By Dan Lothian
After over 15 years as a full-time sport scientist in professional football, last year, I made a significant career change into academia. My previous roles had immersed me in the demanding and competitive world of sport science, predominantly in football, where I was responsible for supporting elite athletes and leading sport science teams, including my final roles as the lead academy sport scientist at a Premier League club and working as a physical performance consultant with the Football Association (FA).
In football, time is relentless. Hours stretch beyond the ordinary, with late nights, early mornings, and an unpredictable schedule. It wasn’t unusual to finish a game and get home in the early hours of the morning, only to be back at the training ground a few hours later for recovery work. Days off were rare, even at the weekend, and when they came, it was nearly impossible to disconnect. I’d found myself cutting holidays short to meet job demands, sleeping at the training ground during intensive periods, and consistently missing valuable time with family. Football’s scheduling is fluid and, at times, chaotic— days off change without notice, and taking annual leave during the season is implicitly frowned upon, if granted at all.
The professional side of working in football was challenging but also rewarding at times, working with other passionate people who shared a commitment to improving elite performance and assisting players physical development were areas of the role I enjoyed most. However, it also came with its fair share of challenges. The industry, like many others, has its politics, and personal agendas which can sometimes overshadow the collaborative spirit needed for genuine progress. While I met a number of great people during my time in football, of whom I still remain in contact with, a few characters amongst the staff could be manipulative, arrogant and dictatorial, which began to drain my enthusiasm for the role and the sport. Ideally, in the textbook performance environment, everyone would work together, with the combined aim to elevate the players and the team, but too often, this was not the case. Perhaps, I was naïve to expect the ideal, but these dynamics began to weigh on me over a number of years, affecting not only my outlook on work but also my well-being at home.
Stepping into academia was a refreshing contrast. The ability to manage my own time, work from home when required, and organise my own schedule has been transformative. Academia provides more autonomy; I am trusted to deliver my work without the need for rigid, senseless attendance, and I can schedule my annual leave with a lot more flexibility. This level of freedom means I now have my weekends and bank holidays with my young family, a luxury that felt impossible in my previous role. The academic environment has also presented enriching growth opportunities, such as the chance to pursue a professional doctorate, teaching qualifications and to learn from high-level academics in the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation, particularly the Graduate School of Sport and Professional Practice.
However, the transition hasn’t come without its challenges. The autonomy academia offers requires a lot more self-discipline, but as a driven individual, I find this manageable and more accomplishing. More challenging, is coming from a purely applied background, there are some brilliant academic minds at the University of Birmingham, but there is less applied understanding within academic settings. I feel that I sit in ‘the gap’ between applied and theoretic sport science and exercise physiology. This is of benefit to students, as I can share my experiences to support students in making the link between theory and practice. However, this same absence of applied understanding can at times slow applied innovation in the department. The pace of change is also noticeably different from football, where decisions are made on the fly, and significant changes to ways of working can happen in an instant, academia often has more bureaucracy and red tape to get changes over the line.
Looking back over the last year, I see this move as an invaluable transition. My experiences in football still heavily inform my work in academia, where I now support students and bring a practitioner’s perspective to the curriculum. However, academia has given me an opportunity to refresh my outlook and working practices. I feel that I have been given more opportunity to develop as a practitioner and improve different areas of my practice which I couldn’t in football. This has given me a lot to learn, but also a feeling of rejuvenation. And as I reflect, I believe football could benefit from the level of trust and flexibility found in academia—an industry built on the idea that, with freedom and respect, people can achieve their best work.
D.T.Lothian@bham.ac.uk