Inspiring a career change to innovate in sport
London 2012 may have set out to inspire a generation but for one member of the English Institute of Sport (EIS) Performance Innovation team the event triggered a career change which now sees her supporting some of the nation’s top athletes.
Shortly after the Games Chris Bailey, a civil engineer with a love for sport, decided to quit her job to undertake an MSc in Sports Biomechanics at Loughborough University. Within a few months of graduating, she had joined the EIS working on engineering and technology projects that look to find marginal gains across sports such as rowing and canoeing.
“Perhaps I’m not the generation they were hoping to inspire” she jokes, “But London 2012 did have an impact on me” she says.
“I’ve always loved sport. I’ve been involved in Dragon Boat racing and still coach, so thinking of ways to make the boat go faster was something that really interested me, particularly with my engineering background. But what London 2012 showed me was that there were opportunities out there to combine my skills and interests, and that perhaps I could work in sport full time.”
“It was quite a big step to quit my job, but by the end of my MSc I definitely knew working in elite sport was what I wanted to do and I was quite focused on where I was going” she recalls.
So how would she describe her current role?
“I work as part of the team on a mixture of engineering and technology projects aiming to make step changes in performance through what we do” she explains.
“We work with sports to define their performance questions and then manage and coordinate projects to answer them using a network of experts and consultants. We sit between them and sport, translating the sports requirements to the experts and also helping them to understand the sport.
“It’s a fascinating role and a really rewarding one when you see the improvements in performance these projects can make.”
As this week (19-25th June), marks Women in Sport week, what have been her experiences so far working in elite sport?
“It’s been great” she says. “We’ve got a team and network of consultants full of very bright people who are inspiring to work with and in my experience the environment we work is in very emotionally intelligent.
“To me the only thing that has been noticeable is how few women there are as elite coaches. I’ve only worked with one so there’s definitely a gender gap there, but I’ve never encountered anything other than a considered and comfortable working environment.”
So what advice would she give to others considering a career in sport.
“If I had any advice it would be to be imaginative with what degree you do” she says.
“When I first graduated very few people were looking to work in sport but now there is huge interest and lots and lots of Sports Science graduates, so I think it can help to be a little more specific.
“If, like me, you have an interest in engineering for example then there is no harm pursuing that. I think it can help to have something a little more specific that sets you apart and as my career path shows there are many routes and opportunities to get involved in sport.”