Change the world

26/08/2024

Sports scientist Courtney Musson, a PhD candidate at Nelson Mandela University and staff member at the Human Movement Science department, is excelling in and out of the swimming pool.

 

A former national artistic swimmer herself, Courtney represented South Africa as a technical controller at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games earlier this month. She formed part of the difficulty panel, which assessed the routines, and checked if they were swum in accordance with what the coach had declared.

Musson was one of six technical controllers, which is new to the sport.

She was also the only official technical controller from South Africa, after completing her training and passing an examination, which required an 80% pass mark, in 2023.

With a new technical controllers’ guide set to come out in 2025, Musson hopes to train other technical officials and senior swimmers keen to branch out into officiating and coaching.

She sees this as means of giving back to the sport.

“In having the privilege to represent South Africa at both junior and senior level at world championships, I chose a career pathway that allowed me to pursue my passion for sport and to use my knowledge to drive my interests in both my research and work,” she says.

Sport scientists are trained in different domains in sport that may focus on areas, such as strength and conditioning, as well as assessing athletes biomechanically.

Courtney’s primary domain interest focused on biomechanics and physiology.

“My master’s research focused on using technology in swimming to provide information to coaches that will assist them in their daily coaching,” she says.

“My drive in my master’s project was to seek ways to be innovative and to provide cost-effective ways to enable coaches with more specific swimming information on their swimmers, especially in a training setting, when they are trying to monitor multiple swimmers in the pool.”

Courtney realised her love for the sport during her undergraduate degree – a BSc in Biochemistry and Human Movement Science – which led to her enrolling for an honours degree in sports science, and then a master’s degree.

The 29-year-old is now enrolled for her PhD at Mandela University, where she also completed her other qualifications.

She is researching the field of Biochemanics, using 3-D motion capture technology to track athletes’ kinematics and kinetics during landing tasks. She hopes to transition into lecturing soon.

“My work as the lab technician and a sport scientist working within the Madibaz High Performing Centre, has provided me with a platform to work closely with many different athletes, who are competing at provincial, national and international level.

These include athletes within the Eastern Cape Academy of sport, Madibaz Sport, Warriors Cricket, Cricket South Africa and international athletes from Switzerland and Kenya.

Her work with these athletes ranges from perceptual motor training to physiological assessments, which focus on testing the athletes’ limits within their sport.

“I am privileged to be able to work with a range of different individuals, both professionally and within the sporting community. This allows me to grow as a sport scientist and researcher.”

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