senior fellow. “I am passionate about education, so funding

scholarships for USC was an excellent fit,” he recalled at the April

2015 graduation ceremony. The impact of his generosity was

obvious when former scholarship recipient Jim Lee flew from

Darwin to watch his mentor gain the USC award. Jim, who in 2009

completed his third USC degree – a PhD in science, is now an

academic at Charles Darwin University. “I just wanted to show my

appreciation because that support made all the difference to my

confidence and my ability to focus on studies instead of outside

paid work,” said Jim, whose USC research analysed the capability of micro-technologies to monitor running and walking gait, and who recently spent a year in Japan on a research fellowship from The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

The USC pool proved integral to an extraordinary year of achievements for clinical exercise science student and London Paralympic gold medallist Blake Cochrane in 2014. Blake had moved to the Sunshine Coast in the year the pool opened to train with the High Performance Paralympic Squad and by early 2014 he was gearing up for his second Commonwealth Games, to be held in Glasgow.

“That semester I was at the USC pool every day except Sunday and at USC five times a week for my degree,” he said. “It was tough but it worked quite well. I trained early, went to class, went home for a rest (to nearby Buderim) and headed back for training in the afternoon.

“One of the best components of my degree was relating what I learnt in the classroom to my training as an athlete. Growing up, I had no idea why coaches were working us so hard or giving us so many ‘k’s. Now I have the knowledge to apply the theory.” Blake also had the talent and commitment to earn a list of accolades that made him a media favourite. These included a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), a bronze medal in Glasgow, Sunshine Coast Senior Sports Star of the Year, and a back-to-back win in the USC Sunshine Coast Sportsperson of the Year awards. This year, 2016, he is on target for the Rio Paralympics.

196 197

A S P O R T I N G C H A N C E

In the University’s 1997 annual report, Professor Paul Thomas said

the success of its tender for a $1.4 million state government grant for

the facility followed extensive consultations and negotiations with

state and local governments and community groups. Excitement

was in the air. The University of the Sunshine Coast Athletics Club,

born from an amateur sports club formed in 1956 by volunteers led

by late council veteran Eddie De Vere, describes the historic process

(http://uscathleticsclub.asn.au/about/):

“… Club officials threw themselves into the project (to help set

up a tartan track at USC) … It has become an enormous asset,

benefiting the university, the club and numerous schools who

can now compete there in all weather conditions. The club

secured tenure at the university and … since 2000 the number

of registered athletes has doubled and the club is a breeding

ground for quality athletes, boasting among its numbers world

masters gold medallists, national titleholders, and a number of

state champions.”

The original expression of interest and final application documents

submitted to the state Office of Sport and Recreation contained

reams of support, including the minutes of a meeting chaired in April

1997 by Maroochy Shire Council’s Ron Coyle, a taekwondo black belt

who remains funding partnerships manager at the amalgamated

Sunshine Coast Council. (“The staff at USC and the Council dreamed

big and persisted, and now look at what we have for the region,” said

Ron in 2015.)

One name handwritten on the list of attendees and later nominated

for the project’s management committee was Bryce Phillips, now

president of the USC Athletics Club. Bryce was delighted to attend

another milestone in the track’s development in December 2013,

when then Queensland Sport Minister and Member for Buderim

Steve Dickson opened a new finish-line facility incorporating an

Olympic-standard timing device to provide precision electronic

timing and video recording of all race participants.

“We’re thrilled to have this installed at USC,” Bryce said. “We expect

more than 10,000 athletes will benefit over the next 12 months. It

puts USC on the map in terms of professional sports conduct.”

In fine form: How USC became turning point for John and JessWhen John Turnbull and Jessica Schlegel met during their first

semesters at USC in 2009, he was a local competitive cricketer

studying sport and exercise science and she was a young American

in Australia for the first time with the University’s Study Abroad

program. The couple will marry in April this year, after both realising

their professional ambitions and making a life together on the

Sunshine Coast. John, a Nambour State High School graduate,

recalls his turning points at USC:

“I started at USC after two years studying human movement at

the University of Queensland. I’d grown up on the Sunshine Coast

and preferred the relaxed lifestyle and the proximity to beaches, as

well as the smaller size of USC. It was more personalised. If you

discussed something with a lecturer, your voice was heard.

“I changed from sport and exercise science to a Bachelor of Clinical

Exercise Science so I could work in rehabilitation, using exercise

as a tool. I’ve always had a desire to help people and decided to

merge that with my heavy interest in sport and exercise. My parents

encouraged our family to be very active and I’ve played cricket and

soccer all my life.

