Students in the Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences have the opportunity to take part in the HELS Go Abroad programme, which is an international mobility programme for undergraduate students. HELS Go Abroad offers financial support in the form of a bursary and gives students access to a range of opportunities with one of our international partners, including study trips, elective placements and short-term summer programmes.
This year, a group of Sport students visited Canada for a fun and educational trip to collaborate with universities and industry professionals from around the world. BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching and Physical Education student, Liam Davies, shared his experiences of the trip.
"Our trip to Canada was divided into two separate weeks of activities, workshops, sightseeing and lots of fun!
Our first week took place in Kingston, Ontario, working in partnership with Queen's University. We worked alongside students and lecturers from the University who gave us some very useful advice and discussions within modern sport and coaching, and feedback on our dissertation proposals. During the rest of the week we played a UK vs Canada football match, went Kayaking on Lake Ontario and sampled some of the best food in the town!
Our second week took place in the city of Toronto, situated in the suburbs of the city with easy travel access into the lively centre of Toronto. We teamed up with Richmond Hill Soccer Club and York University. With Richmond Hill, we delivered coaching sessions with the youth teams across two separate days which was an amazing experience. To add to this, we had a fantastic conversation with Karl Erickson of York University on all-things-coaching and the identification process.
Outside of the educational side of things, our week in Toronto was jam packed with fun activities including watching a Blue Jays baseball game, attending a music festival, shopping in the city centre and visiting Niagara Falls!
Overall, this trip not only opened my eyes up to the differentiation of culture between Canada and the UK, but also the passion and energy that Canadians are putting into the modern sports landscape."
