Sports Excellence : Student Internship Program Brief Framework

Purpose:

• To offer sports medicine & sports science with sport coaching included. 
• Students from all around the world will be given the opportunity to work under the auspices of an academic institution in an applied, high performance environment, earning both valuable experience & skills, which will be useful for their academic and sports career. 

Our Internship Philosophy  

Our philosophy is to create an individualized educational schedule specifically devised to satisfy the expectations of students whilst at the same time boosting their chances of gaining employment in the sports industry. 

Application Procedure 

Students interested in undertaking their internship at Sports Excellence should send their most up-to-date CV, a letter of reference from their University Dean, together with a personal statement outlining their reasons for applying.  These should be addressed to:  

Dr. Koulouvaris Panayiotis  

Head of Sports Excellence 

Orthopedic Research Center P.N.Soucacos – 1^st Floor 

“Attikon” University General Hospital 

Rimini 1 – Chaidari  

Athens – Greece 

Email : se@randp.gr  

& info@sportsexcellence.gr

Expenses Cover and Fees 

Each student is required to cover his/her own transportation, accommodation and food expenses. 

No fees will be charged for the internship as these expenses are to be covered by a grant received from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. 

Learning Outcomes 

• Gain an in-depth understanding of the strategy, operational plan and policies of a high-performance center. 
• Be able to create, plan, organize, implement and analyze a holistic scientific environment for both elite and youth athletes. 
• Fully understand the policies of a sports science lab. 
• Gain full awareness of the safety and managerial issues raised in sports science missions (out of lab assessments). 
• Determine the relevant physiological tests to assist both coaches and athletes. 

Criteria for the successful completion of the internship 

• Complete at least 4 weeks of full-time educational activities (theoretical and practical activities) with at least of 160 hours in total. 
• Successfully complete all assignments throughout the course as well as the practical assessments during the last week of the internship.  

 Monthly Brief Plan 

Week One – Introduction Week  

Description & Main Goal: The goal is to introduce the student to the Strategy, Operational Plan of Sports Excellence as well as the policies of the Sports Physiology Lab.  

Each student is to be interviewed in order to adjust the daily plan according to his/her educational needs and his/her career goals. 

Day One – Strategic Plan – Operational Plan – Policies of Sports Excellence 

Day Two – Interview with the student & presentation of the Sports Physiology Safety and Health Rules and Policies 

Day Three – Presentation of the main assessment activities so as to devise a holistic physiological/ sports science profile of the athletes. 

Day Four – Customer Policies (athletes, coaches and clubs) & presentation of the sport activities at Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. 

Week Two – Sports Physiology Lab Educational Week 

Description & Main Goal: 

The goal is to introduce the student to the main assessments of the Sports Excellence ‘Sports Physiology/ Science Lab.’ 

The student will actively participate in the planning, organization and implementation under the guidance of a mentor (Director of the lab). Each day, he/she will be supervised by a different member of the Lab. 

A typical Week:

Third Week – Sports Specific Education 

Description and Goal:

The Student will work closely with, and be supervised by, the Sports Specific Account Manager in order to gain an understanding of the specific needs of the sport/project as well as the strategy and operational plan of Sports Excellence.  This is deemed as imperative in order to upgrade the holistic environment of our national teams, with special regard for athletes between 12 and 18 years old. 

A typical day will be as follows: 

• Strategic & operational planning for a specific sport (30-45 minutes) 
• On the field tests for this specific sport (90 minutes) 
• Break (30 minutes) 
• Lab Tests for a specific sport (90-120 minutes) 
• Break                   (30 minutes) 
• Holistic Support: Nutrition & Psychology etc/ support for the elite athletes

                                                                                                   (90-120 minutes) 

• Debrief  (60 minutes) 

Our Suggestion is the following: 

Day One – Swimming 

Day Two - Rowing 

Day Three – Fencing 

Day Four – Handball 

Day Five – Basketball & Water Polo 

Description & Main Goal:  

• To help each student maximize the educational benefits from his/her internship at Sports Excellence Performance Center.  
• The purpose of the theoretical and practical assignments and assessments is to be able to identify all the knowledge and skills that the student has gained and where possible, to work with a mentor in order to highlight the areas for further improvement. 
• Before the second week, each student will receive a work/assignment notebook that he/she is required to complete. 
• It is the responsibility of each student to plan, organize and implement an assessment of an elite athlete who is a member of our programme. 

A typical Week is as follows: