Fulbright Dr to study athletes in USA
SPRINZ research associate Dr Pip Thomas has won a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship, the first person from Sport, Exercise & Health to receive the award.
In August, she will take her research on emerging athlete career transitions to Illinois State University, in collaboration with AUT. While in the US, she will focus on the experiences of New Zealand student-athletes navigating US collegiate programmes, the transitional demands they face, and the institutional responsibility to support them.
The Fulbright New Zealand Scholar Awards, valued at up to US$37,500 a year, are for mid-senior career professionals, artists and academics to undertake to lecture and/or conduct research at US institutions.
Pip completed her Masters and PhD at AUT and continues as a research associate with the Sport Research Institute New Zealand (SPRINZ), a consultant, and the founder of the Continuum Performance Hub.
SPRINZ co-director Associate Professor Simon Walters says Pip cares passionately about supporting the well-being of athletes and her PhD focused on the challenges young NZ athletes faced as they transitioned through professional sport pathways.
“Pip has worked tirelessly, often for no pay, to support young New Zealanders transitioning in and out of sport. Her PhD reflected some of that work and her Fulbright enables her to continue this line of study with NZ US-based elite athletes.
“As the first Fulbright recipient from our school, this milestone reflects both her individual excellence and the strength of the research environment she has been part of.”
Pip says: “This work matters because the question that drives me isn't whether athletes make it through the funnel. It's who they're becoming along the way, and what role the environments around them play in that becoming.
“The funnel is real. The attrition is real. And the gap between what emerging athletes need and what pathway environments provide is one we have a collective responsibility to close.
“I'm looking forward to the conversations, collaborations, and research that this award makes possible, and to bringing what I learn back to Aotearoa New Zealand.”
Useful Links
- Bachelor of Sport, Exercise and Health - AUT
- Dr Pip Thomas | LinkedIn
- CONTINUUM PERFORMANCE HUB
- Simon Walters | Mōku | About | Auckland University of Technology
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