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My name's Gareth Sheppard. I'm the Paralympic Performance Manager for British Cycling. I've
been with them since then end of 2008 and my role with British Cycling is very much
everything that's off the field of play. So, it's managing the support team around the
athletes, working with coaches on a day-to-day basis, managing the team at major events and
looking after some of the logistical elements of it as well.
I graduated in 1999 and for a couple of years after that I just basically trained as a full-time
cyclist. I was on the GB and Welsh cycling team at the time and just getting the opportunity
to be able to compete in some major races. I retired I suppose, in a word, in 2002 and
basically moved into the leisure management field and did my masters than alongside full-time
work and then some coaching qualifications which opened the doors for British Cycling
and then the opportunity just happened to come up at the right time.
A couple of the keys things I wanted to highlight is firstly, my role very much is leading a
team of experts who have far more knowledge than I do.
You know, when you are working with a team of experts they obviously know a lot more
about their sport-specific field than you do and you are very reliant on them to a degree
to be able to provide the right advice. What my university degree gave, and my coaching
qualifications gave, is the ability to ask the right questions and to be able to do have
that base level of knowledge that allows you to challenge them to be able to make sure
that you come to the right conclusions and I think that's where it's given me a really
good grounding in the role than I’m currently doing.
When I was deciding to come to university it was a simple choice and one the reasons
that I chose Birmingham was because actually it had a higher level of teaching expertise
and was renowned for doing so and ultimately it didn't have that kind of elitist feel and
actually as an athlete you're surrounded by that 24/7 and it's actually nice to be surrounded
by people where they weren’t aspiring athletes, to be able to feel a little more relaxed in
your surroundings and Birmingham gave a really good balance between the academic and the
city itself. I really enjoyed my time here. My main thing was obviously my cycling and
that’s pretty much what I did 24/7 outside of studying while I was here. To be honest
if you dedicated to one sport and the focus is really with them and actually you spend
most of the time with the cycling club and the experts that were here at Birmingham university
both from a physiological testing perspective and out training on the roads whenever I got
spare time between lectures. My impression now coming back is very much
that the facilities have moved on no end since I was at university here and it's really great
to see the world-class facilities that the students now have access to. It's come a long
way since being in some small portacabins, going away and doing your research project
to actually having these fantastic labs around you and all this top end kit that I was very
jealous of having walked back in. I think that I would have loved to have been able
to access some of these facilities during my time at university.
The highlight for me was when I was awarded the Sporting Blue at the end of my tenure
here at Birmingham University. I think that recognition for your sporting achievement
is something that you're always going to carry with you. What I did in my dissertation in
the final year I did a sport-specific one focussing on cycling and that was where you
really got to be able to sink your teeth into something that was relevant to you. I did
a piece of research on the difference between mountain bikers and road riders physiologically,
and that was something that I've got to say I really enjoyed and probably for me was the
highlight and culmination of three years hard work.
My aspirations are very much at the moment short-term. We have this big event called
London 2012 looming on the horizon and very much all the energy and the focus is into
achieving the best possible result we can there. Longer term than that we've got to
look forward to Rio in 2016 and obviously in terms of what the sporting landscape is
going to look like post the Olympic and Paralympic games. Hopefully we will deliver the level
of success we're planning and aspiring to achieve at London and then be able to keep
building from there towards Rio. I think the top tip I could give is that you've
really got to set yourself apart from the crowd. I think that while you're at university
it's very easy to just go through the motions, to attend the lectures and do the basics to
be able to get a degree but the workplace now is so so competitive that actually if
you really want to go out there and secure the right job opportunity you've got set yourself
apart from your other students here at Birmingham University and obviously the other sport sciences
students across the country. And that is really only going to be done by gaining relevant
work experience, putting the time down during the summer to be able to link into something
that you are passionate about and being able to go out there and gain real life experience
alongside your academic qualifications. And that really can set you one step ahead when
you come to look for jobs post your time at the University of Birmingham.