Our sports physio, Tom Shennan, was recently selected to be a member of the 40 strong medical team at the 2016 school games in Loughborough. The annual games are a multi-sport event for the UK’s elite athletes within school ages and come together to compete across 12 different sporting events. The games aim to provide a unique opportunity to the UK’s young athletes to not only be encouraged to participate in sport, but also get a feel for a multisport environment and potentially provide a springboard for athletes to go on compete at a national and international level.

We asked Tom about his experiences at the School Games…“Last year at the 2015 games, I worked with the team who covered the fencing – a great experience in which I now have a much greater appreciation for the different varieties of fencing styles, the typical fencing injuries encountered and therefore how best to manage these whilst relating rehab back to specific fencing techniques”.

This year, Tom was a part of the medical team who covered the cycling events at the school games that presented interesting challenges… “Having previously worked with the medical team at the Manchester velodrome during the 2014 games, this was a little bit different. 3 different locations on 3 different days, all of them outside, contending with the weather conditions and different surfaces alike – the athletes all did really well to adjust their equipment and riding styles to accommodate these, even if it did involve a fair number of crashes. A number of wounds, cuts and abrasions to deal with, but thankfully, there were no serious injuries.”

Having worked at the past 3 games, 1 as a volunteer, we asked if Tom would be returning to this roll… “ I’d like to, if I’m successfully during the application and interview process! It’s great to be a part of such an experienced and knowledgeable medical team, who’s backgrounds varied within many different facets of physiotherapy and medicine alike, i.e. some of the guys have just come back from Rio, some work in elite sport, some work within the NHS and private practice. It’s not only great for me to hone and practice clinical skill sets within sporting environments, it’s a great learning opportunity at the same time. Plus some of these young athletes will go on to present Team GB in the future, (Like Adam Peaty, Max Whitlock and Ellie Simmonds all did), so it’s great to be a part of that, even if it is in a small cog, big wheel capacity.”

Read more about the 2016 school games here… http://www.2016schoolgames.com.

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