Kate Evans is Course Leader in Sports Therapy at the University of Gloucestershire and in 2010, forged new pathways for Sports Therapists when she was appointed Head of Rehabilitation at Newport Gwent Dragons, one of four Rugby Union regional teams in Wales. Kate took time out of her very busy schedule to tell us about her dual role 

	I found Physiology and Biomechanics fascinating, but my interest always took me back to what makes a tissue fail, and what can stimulate its healing Kate Evans

 
 
You are Course Leader at the University of Gloucestershire – can you talk us through the route you took to get there.
 
I joined the University of Gloucestershire back in 2008. The University had just set up the degree and I was working down the road at UWE Hartpury where I taught on their BSc (Hons) Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation programme. I was interviewed with Kate Cady (who is now Head Sports Therapist at Swindon Town FC), and luckily the University decided to employ both of us. My route into Sports Therapy has been via Sports Science. Back when I was an undergraduate, Sports Therapy programmes weren’t around. I found Physiology and Biomechanics fascinating, but my interest always took me back to what makes a tissue fail, and what can stimulate its healing.
 
 
You were appointed Head of Rehabilitation at Newport Gwent Dragons in 2010. Can you tell me more about your role, how it came about and what it involves?
 
I had previously worked with the Director of Rugby in another job and knew that Newport Gwent Dragons were looking for someone to bridge the gap between Physiotherapy and Strength and Conditioning. This is something I think Sports Therapists were made for.
 
A large remit of the job was injury prevention, screening and late to pre-discharge stage rehabilitation and so I put in an application and was interviewed for the post. Although my job role is seen to be largely rehabilitation, it has developed over the season and I now have more of a clinical role with the long term Injured players. This is predominantly my case load. They are not your normal run of the mill injuries; for some reason we seem to have lots of rare, weird and wonderful injuries that you just can’t look up in Brukner and Khan! It is incredibly challenging but it is amazing to work as part of a team that develops treatment and rehabilitation programmes, that turn these players around.

	Kate and the Gwent Dragons Medical Team Pictured L to R:  Dr Nick Travaglia, Felicity Middleton   (Physiotherapist), Kate Evans, Dan Martin (Head Physio)

 
I work with the players on a one to one basis for treatment and rehabilitation in the earlier stages and work very closely with the strength and conditioning team with regard to integrating them back in to normal periodised training and return to sport. As part of my job I also travel with the team to away games where I cover pitch-side first aid and sports trauma management. This is the most exciting part of the job!
     
 
Is this your first major role in Rugby Union? Have you worked in any other sports?
 
I have worked in rugby union for almost 10 seasons. Back when I first qualified I sent my CV to almost every rugby club along the M4 corridor in South Wales, applying to every team in every division. I only wanted work experience, not a paid job. The only team to take me up on my offer was a Welsh Premiership side. I stayed with that club up until this season, though I do still work with them and I am going on tour with them to Canada his summer, courtesy of the Canadian RFU.

	This club was an excellent place to learn. I thought I knew everything when I first started, but I soon realised that I didn’t!  Kate Evans

 
 
This club was an excellent place to learn. I thought I knew everything when I first started, but I soon realised that I didn’t! The club gave me the opportunity to work week in, week out with a number of players that were international at 7’s or age grade, some of whom have gone on to play for the Senior International team.
 
We also had a number of players who have now become professionals after a spell in the Premiership. It was a club that definitely opened doors for me. From there I got paid work with Newport Gwent Dragons Academy, Celtic Warriors and O2 Rugbyclass.

	'Poised and ready for action’. Kate pictured pitch-side against Gloucester in the LV Cup

 
 
I haven’t really worked in any other sports, although I have been asked to review players from other professional sports on an ad-hoc basis. We see a number of different sports men and women at the University Sports Injury Clinic and I enjoy my supervising role in the clinic, but my passion really is rugby union.
 
Last year, you took students from the University of Gloucestershire along to Newport Gwent Dragons to get experience working with the players. What did students gain from this experience?
 
My students come with me everywhere I go! Last year we had a number of requests to screen rugby players for injury prevention reasons. Students came with me to Gwent to work with the senior squad, they also came with me to Cardiff Blues Academy and through Kate Cady, we also screened players at Swindon Town FC.
 
I think they learned a lot about communication. You really have to be able to cope with ‘banter’ if you want to work in team sports. Dealing with someone in a clinic situation is often very polite and a little formal; you ask permission, gain informed consent, ask them to remove their t-shirt etc. This doesn’t really happen in sports team when you are working with players on a daily basis.
 
I think students also appreciated that your handling skills must be flexible. Trying to perform an assessment on a player that is 6ft 9inches requires adaptation. A lot of sports people sit outside of the norm for height, weight and strength. You must adapt your handling if you still want to be effective. The students also got see how the information generated, translated into pre-habilitation programmes.
 
