More than just games

Monash University has teamed up with some of the biggest names in Australian sport in a bid to establish itself as a premier sporting organisation, writes KONRAD MARSHALL.

American universities have long been training grounds for the nation's top athletes.

Melbourne's Liberty Giants basketball team is based at Monash's Clayton campus.

Legendary American basketballer Michael Jordan first came to sporting prominence as a 19-year-old undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina, sinking a 15-foot jump shot to clinch the National Collegiate Athletic Association final against Georgetown University in 1982.

Jordan never forgot the university that gave him his start. Playing for his first NBA club, the Chicago Bulls, Jordan would wear his North Carolina team shorts under his Bulls uniform for good luck.

Likewise, the stellar career of world champion sprinter Marion Jones was also nurtured at North Carolina. An undergraduate journalism/communications student, Jones held a sports scholarship there.

Despite Australia's reputation as a strong sporting nation, to date there has been only the occasional link between higher education and the sporting arena.

But Monash University intends to change that with a long-term plan to establish the university as a premier sporting organisation.

The university will create a Centre for Sporting Excellence to develop sports management and physical activity pro-grams and to undertake related research in collaboration with top-level professional sporting organisations.

Strategic alliances have already been established with national sports teams including the Liberty Giants basketballers and the St Kilda Football Club, while strong relationships have been formed with the Australian Institute of Sport, Australian Swimming, Athletics Australia and the Victorian Cricket Association.

The Liberty Giants have established both their administrative and training base at Monash's Clayton campus and are helping the university basketball team with training programs and recruitment.

The alliance with St Kilda has seen the club use Monash as its pre-season training venue and as an alternative rehabilitation facility during the season.

St Kilda players are also collaborating with Monash biomedical engineers on research programs designed to improve player performance and have trialled a new test that predicts the risk of hamstring strain.

Mr Martin Doulton, general manager of Monash Sport, the university's sporting body, said the alliances provided valuable opportunities for staff, students and the community, including work placements, linked research projects and the potential to attract grants.

"High-quality facilities, strong relationships with strategic partners and clear pathways to sporting excellence all help enhance our ability to further develop sports-related research and education oppor-tunities," he said.

Also on the drawing board is the Monash Academy of Sport, which will aim to attract promising athletes to Monash to complete a unique program of tertiary study and training.

Former Australian Olympic swimming coach Mr Vince Raleigh has recently been appointed to lead the university's new High Performance Swimming Program, the first of the academy's initiatives. The program is one of the first in Australia that allows elite swimmers to combine study and top-level training in a bid to maximise the athlete's educational and sporting development.

Mr Doulton said sport at Monash had the potential to become one of the defining features of the university and could help Monash become an even more attractive place to study, work and play.

"Above all, our intention is to help Monash people become more active more often and in more ways," he said.

Action box For more information on Monash's sporting initiatives, visit www.monash.edu.au/sra.

Caption Winning strategy: (above) Melbourne's Liberty Giants basketball team is based at Monash's Clayton campus, and (right) former Olympic swimming coach Vince Raleigh will coach elite swimmers at Monash.

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