{"id":7015,"date":"2016-10-31T06:36:43","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T05:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/?p=7015"},"modified":"2016-10-31T06:43:46","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T05:43:46","slug":"must-read-undergraduate-student-considering-career-sports-exercise-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/2016\/10\/31\/must-read-undergraduate-student-considering-career-sports-exercise-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"A MUST read for any Undergraduate Student considering a career in Sports &amp; Exercise Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span style=\"color: #008000\">Undergraduate perspective on Sport &amp; Exercise Medicine<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">\u2013\u00a0a BJSM blog<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>By Andrew Shafik (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aaashafik\">@aaashafik<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7016\" src=\"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/files\/2016\/10\/ASEMS-Logo-Cropped.png\" alt=\"asems-logo-cropped\" width=\"345\" height=\"90\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/files\/2016\/10\/ASEMS-Logo-Cropped.png 865w, https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/files\/2016\/10\/ASEMS-Logo-Cropped-300x78.png 300w, https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/files\/2016\/10\/ASEMS-Logo-Cropped-768x200.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 345px) 100vw, 345px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%40aberdeen_sems&amp;src=typd\">Aberdeen Sports &amp; Exercise Medicine Society@aberdeen_sems<\/a>\u00a0recently held its first ever event #ASEMSWelcomeTalk. This general introduction to SEM featured three speakers from varying disciplines: Professor Francis Smith (SEM Consultant), Ashley Armstrong (Sports Physiotherapist) and John Psyllas (Scottish Institute of Sport S&amp;C Coach).<\/p>\n<p>The talks all shared a common theme of \u00a0\u2018General SEM Advice\u2019 with a few <strong>KEY<\/strong> <strong>TAKE HOME<\/strong> points for any Undergraduate Student considering a career in Sports &amp; Exercise Medicine:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Get experience<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #800080\">Start at the grassroots and work your way up<\/span><\/strong> (Professor Smith). This will allow you to gain the respect of your colleagues once you are established and working within the field, making you the best person for the job.<\/li>\n<li>Some great establishments for gaining experience include the military and BUCS, who are happy to have students shadowing SEM professionals.<\/li>\n<li>Contact your local sports clubs. Medical and physiotherapy students may be able to assist in pitch side care if they have certain Sports First Aid requirements, allowing first hands SEM experience at the grassroots level.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong>Network\/Mentor<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>The guys at the top are OPEN and APPROACHABLE so get in touch with them to gain experience, discuss a SEM piece of work that interests you or even to ask for general advice. The worst they can say is No.<\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #800080\">Be the dumbest person in the room<\/span><\/strong> (John Psyllas)- continually surround yourself with clever people and you will always find yourself learning something new. Finding a mentor who has already undergone the SEM training process can prove invaluable to teaching you the ropes of SEM.<\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #800080\">Networking is key<\/span><\/strong>&#8211; networking will assist you with getting experience, getting your foot in the door and potential work opportunities. Ashley and John shared that many of the opportunities they both had of working in elite sport have come through their network once getting their feet in the door. Professor Smith also shared the story of Dr Jonathan Hanson (@SportsDocSkye) who started off his SEM career as a student when he shadowed Professor Smith at Montrose FC during his intercalated degree.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><strong>Education\/accreditation<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Education- courses such as MSc Sports &amp; Exercise Medicine may not be deemed essential when applying for certain SEM jobs but can allow you to pip competition i.e. \u2018Maximise your chances by doing everything you can\u2019 (Ashley Armstrong)<\/li>\n<li>Accreditation- courses (such as SCRUMCAPS Advanced Trauma First Aid) may assist you with certain SEM opportunities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><strong>CPD- continue to develop yourself through<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Books\/journals\/conferences\/workshops\/network\/social media<\/li>\n<li>Twitter &amp; Facebook are very useful sources in keeping up to date with HOT SEM topics\/research- follow conference hash tags and SEM professionals can also be very beneficial<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li><strong>Research<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Research- involve yourself in research as well as keeping up to date with the latest research through journals such as the BJSM<\/li>\n<li>Blogs- get writing about SEM topics that interest you (like I\u2019m doing here)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"6\">\n<li><strong>Family\/relationships <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>A very important point but largely missed out, you need to have supportive and understanding family\/friends as SEM is a field that can involve long hours and lots of travel so a stable support network is crucial.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"7\">\n<li><strong>Eyes on the prize!<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Similar to anything in life, there will be a lot of sacrifices along the way. Keeping your \u2018eyes on the prize\u2019 will keep you goal-orientated and motivated at all times.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Special thank you to the 3 speakers who made our first event so successful:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Professor Francis Smith- ASEMS Honorary President<\/li>\n<li>Ashley Armstrong @ashleya262<\/li>\n<li>John Psyllas @Johnpsyllas85<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>********************<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Andrew Shafik<\/strong> (@aaashafik) is a fourth year medical student at the University of Aberdeen with a keen interest in SEM. He is a footballer playing for Aberdeen University Men\u2019s Football Club 1<sup>st<\/sup> XI. He is Co-Founder &amp; Co-President @aberdeen_sems and an Ambassador for Move.Eat.Treat.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #008000\"><em>Stay tuned to the undergrad series &#8211; we have some exciting new announcements coming soon!<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #008000\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<!--TrendMD v2.4.8--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Undergraduate perspective on Sport &amp; Exercise Medicine \u2013\u00a0a BJSM blog By Andrew Shafik (@aaashafik) Aberdeen Sports &amp; Exercise Medicine Society@aberdeen_sems\u00a0recently held its first ever event #ASEMSWelcomeTalk. This general introduction to SEM featured three speakers from varying disciplines: Professor Francis Smith (SEM Consultant), Ashley Armstrong (Sports Physiotherapist) and John Psyllas (Scottish Institute of Sport S&amp;C Coach). [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/2016\/10\/31\/must-read-undergraduate-student-considering-career-sports-exercise-medicine\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2905],"class_list":["post-7015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-undergraduate-perspective"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7015\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}