Graduate pursues Olympic dreams

The Adidas slogan 'Impossible is Nothing' was a message designed to inspire 'the desire to push yourself further, to surpass limits, to break new ground'.

For UCLan graduate Tene-Riin Vaarmann that mantra is the driving force behind her efforts to achieve her dream role with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Tene-Riin graduated with a Sport with Journalism Combined Honours degree in 2012 - something she embarked on with a view to giving herself a broad knowledge base to succeed in her future career.

During her time at UCLan she helped launch Preston Grasshoppers Rugby Football Club's new website whilst on placement there, and was an active member of UCLan Tennis Club.

After graduating, Tene-Riin volunteered at London 2012 and also at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. In Sochi she worked directly for the IOC, helping them carry out the Athletes' Commission election.

Tene-Riin said: "My experience in both Olympics made me realise this is something I want to do in the future, so I applied for a Master's programme which will hopefully get me a job exactly in that field.

"I'm now a student at the International Olympic Academy located in Ancient Olympia, right next to the ancient Olympic stadium. It is simply magical to study or even be in the very heart where it all began.

"My Master's programme entitled 'Olympic studies, Olympic education, organization and management of Olympic event' has been developed in association with the University of Peloponnese, Greece and has been running as a fully recognized degree since 2009. Each year only 30 students are selected from across the world.

"I tend to dream big, so my ultimate goal for the future would be to work for the IOC. I'm sure the road for reaching that goal is going to be very tricky and it is going to take a lot of work.

"UCLan was a very exciting three years for me and I thoroughly enjoyed my academic programme. I also very much enjoyed Sir Tom Finney Sports Centre, as I was lucky enough to train there during its first year. Overall, I must say I really liked my time at UCLan, as it was both academically and socially fulfilling."

British Army invite for Institute's Historian

With 2014 marking the 100th anniversary of World War One, Dr Iain Adams is a much-wanted man.

In December, Dr Adams will travel to Germany to help the British Army re-enact the famous Christmas football match against the German Army.

Based in the International Football Institute at UCLan's School of Sport, Tourism and The Outdoors, Dr Adams' knowledge of sport during WW1 has seen him called upon by a number of high-profile organisations to offer expert insights into the subject.

During the summer he travelled to the USA to present a paper on 'Football and The 1914 Christmas Truce' at the North American Society for Sports History at Glenwood Springs, Colorado. On his return to the UK, Dr Adams was a guest on BBC Radio Lancashire’s 'Drive Time' show, talking about Women's Football and WW1.

He followed up with two slots on the BBC for their roadshow in Blackpool entitled 'BBC World War One: The Home Front', where he presented to a combined audience of 1,500 people on sport on the home front during WW1.

Dr Adams also attended the North West British Society for Sport History's symposium on sport in Britain on the eve of the war, and conducted a workshop on Football at the Front for the staff of the National Football Museum, in preparation for their new exhibition 'The Greater Game' which opens later this year.

International Research Institute for Sport Studies update

Professor John Horne has been invited to participate in two sessions at the 2014 Annual Conference of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) in Portland, Oregon, USA, in November.

One double session includes a panel of scholars to consider the 'big picture' for the field of sociology of sport.

The roundtable discussion features: Toni Bruce, Jay Coakley, Peter Donnelly, Kiernan Gordon, John Horne, Annelies Knoppers, Montserrat Martin, Catherine Palmer, George Sage, Kimberly Schimmel, Lawrence Wenner, and Belinda Wheaton.

Organised in conjunction with the upcoming 50th anniversaries of the International Sociology of Sport Association (ISSA) and its scholarly journal, the International Review for the Sociology of Sport (IRSS), papers and roundtable discussion make assessments on the trajectory, challenges, and future of the sociology of sport, both in terms of the field as a whole and in assessments of specialty areas that define the contours.

John will speak on 'Sports Mega-Events and Capitalist Modernity', and a paper with the same title will be published in a special issue of the IRSS in 2015.

In October, Andy Carmichael commences a part-time PhD supervised by Professor Horne and Dr Jess MacBeth on 'Promoting Pro-Environmental Behaviour in English Football'. Andy will examine the current state of environmental management in the sport of football in England.

In addition to the investigation of English clubs and organisations, the study will also consider the impact of international governance in the sport. Comparisons with other nation's environmental behaviour in football, other sports' environmental behaviour and other industry sectors environmental behaviour will also be considered.

IRiSS's first postgraduate student Sadie Hollins (who received her PhD for a thesis entitled 'Intersections of Economy, Environment and Locality at the London Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012' last year) has recently been appointed as Associate Research Fellow in Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Exeter.

Sadie will contribute to a project funded by The FA examining the effects of changes made to the competitive structure of grassroots youth football (e.g. pitch size, player numbers, league structure) for the 2014-15 season.

Speakers have been contacted for the IRiSS Research Seminars and full details will follow soon. The seminars (all on Wednesdays, Greenbank Building, GR350, Preston, PR1 2HE, at 3pm) are scheduled for the following dates: 2014: 19 November; 17 December; 2015: 28 January, 18 February and 11 March.