Diversifying Sport Performance Analysis: Arjun’s Story
Since September 2021, the English Institute of Sport (EIS) has been supporting Middlesex University London with a scholarship that aims to address the clear underrepresentation of Black, Asian and people with other ethnically diverse backgrounds in full-time Sport Performance Analysis (SPA) positions within professional sport.
One of the students on the course is 23-year-old Arjun Dosa, who is being mentored by the EIS’s Head of Performance Analysis Julia Wells. Londoner Arjun undertook a degree in Sports and Exercise Science at the University of Brighton, which is where his interest in Performance Analysis first began.
“I wanted to understand more about Performance Analysis, which led me to an internship at an elite football club and made me realise this is a career pathway I want to proceed on,” he explained.
Arjun, who first heard about the scholarship through Middlesex lecturer Dr Nimai Parmar, is hoping the practical nature of the course will stand him in good stead for his future career goals:
“I was impressed with how practical modules and lectures were in relation to the real world. Having tutorials of using sports analysis and data visualising tools (Sportscode and Tableau) help bridge the gap of theory based to a practical setting.
“Also, assessments aren’t just essays, they are real life situations where you can link academic research to a working environment. For example, a stat report and video analysis as an assessment with close attention to relevant performance indicators with guidance from the literature is super beneficial.”
Finally, Arjun explained how much he has enjoyed working with Julia Wells and benefitting from her experience:
“Being fortunate of having a mentor like Juila Wells has allowed me to further develop myself as a person as well as learn from her own successful career. On our weekly schedule meetings, we have gone over a lot of information regarding myself, long and short term goals and be self-aware of my strengths and weaknesses and how to improve upon on my weaknesses. We also went through an overall requirement guide for an analyst and compare them to my current internship role I am doing currently.
“It was also very much appreciated when Julia kindly went through my CV and cover letters and discussed what is required in those documents for an employer and help me change certain aspects to improve my documents that I will send out for future job application.”
Dr Nimai Parmar added: “The MSc in Sport Performance Analysis at Middlesex University is building in strength each year, with lots of our students and scholarship recipients undertaking placements at high profile clubs and organisations, demonstrating the value industry places on students coming from our course.
“It has been absolutely fantastic to see this sector leading initiative come to fruition, it has always been important to me, as a person from an ethnically diverse background, to champion and support EDI initiatives, particularly within professional sport. This mentorship scheme is already positively impacting the recipients and I am very grateful to Middlesex University and to all of our partner organisations who have gone above and beyond to support and participate in this ‘Diversifying Sport Performance Analysis’ scholarship.”