Sports Scholar – Dominic McGovan

Winding down to the end of my first semester at EIT, I noticed a difference in the way I approached many different things.  For example, in knuckling down to study for exams, I found myself utilising the opportunities EIT offers to get ahead.  This could be seen in my involvement in study groups with friends who, like me, were striving for good results, and also in my working alongside lecturers to best prepare myself for exams.

These approaches correlate to my chosen sport of basketball, where you need to mentally prepare for a game by scouting the opposition.  You need to study the other team’s players and their plays to give yourself the best chance of countering them and winning the game.  Applying the study techniques I’ve learned will help me better plan and prepare for future events and games. 

A class that caught me by surprise this year, and one that I found difficult, was kinesiology.  This is the study of body movements, performance and function, and it involves the sciences of biomechanics, anatomy, physiology, psychology and neuroscience.  I’m not saying it isn’t a fun or interesting subject, just that I found it hard for the different parts to sink in.  Viewing these in the context of my sport helped my understanding. 

One class I really enjoyed was movement education, which allowed me to get out of the classroom and experience many of the activities enjoyed in Hawke’s Bay, ranging from hot yoga through to climbing Te Mata Peak.