Ethan

What inspired you to study Sport at UC?

I was working in the financial industry in China before I moved to New Zealand, and I continued that for a bit when I arrived in Christchurch before moving on to run my own business.

I returned to study because I wanted to chase my dream of becoming a professional football coach. I like the skills, the techniques, the strategies and tactics, and the teamwork involved. UC’s Sport degree perfectly matched my passion and career goals. I also have a lot of friends who studied at UC and speak very highly of it, and they’re all in great careers now.

How well do you think your studies are preparing you for your career?

I’m learning how to coach football at any level to any type of person. And it's not only applicable to football. I’m learning a lot of knowledge around sport in general. For example, my focus is Performance Analysis and Sports Leadership and Management, but we have a lot of courses about sociology, psychology, and sport history. Even if I don’t use that knowledge in coaching, it would be beneficial in management roles or working with the public, for our communities as well.

How do those two subjects complement each other?

Performance Analysis is more technical and covers biomechanics and physiology, whereas Sports Leadership and Management is more about communication and things like allocating resources and players to the right place. They work together for me because as a coach, you need to be able to communicate with other players using the knowledge from their performance analysis to tell them where they can improve.

What are your lecturers and fellow students like?

The lecturers are really helpful and willing to go above and beyond. I had one workshop where we had to watch a recorded video and it wasn’t working well for me, so the lecturer recorded a video just for me, to help answer my question.

We have workshops for a lot of courses, so you’re always seeing familiar faces. It’s a very inclusive degree because in sports, you always have to collaborate with other people and be patient and passionate.

What are the hands-on aspects of the degree like?

We have quite a lot of workshops in the Rec Centre, the sports science labs, and the strength and conditioning labs. It gives us the opportunity to practice how to play the role of coach. The labs have a lot of great equipment and facilities, and being able to get that hands-on experience brings together the reading and lectures to help you understand things as a whole.

Are you doing an internship through your degree?

I’ve gotten an opportunity to intern with in the Christchurch United Football Club where I’ll be learning youth coaching. I'm really eager to learn a lot of things from the club and their talented staff. It will also give me a chance to apply the things I’ve already learned in classes and workshops to real life.

You participated in the UniLife programme your first year. Tell us what that was like.

UniLife is a programme for first year students that helps you meet people and gives you the change to go out and explore with a lot of activities. It also helps new students adjust to life at university. You get to connect with people and share your experiences while getting familiar with UC.

What do you like about living in Christchurch?

I love the people here; they’re very nice, very friendly. It’s easy and convenient to get anywhere in the city, and there are lots of things to do. I love having coffee and going to a good restaurant. I'm so happy to see so many good restaurants in the city, and Riverside Market is great.