It was fantastic to host a webinar with Dr Luke Gupta for those pupils involved in the Athlete Development Programme as well as those studying GCSE and A-Level PE.

Luke is employed by the English Institute of Sport (EIS) as a Physiologist and Lead Sleep Scientist, which is his area of research and expertise. It was fascinating for the pupils to learn about Luke’s role with the EIS and some of the teams he has supported including the England Men’s and Women’s Football Teams in the lead up their World Cup campaigns, as well as preparing athletes who were competing at the Rio Olympics and Paralympics in 2016. He is currently due to go to the Tokyo Olympics with Team GB to help athletes with their sleep and acclimatise to the conditions and recover from jetlag.

As Luke is a sleep scientist, he gave the pupils a wonderful insight into the science of sleep and ultimately how it affects different individuals and how it can impact performance. It was fantastic to have 50 pupils attend and I was very proud of some of the questions that they put to Luke and he was certainly impressed with the level of engagement. Following on from the success of this event, I am hoping to arrange more webinars in the coming weeks and months.

Henry Eriksson - Director of Sport