“I was interested in physiotherapy but, through my USC degree,

I developed a real passion for exercise physiology. At first my friends

and family mocked the idea, in terms of job availability. But the

University exposed me to a plethora of opportunities and opened

my eyes to working in chronic disease management. I grew to

understand the importance of what an exercise physiologist does,

in dealing with people who have long-standing or lifestyle diseases.

“People with disabilities often have more capacity for a better quality

of life than what others may allow them. It just takes someone

willing to put in the time and effort to get them there. Empathy is

front and centre. My dad’s recovering from a recent heart attack, and

he’s been in a wheelchair since he had an accident when I was 12.

“A lot of my satisfaction comes from making a genuine change in

someone’s life. When I went overseas in 2010 to study at Grand Valley

State University (Michigan, US) through USC’s Global Opportunities

program, I volunteered in a cardiac rehab program one day. I took a

patient through some stretches and had a conversation with him.

The next day in a shopping centre, he came up to me, remembered

my name, introduced me to his wife and thanked me over and over

for helping him out. I said I didn’t do a lot, but he talked about the

impact on his life after a heart attack. The GO program gave me

cultural exposure to different rehab settings and practices, and

I loved it. I made lifelong friends there, including some from Norway,

Germany and France. (See ‘The world through new eyes’)

“It was also an avenue for me to visit Jessica’s home country. I’d met

her the year before, during her six months of study at USC, through

a roommate at UniCentral (share accommodation near the campus).

Jess was into rehab and sports medicine too. She had a passion for

sports physiotherapy and that’s what she pursued (at UQ). We really

had an impact on each other’s lives. She had a massive influence on

me applying myself and I stole her away from her country!

“I finished at USC mid-year 2012 and immediately landed this job at

Eden Rehabilitation Centre (a private hospital at Cooroy, near Noosa)

through a student placement I did as part of the accreditation

requirements of my degree. I’m really enjoying facilitating change.

One of my long-term goals was to coordinate a cardiac rehab

program at Eden and I achieved it within a year. And I can still pursue

my sports ambitions, as a wicketkeeper with the Sunshine Coast

Scorchers cricket team.”

His program was promoted in the Sunshine Coast Seniors

Newsletter 2013, with the introduction: ‘Exercise physiologist John

Turnbull from Eden Rehabilitation Hospital recognised a lack of

services for those with heart conditions on the Sunshine Coast and

initiated a Phase II, cardiac rehab program at the facility called Your

Heart Matters ...’

John continues: “My father and my sister, who’s now a dietitian,

went to UQ in Brisbane and it was always set up that I would too.

They thought USC was young and small but I found it fantastic to have that quality of service so close to home. I also received USC’s first June Canavan scholarship which was an honour, considering her reputation on the Coast. (The Sunshine Coast Local Medical Association Bursary was established by the regional medical community in memory of sports medicine specialist Dr June Canavan who died in a plane crash in 2009.) I knew people had high expectations of me and that was motivation to excel.”

For Jess, the decision to spend half of 2009 in Australia as a USC Study Abroad student proved pivotal. The State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany graduate recalls:

“Going from the cold New York State winter to summer on the Sunny Coast seemed most appealing. Then I met John on the second night we were at UniCentral and we’ve been inseparable since. At USC I studied motor control and learning, functional anatomy, sports medicine and Australian film. The introduction to sports medicine class helped me get some work in sports training with Assist First Aid and that sparked my interest in studying physiotherapy in Australia. (The organisation provides professional first aid services to sport and community events across South-East Queensland.)

“I went back to Albany to finish my Bachelor in Biological Sciences and when I returned I worked at community and club sports events, as well as with the Brisbane Lions (the city’s representative Australian Rules football team) while I was studying. I gained my Master’s degree in physio from UQ in 2012 and had accepted a full-time job as a physiotherapist on the Sunshine Coast, at Kawana Sportscare, before graduation. I’ve worked with the general population and sportspeople including the Sunshine Coast Falcons (Queensland Cup rugby league team) and Melbourne Storm under-20s.

“I enjoy the problem-solving aspect of helping people feel better and move better through physiotherapy. As I was growing up, I had several musculoskeletal injuries from sport and this sparked my interest in rehabilitation. I love making a difference in someone’s condition but also giving them the tools to take control of their own recovery.

“I’m quite a motivated, independent person and I’m proud I’ve done all this. My family came here for the first time in 2013 to spend Christmas with us. Mum told me then that she doesn’t think I’ll ever live anywhere else because it’s all the things that I love in the one place. It’s right by the beach, 20 minutes’ drive to rural areas and a lot more sun than New York.”

JESSICA SCHLEGEL AND JOHN TURNBULL

USC OPENED MY EYES. IF YOU’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT SOMETHING, THE OPPORTUNITIES ARE THERE.

I BELIEVE I CAN MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE IN PEOPLE’S LIVES.

198 199

A S P O R T I N G C H A N C E