Newport Gwent Dragons clearly appreciates the work you have been doing as you have just advertised a 1 Year Sports Therapy Graduate Internship. Have you appointed anyone to this position? Can you tell us about it?
 
I feel very strongly that Sports Therapists have a place in professional sport. I am the only Sports Therapist to work in Welsh Rugby (the participation agreement currently permits only Physiotherapists) However, I am aware that a number of Sports Therapy students work in the regions on placement.
 
I feel that Sports Therapists, Physiotherapists and Strength and Conditioning coaches have a complimentary skills set and should work in a multidisciplinary model of athlete support. The Sports Therapist offers something unique here. We were looking for both a Physiotherapy and Sports Therapy intern to work alongside our Strength and Conditioning intern. The vision we have is for both practitioners to observe and settle in for the first month or so and just get a feel for how we work and what we do. They would essentially shadow the medical team. We would then like to hand them a small case load of simple, straight forward injuries which they would share and we would supervise.
 
Approximately halfway through the season, we would then look to give each intern their own individual case load and they would be jointly mentored by myself and our Physiotherapist, Felicity Middleton. The idea is that for one year, they work as part of team in a professional environment, developing themselves as a therapist. It is a learning environment for them, first and foremost and they will go through our formal CPD programme and sit in on any WRU in-service training.

	In a match against top Irish side Leinster, Kate is pictured in action on the pitch dealing with an injury

 
There will also be an option for them to occasionally travel with the team. We have set this up to mentor new graduates through their first year out in the big wide world. It is an opportunity that we hope the interns would see as valuable. We have received a number of applications, though the process is currently on hold, whilst we appoint a new head Physiotherapist. Once the new head Physiotherapist is in place we hope to make the appointments in time for the start of Pre-Season training.
 
 

What aspects of your role as Course Leader of Sports Therapy at the University of Gloucestershire do you enjoy most?
 
I enjoy meeting potential students and letting them know exactly what they are letting themselves in for!  Students often think of Sports Therapy as a sports programme, but I am quick to reinforce that the demands of the course are more closely linked to medical and health professions programmes.
 
Choosing to study Sports Therapy is a big commitment that will require more than 3 years of hard work as you are entering a competitive profession. I always believe that if you are good enough and work hard enough, you will make it. There is plenty of work out there if you willing to look for it!
 
I am very lucky to have such as brilliant teaching team at the University. They all practise Sports Therapy outside of their teaching commitments and Monday mornings are always full of stories of the injuries we have seen over the weekend fixtures.
 
Our students also work pitch side from year one of the programme and to hear them talk excitedly about their experiences and the injuries they have seen is very contagious. It keeps them motivated to work hard and it reinforces that this is career they would love to enter. 
 
Has there been a stand-out moment for you in your work with rugby?
 
One moment from this season that stands out is playing away against Toulouse in the Heineken Cup. I have never seen anything like it! We arrived at the airport and were chaperoned to the hotel 100m away! We had a full police escort outside our hotel and also had one to the ground on match day. The whole town seemed to know there was a rugby match on!
 
The day before the game we visited the ground to inspect the medical set-up but all of the rooms were empty as the medical kit arrives with the medical team on the match day. Our kit always travels ahead of us by road and due to French law, some of our medical equipment had to be left at home. I was very nervous about whether we could implement any of our emergency action plans without our own oxygen, entonox etc. I also do not speak French and with the added pressure of the television cameras I was very worried about how we would manage a serious injury.
 
On match day, Toulouse provided 2 trauma teams and more Doctors than I have ever seen and also an interpreter, but still we had a very nervous build up to that game! We lost, but we played well and by the end of the game the sell-out crowd were cheering for us louder than they were cheering for their home side! I guess the take home message here is, learn a language if you want to work in professional sport!
 
What advice would you give to students thinking about a career in Sports Therapy? What advice do you give to your students looking to work in professional sport?
 
As undergraduates, I tell students to start building a portfolio. A degree certificate is starting point only and the first question that potential employers will ask is ‘where have you worked?’, the more answers you can give here the better!
 
Once you’ve qualified; ‘Start at the bottom and work your way up’ is the best advice I can give. Get a foot in the door with a club/team and show them what you can do! Many clubs will not truly understand your scope of practice and what skills you have so get in and show them. You may have to work for free to begin with, but once your there they’ll wonder what they did without you. Once you are in with one club, take every opportunity you can to build up your skills and CV and still pursue work experience.
 
If you can, find yourself a mentor: Someone who is a little more experienced than you and can give you advice when you hit a brick wall. If someone like that is on the end of a phone to talk through ideas etc, your first year or two after graduating will not seem so scary!
 
 
* Congratulations to Kate on all her success so far. Her approach to work in both of her roles is inspirational and hopefully students will realise that if you work hard, it is possible to realise the dream