Women working at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) are enjoying impressive achievements.
NTU lecturer in Applied Sport Science, Rachel Malcolm, is Captain of the Scotland women's team for the Six Nations rugby competition.
The Six Nations sees the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales compete for victory. It is one of the biggest competitions for rugby and the main prize is qualification for the World Cup in New Zealand.
Ahead of the 2020 competition, Rachel told The Scotsman: “It doesn’t change much in how I play and carry myself, to be a standard-setter and lead by example rather being someone who has to pick the girls up. Within our squad we have leaders around me. It’s an easy job for me.”
Although Scotland was defeated by Ireland in the competition, Rachel is generally proud of her team.
"There was a large length of time when Scotland Women hadn’t won any games but now we’re scoring tries almost every game we play and getting wins," she said to The Scotsman. "We just want to keep pushing on, be more consistent and close the gap with the other teams.”
"Organisation is a massive thing. As a squad our understanding has improved massively in terms of the game. Also the strength and depth is starting to build," Rachel explained. “We’ve got a brilliant team in terms of the strength and conditioning side of things. We like to play fast rugby and you need to be fit to do that."
A flourishing career at NTU for Rachel
The role of Lecturer and Academic Associate at NTU is Rachel's first academic post, having completed her MSc at Loughborough University. She teaches on a number of the physiology and coaching based modules, mainly during practical/laboratory sessions.
Rachel's research is based around the physiological responses to heating and cooling during exercise, looking closely at neuromuscular and cognitive function. She is conducting a study looking at the reliability of the transcranial magnetic stimulation technique as a means of measuring central fatigue.
In addition to her work at NTU and captaining Scotland Women, Rachel plays for Loughborough Lightning in the English Tyrrells Premiership.
Read Rachel's full interview over at The Scotsman.
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