JCU students to visit PNG

A handful of Sport & Exercise Science Students from James Cook University in Australia will be visiting the country in June.

Head of Sport and Exercise Science at JCU, Dr Glen Deakin was in Port Moresby recently to make final recommendations ahead of their arrival.

“We are coming here in June as part of the Columbo plan, and what we are doing is we are bringing a small group of students to work with the High Performance unit of the PNG Sports Foundation.

“The learning experience is part of their studies back home,” Dr Deakin said.

 “The idea is not just doing it at home in familiar surroundings of gyms and fitness centres and so forth.

“We are going out to help populations by taking in those experiences off shore into the Indo-Pacific region which is what the new Colombo plan is all about.

“So what it does is it received funds for these students to go and immerse themselves in cultures and what we’ve been doing is we applied for funds and we got funding to come to PNG specifically to the Sports Foundation for those students to immerse themselves in those cultures, see what it like to work in a HP unit, and for the students to immerse themselves in terms of learning new skills to see how they do things in Port Moresby here.

“Athletes might be different here compared to things back home in Australia at the same time what is the culture like here in Port Moresby.”

One of the main outcomes that Dr. Deakin is hopeful the students can gain from the experience is to be better communicators.

“Not that they are bad communicators and that’s not what I mean. What I mean here is that they are going to have to think the types of population here they are communicating with.”

Dr. Deakin said the program was about better interaction with different cultures and in terms of communication skills as well structuring the plan, and a lesson plan for a workout of coaching session.

He said his team is looking forward to the experience with anticipation.

Director HP Sport PNG, Aaron Alsop shared his appreciation for the working relationship in this collaborative project with JCU.

"We have been working closely with JCU for 2 years now in the area of Exercise and Sport Science. This new program is in addition to the current research project we have underway currently in PNG with JCU and HP Sport PNG which is expected to be completed by October this year.”

Author: 
Troy Taule