天美传媒

Olympic swimming champion Duncan Goodhew MBE was among the keynote speakers at a 天美传媒 (BU) sports conference.

The day-long Back to the Future conference was attended by sporting organisations from across the region, and aimed to build closer links between BU鈥檚 sports academics and local practitioners.

Duncan, who won an Olympic gold medal in 100m breaststroke in 1980, spoke about how sport and business can complement each other.

He said: 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 fantastic to see a university take seriously what sport can offer to business and education.

鈥淚 think that sport can prepare students for business life. It鈥檚 the skills you develop in playing sport that prepare you for the workplace.鈥�

He added: 鈥淚n the USA, I have seen what sports can do for students, players and businesses and so the exciting thing about being here is that it鈥檚 still in its relative infancy in the UK.

鈥淚鈥檓 going to watch with excitement to see whether we can replicate or even better what happens in the States.鈥�

Other keynote speakers at the conference included leading sports academic Professor Barrie Houlihan, of Loughborough University, and Poole-based running coaches Liz and Martin Yelling.

Liz, a former Olympic marathon runner, and her husband Martin 鈥� a running coach and founder of digital challenge platform Jantastic 鈥� spoke about how key partnerships, 聽including coaches and spouses, can impact on sporting performance.

Martin said: 鈥淭he significant people around you are instrumental to your performance outcomes.

鈥淵ou have to have emotional stability 鈥� as soon as you have emotional instability, performance nosedives.鈥�

The Back to the Future conference is now in its second year, and was attended by organisations including Active Dorset, England Handball and representatives from local authorities.

BU Senior Lecturer in Sports Management Gary Evans, who came up with the idea for the conference, said he hoped the event would lead to working partnerships and research collaborations.

鈥淚t has gone really well, and it is good to see lots of people chatting and networking,鈥� he said.

鈥淲e are here to show what we can do, the quality of what we do and that we are here to work with employers for mutual benefit.鈥