Mechanical fluidity: high performance sports academic research centre

Abstract

The Wits High Performance Academic Sports Research Centre will be located on Wits educational campus Johannesburg. Its aims are to act as a centre for teaching, learning, research development as well as giving back to the community. The centre will host a variety of users including students, staff, lectures, researchers local and international as well has high performance athletes. Doctors and patients from the Nelson Mandela children’s hospital will also have access to some of the facilities and equipment to help with medical treatment. The Sydney Brenner research institute and the Wits Sports clinic who have their facilities next to the site will also interact and have a symbiotic relationship with the Performance centre sharing their knowledge and expertise. As their expertise lie in the human body and cellular research and would be a small adaptation to researching sports research still focusing on a cellular level, however now looking at factors that could affect sports performance. The aim is for the centre to be internationally recognized putting Wits in the spotlight of the sports research. This combination and in depth facility in sports research does not exist as one entity in any facility across the world. There are universities in the states which are starting to make the connection between scientifi c sports research and performance. This centre will be purely a research and assessment centre and will not be a training centre, Its concept is to have athletes coming in from all over the world, stay for two weeks and take the knowledge they acquired and apply it to their training in their home city. The centre will host international exhibitions and conferences on sports research. Income from these events will help offset operating costs and alleviate pressure from the funding sponsors. Along with these functions the centre will house permanent staff who do testing assessments on athletes as well as house a Restaurant and accommodation for traveling athletes and researchers which will provide a more constant fl ow of income. The centre will be heavily teaching based with lectures taking place within the centre as well as students being actively involved as the centre is part of Wits University. It is important to understand that the Centre is not a training facility for athletes. Athletes are examined on multiple levels over the course of a few days. Their results are analysied and recommendations are made to how they can increase their performance. The public will have access to the Performance Centre and it is designed in a way that the public can view the athletes being assessed without invading their privacy. It is important to understand the diverse uses of this centre along with all who shall use it. Diverse user list • Doctors and therapists • Researchers • Patients/children • Athletes • Academic Staff • Admin staff • Students • Foreign visitors and athletes • The Public