YIA exchange to 6th ESSA Conference

Germany, May 6, 2014: The European College of Sport Science (ECSS) together with Exercise & Sport Science Australia (ESSA) organise a poster exchange for young upcoming scientists in the field of sport and exercise science.

In April 2014 ECSS Young Investigators Award (YIA) winner at ECSS Barcelona 2013, Kathrin Freyler from the University of Freiburg (GER), participated as ECSS-ESSA exchange delegate in the 6th international ESSA Conference in Adelaide, SA, Australia to present her YIA winning poster ‘Improving postural control in response to a 4-week balance training with partial weight-bearing’.

Returning from the ESSA Conference Kathrin shared valuable experiences and memories with the ECSS in her exchange report.
ECSS-ESSA exchange report

As part of the “Young Investigator Award (YIA)” the European College of Sport Science (ECSS) send me to the 6th Exercise and Sports Science Australia (ESSA) conference to present my research as an ECSS-ESSA exchange delegate.

The conference was entitled “from research to practice” and was held from 10th to 12th April 2014 in Adelaide, SA, Australia. I am a PhD student at the University of Freiburg, Germany, so I had a long travel to the other end of the world “down under”.

After a really exciting journey including a 7h flight to Dubai and a 13h flight to Australia, I arrived in Adelaide the evening before the congress. My hotel was located directly next to the convention centre, and I had a wonderful view to Torrens River in the north of Adelaide.

The next morning the conference starts, and on this day I presented my ECSS-ESSA Exchange Poster “Improved postural control in response to a 4-week balance training with partially unloaded bodyweight” during the Interactive Poster Session this afternoon. I was delighted to meet new as well as old scientific friends during this session, and was amazed by the variety of nationalities and research topics represented on this congress.

The congress provided a high-quality scientific programme and pointed out the important role to connect basic and applied scientific research with the professional practice in sport and exercise. I particularly enjoyed the talk of Simon Gandevia about fatigue and what happens on spinal and supraspinal levels when you are fatigued.

But I was also impressed by excellent talks from practitioners such as exercise physiologists, coaches, personal trainers etc. I was completely amazed by the talk of Anna Meares, an Australian track cyclist, telling her story about a horrible accident where she broke her neck, and about her admirable, fast comeback.

This was only one of many talks, which pointed out the extraordinary link of high level research in theoretical science with the practice in elite sports throughout this congress. During lunch times I was not only able to get exceedingly delicate food, but I also had the opportunity to meet with new friends and various colleagues from all over the world.

Further, I was given the opportunity to submit a second work and thus was happy to present an additional research work during one session of the congress by holding a 3 minute presentation about the topic “Postural neuromuscular and kinematic responses following perturbation in monopedal stance: effect of direction, amplitude and velocity of the perturbation ”.

For me, the experience to present own research and the possibility to communicate during international congresses and exchange with other researchers in this field around the world is of great value and an irreplaceable moment.

I was completely amazed by the nice atmosphere in Adelaide, and open, friendly people encountered me whenever I had the time to take a walk through this city with a quite British colonialistic charm sometimes. On the day after the congress, my flight back home was scheduled for the evening, so I had some time to see the kangaroos in the zoo, one of the landmarks Australia’s.

Finally I started my journey home, in my luggage plenty of wonderful moments, new friends, and valuable experiences.
I would like to thank the ECSS and ESSA as well as all the other people involved for making these experiences possible and for giving me the great opportunity to join the interaction of junior scientists in an early stage of career. Both organizations promote sport and exercise science on an international, multi-cultural and multidisciplinary level, and I am grateful and proud to be part of it and to represent the ECSS as well as my University in Australia. Thank you. —- Kathrin Freyler, University of Freiburg, Germany