Faculty of Education (University of Sydney)

Dr Donna O'Connor (Coach Education, Sports Training)
Associate Dean, Teaching and Learning

Donna is currently the Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney. She lectures in the Human Movement and Health Education program (exercise physiology, fitness training: theory and practice) and is the course coordinator of the new graduate program in Coach Education. Her doctoral thesis was titled: An investigation of aetiological factors contributing to groin injuries in professional rugby league players. Her research and conference presentations cover athletic profiling, science and football, optimising performance, injury prevention and coach education. Donna has worked with the Canadian Olympic Track and Field team, the Wallabies coaching staff, Australian Touch teams, North Queensland Cowboys and national league teams in basketball and netball. She is currently the strength and conditioner with the Opals (Aust Women’s Basketball team).

Dr Richard Light (Coaching, Game Sense)
Senior Lecturer of Social Theory in Human Movement Education

Richard has an extensive background as a general primary school teacher, secondary physical education teacher and coach in a range of cultural settings. He coached rugby in Japan from 1990 to 1996 and has trained in martial arts for over twenty-five years. He is one of the few Western scholars researching and writing on sport in Japan able to access its culture and is a prominent researcher in this field. Richard's research draws on social theory to examine the social, cultural and educational significance of physical education and sport. Through this focus he strives to provide insight into the breadth and depth of learning that takes place through the body that is implicit yet deep and lasting. In particular his work focuses on the role that sport and other regulated physical activity plays in the embodiment of culture, class and culture specific forms of gender. Richard is Section Editor, Pedagogy, for the Asian Journal for Research in Sport Science and sits on the review board for International Sports Studies and Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy. He is a leading figure in research on Games Sense pedagogy in Australia and convened the Second International Conference: Teaching Sport and Physical education for Understanding in December 2003.

School of Psychology (University of Sydney)

Dr Sabina Kleitman (School Sport Participation)
Lecturer

Dr Kleitman has written a paper titled "The Consequences of Sport Participation in High School".

Dr Anthony Grant (Personal & Executive Coaching Psychology)
Director, Coaching Psychology Unit

Dr Grant is the founder and Director of the world's first university-based Coaching Psychology Unit at the School of Psychology, in the University of Sydney. His is both an academic and a practitioner, and his coaching research and practice have been reported in the national and international media. Tony has extensive experience in personal and executive coaching at senior levels and has worked with many of Australia's leading companies as a coach, a consultant and as a teacher of coaching psychology. A registered psychologist, Tony has over fifteen years experience in facilitating individual and organisational change. Since 1997 he has almost exclusively focused on executive and quality-of-life coaching practice, and researching and developing empirically-validated coaching strategies and models.

Dr Michaela Davies (Fitness, Boxing, Martial Arts)
With a PhD in psychology, Dr Davies is a personal fitness trainer, registered amateur boxing coach, and a Martial Arts Industry Association instructor.

School of Leisure, Sport and Tourism (University of Technology, Sydney)

Dr Lydia Ievleva (Sport Psychology)
Lecturer

Lydia joined the School in 1999. She teaches in the areas of sport and exercise psychology, health behaviour and health promotion. She is a registered sport and health psychologist whose practice has spanned three countries over 18 years, beginning in Canada and the United States, and currently in the Sydney area. Lydia has consulted with hundreds of athletes - from developmental and collegiate, to world-class and Olympic, and professional athletes. Lydia also conducts seminars on work/life balance and peak performance for clients in the corporate sector. Her publications and presentations at professional conferences include the topics of Psychology of Rehabilitation; Overtraining; Psychophysiology of Relaxation; and Mental Training for Peak Performance.

Teaching Areas: current issues in health and well-being; applied sport psychology; sport and exercise behaviour; health and performance enhancement strategies.

Research Areas: Health behaviour change strategies; corporate wellness; psychological skills applied to rehabilitation; psychophysiology of relaxation.

School of Exercise and Sport Science (University of Technology, Sydney)

Dr Andrew Randell (Rowing coaching)
Post-doctoral fellow

Dr Randell has a post-doctoral fellowship to the school of Exercise and Sport Science working with A/Prof Richard Smith on the Biomechanics of Rowing. He has recently been appointed Head Rowing Coach to the NSW Institute of Sport.