The SportsVine Player Of The Week - Professor Kevin Norton

By Tony De Bolfo
The SportsVine
Thursday 21 July, 2005

Professor Kevin Norton, Sport Knowledge Australia Director Research and
Knowledge Services.

For almost all of his professional life, Professor Kevin Norton has served as an academic. Currently the Professor of Exercise Science at the University of South Australia, Professor Norton completed his doctorate in exercise physiology in the United States and then held academic positions at the University of Newcastle, University of New South Wales and finally in Adelaide where he officiated as Head of School for more than seven years.

Professor Norton has not only excelled as an academic. He also happened to take to the field in the SANFL back in the 1970s and early 80s.

“Although I played a few games at the highest level I was not going to make a living out of it, so I umpired football for two years before heading over to the USA,” he says.

“I have always enjoyed being competitive so I have cycled and run in races. I still train regularly with teammates from those early football days. We enjoy a relaxed but competitive edge to our sessions.”

As it happens, Professor Norton has only just taken on the brief with Sport
Knowledge Australia [SKA]. As he explains, SKA has been given the responsibility to act as sport knowledge integrators, to filter the vast array of sport information and to ‘package’ it into useful, digestible forms for different segments of the market.

“Although much of our work will involve export markets there is still a strong demand for quality courses and sports-related products in Australia,” Professor Norton says.

Professor Norton points out that he has “always considered it an important part of my professional role to develop useful ‘products’ that are relevant for practitioners”.

“There is such a massive amount of information coming to us in a range of
ways every day. How do we cope with it all and make sense of it all?,” he says.

“I consider myself to be a knowledge integrator who sorts through this
information, takes the relevant bits, repackages it and presents it to consumers. Whether it is through courses, software that I’ve designed, reference books, or via consultancy reports, the message must be delivered in a way that is practical and relevant for the user.

“This is not always easy. I have found it a skill that is often overlooked within the university sector. Not so long ago it was frowned upon within the ‘conservative’ ranks of tertiary institutions.”

In terms of having to nominate his most successful sportsperson, Professor Norton doesn’t play favourites, citing Leighton Hewitt, Mark Ricciuto, Teena Jackson and Tiger Woods amongst his favourites.

“My ideal athlete is someone who plays hard, will never lose focus on their
goal, is the typical ‘hard nut’ in sport, physically and mentally strong, always trying to get the most out of themselves - the one opponents know will not let them off easy,” he says.

“And yet, this person plays within the spirit of the game and within the rules. This person can separate competition and life outside of competition where respect for community rules and moral behaviours is the same for every one in order that we function properly.

“It is becoming increasing hard for elite athletes to do this because of the
status they are afforded within our society and the ‘drift’ of behavioural
standards within sport that is more and more the ‘norm’.”

Professor Norton also volunteers a couple of names when pressed to nominate his most successful industry figure.

“Mike Nunan has been a successful elite athlete, coach and sportsbusiness person. He has been through the ranks and has transferred much of his playing and coaching knowledge to the business domain . . . you have to respect someone who has achieved all that he has,” he says.

“I also like the following coaches very much although I must admit I know them all personally - Neil Craig is developing into a very clever coach. Eddie Jones is the ultimate professional, leaving nothing to chance, and
Charlie Walsh is the best motivational psychologist for a non-psychologist.”

Professor Norton rates Kieren Perkins’ showing in Atlanta as inspirational, “but I have had as many ‘tingles down my spine’ from some of the under 10 soccer games I’ve watched and coached”.

“To see the effort and excitement on kids as they play like I described as my ideal is irreplaceable,” he says.

Professor Norton isn’t one to talk in terms of “done deals”, “but I have great pride in my successes in delivering results through research projects”.

“I have won about $2million for research projects over the last decade and this has been a great source for inspiration and opportunity to develop new knowledge,” he says.

If there was a moment in sport he would most like to see played out on the big screen, Professor Norton suggests close-ups of the human emotion exhibited by both players and spectators at critical times in sport [at
all levels]. As he says, “I could watch hours on end of the way in which people become emotionally involved in sport. It certainly brings out the best and worst in people and this fascinates me”.

Asked to nominate the sports event he hasn’t attended but would most like to frequent, Professor Norton volunteers the American Superbowl.

“Living in the USA I had many opportunities to watch live basketball, football and baseball. However, the Superbowl was never available to me [as a poor student] but it is something I rarely miss on TV,” he says.
In closing, Professor Norton volunteers a lovely story best reflecting his time in an industry he obviously savours.

“When a colleague and I visited China a couple of years ago to run a sports-related course for ‘no more than 40 people’ we knew it was going to stretch our capacity. There were only two of us with barely enough
equipment to handle 40 students and only four days to run the course,” he recalls.

“We travelled 13 hours on a train north of Beijing to a very cold Harbin. The reception we received and the interest shown reinforced to me the thirst they had for knowledge.

“There were over 100 students, all incredibly enthusiastic but with a will to better themselves through this [relatively small] opportunity.

“It was again demonstrated in Thailand where I was involved running a research project on the health and fitness of children. The desire portrayed by staff and students throughout the corners of the country for new knowledge and techniques was very humbling. We should consider ourselves very fortunate.”

Photo:Matthew Vasilescu