The Value of Sport conference

7 February 2014

Hosted by the School of Sport and Service Management at the Falmer campus, University of Brighton

100 pupils from local schools and colleges recently spent the day at the University of Brighton to find out about the value of sport. They included City College Brighton and Hove, Ifield Community College, Shoreham Academy, Steyning Grammar School and Sussex Coast College, Hastings.

The conference aimed to raise the sixth form pupils’ future aspirations about studying the subject at degree level and to also show them the employment opportunities the industry offers.

Faye McClelland, four times World, European and British para-triathlon Champion and a recent graduate of the University of Brighton talked about her experiences combining education and performance level sport, and about overcoming challenges to reach her goals.

Colleagues from the School of Sport and Service Management also presented to the pupils on subjects ranging from ‘The Social and Economic Value of Sport to Society’ (Professor John Nauright); ‘The Rise of Action Sports’ (Dr Belinda Wheaton) and ‘Football: A Global Language’ (Dr Mark Doidge).

Initial feedback from the pupils who took part was very positive, with comments including,

“It was a good day with a great range of guest speakers to provide us with information.”

“Really interesting day with inspiring talks from the speakers.”

“Very helpful and I’m very excited about going to university now.”

“Today was a good day and has made me understand more about university and student life.”

“It was very detailed and I got a lot of information which was relevant and helpful.”