Graduate Linzi travels to Ghana to put her Sports Therapy into action!
24th July 2018
After graduating from the University of Gloucestershire with a BSc (Hons) in Sports Therapy, Linzi Mirams made decision to apply for a volunteer program abroad to help gain more experience as a newly qualified Sports Therapist.
“I traveled to Accra, Ghana in January for 10 weeks to take part in a volunteer Sports Therapy internship. It was without a doubt the most incredible experience I’ve ever had. I had the opportunity to not only work with the Rising Stars of Africa football academy but also one of Accra’s premiership football teams, the Hearts of Oak. This was something that I never thought I would be able to do but because of the opportunities that were available, I was able to broaden my knowledge and gain a lifetime of experience. When working with the Hearts of Oak I assisted the current Physiotherapist in his tasks to support the team. During my first week I was given a chance to show what I had learnt at University when I was assigned to a specific player that I had to assist in his rehabilitation from a previous injury.”
Linzi attended Hearts of Oak training three times a week and Rising stars of Africa training five times a week. Her weekends consisted of pitch-side first aiding the academy matches and injury assessments at the academy. Unfortunately, the premiership league had not yet started whilst she was working with Hearts of Oak, but got to assist the Physiotherapist at organised friendly matches.
“In my spare time I coached Netball at a local school to help encourage and improve basic Netball skills to young girls. I have played netball most of my life and am very passionate about the sport therefore, I absolutely loved teaching the girls’ different skills and games that they will always remember. I also taught English at a school called UCC to underprivileged children, this consisted of helping to learn and review basic numbers, equations, letters and words. I worked with children on a one to one basis. This allowed them to concentrate and have maximum attention that they needed to work on things that they found particularly difficult. I coached netball four times a week with different classes and taught English at UCC once a week.”
Before travelling back to England, she had the opportunity to travel to Benin with the Rising Stars of Africa U17s team to compete in an annual tournament for one week. “It was a very physically demanding week for the boys but I knew as their Sports Therapist I had to ensure that there was recovery protocols in place to reduce risk of injuries.”
“Being able to work with the Hearts of Oak allowed me to gain valuable experience working with athletes at a premiership level as I now fully understand the physical demands that these players endure and how I, as a Sports Therapist can help. Working with the Rising Stars of Africa was a real eye opener and I have never met such motivated and talented young boys. I felt so proud and privileged to be able to tell everyone that I was working with this amazing academy. They have inspired me to be the best Sports Therapist that I can be and made me remember why I wanted to be a Sports Therapist in the first place. I made some friends for life and Ghana has become like my second home, it is a place full of different opportunities and I would 100% recommend to this to anyone. You would be crazy not to! I am now the Head Sports Therapist for the Rising Stars of Africa and cannot wait to see what the next year has in store for me.”