The Solomon Islands' up-and-coming football players could star at the 2023 Pacific Games, thanks to a partnership with Bond University. PICTURE: Shutterstock Images
Bond University is boosting Solomon Islands’ bid to top the 2023 Pacific Games medal tally on home soil.
A new partnership between the university and Solomon Islands Sport Leadership Institute (SISLI) will involve Bond Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science students analysing athletes across 30 sports, ticking off everything from injury prevention to physiological requirements.
Students will work together with SISLI and are required to successfully demonstrate acquired evidence-based knowledge and skills.
The XVII Pacific Games will take place from November 19 to December 2, 2023, with 24 nations competing in 23 sports.
The athlete analysis will be done remotely initially but it is hoped students will be able to travel to Honiara in 2022 for in-person consultations.
“Solomon Islands athletes are often training without the standard sports science support and equipment that Australian athletes take for granted,” said Associate Professor of Exercise and Sports Science, Dr Justin Keogh.
“This is a first for our students to work with international athletes training for a multinational, multi-event Games and it is something that most students in Australia will never experience.”
Bond University students will work closely with SISLI to prescribe fitness and training modules and maximize athletic performance.
“This program is great because it is helping the community development, but also our students development,” Dr Keogh said.
“Moving forward, hopefully the students can build up and the start a program that we can continue to build on.
“It’s almost like going back to the early days of the Australian Institute of Sport.”
The initiative is part of the Federal Government’s New Colombo Plan aimed at lifting knowledge of the Indo-Pacific in Australia.