The Secrets behind High Performing Athletes

‘Walk 500 Miles’ Sport and Exercise Medicine Conference 2014, hosted by both BASEM and the FSEM, will reveal some of the secrets behind elite performance in sport on Wednesday 1 October and ask the question: Are athletes any different from the rest of us?

Yannis Pitsiladis, Professor of Sport and Exercise Science and Director of the Centre for Sport and Exercise Science and Medicine (SESAME) at the University of Brighton, has an established track record of research into the phenomenal success of east African distance runners and sprinters from Jamaica. Professor Pitsiladis will be presenting ‘what we know’ about the Jamaican sprint phenomenon in one of the opening sessions of the conference. The biological mechanisms versus socio-economic and cultural factors affecting the Jamaican athlete’s performance will be a key part of the discussion.

This session is swiftly followed by Dr Calvin Morriss, Head of Speed and Power Sports for the English Institute of Sport, speaking about the upper body requirements of athletes and how detailed biochemical analyses can help provide coaches and athletes with the means to develop highly specific training methods. Dr Morriss will also explore sports where the upper body contribution might appear of a secondary importance to that of the lower body, yet can have a profound effects on performance.

Closing Wednesday’s session will be Dr Mark Gillette, Head of Athletic Performance British Basketball, talking about high performance in Basketball and the strategy British Basketball used to implement a high performance model for its senior squads, in preparation for the London Olympics.

Walk 500 Miles will take place at The Assembly Rooms Edinburgh, 1-3 October, to book your place follow this link http://www.ba-sem.co.uk/bookings