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In this exciting and fascinating experience, Professor Natalie Vanicek introduces you to the world of Sports, Health, and Exercise Science with a focus on athletes achieving peak performance. In episode one, you’ll explore how science underpins sport, health, and performance. You’ll explore the key disciplines in sport, health, and exercise science and their relationship with coaching, performance, injury, and rehabilitation. You’ll use these disciplines to understand the body, enhance performance, and support athletes to train, recover, and perform at their best. In episode two, you’ll explore what can prevent athletes from performing at their best — from physical and psychological barriers to the effects of fatigue, injury, and environment. We’ll look at how biomechanics helps identify weaknesses in movement, how physiology and nutrition support the body’s energy needs, and how psychology and coaching help athletes manage pressure and stay focused. You’ll also see how effective training, preparation, and performance monitoring can overcome these challenges — helping athletes perform with consistency, confidence, and control. In episode three, you’ll explore how science helps athletes unlock and improve their sporting potential. From refining movement and fuelling the body efficiently, to strengthening the mind and tailoring training through coaching and monitoring, you’ll learn how every discipline plays a role in driving performance forward. Finally, in episode four, you’ll answer a key question: how well do you move? You’ll learn why movement assessments are so important in an athlete’s journey. You’ll also undertake an activity which encourages you to complete a deep squat, and using professional tools, assess your movement based on key criteria.
Natalie VanicekUniversity of HullSport and exercise science
All episodes
1. An introduction to sport, health, and exercise science
2. What can hinder sporting potential
3. How do we unlock sporting potential
4. Activity: how well do you move?
About the university
University of Hull
Change the world, or change your world? At Hull, you can do both. For nearly 100 years, we’ve inspired students to think differently. Rated Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework, we combine outstanding teaching with career-boosting placements. Learn from academics whose research tackles real-world challenges and shapes everything you study. Our safe, green campus in the UK’s most affordable student city has a library, sports centre, modern accommodation, cafés, and bars, all within a 10-minute walk. With over 130 clubs and societies, Hull is an inclusive, supportive community where every student can thrive. The University of Hull – unwritten futures available now.
Meet the academic
Natalie Vanicek
Natalie Vanicek is a Professor of Clinical Biomechanics and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). She is Associate Editor in Sports Medicine and Biomechanics for the Journal of Sports Sciences and Associate Member of the British Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in limb Absence Rehabilitation (BACPAR). She is passionate about her research in clinical gait analysis and musculoskeletal biomechanics. Natalie’s work is aimed at reducing falls, improving function and quality of life, and attenuating musculoskeletal decline through exercise among individuals with limited mobility. Much of her focus has been on people with a lower limb amputation, and improving their mobility with specialised community exercise programmes and prosthetic prescription.
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