Chris Court Gold
Project Title:
The effects of variability-based learning for skilled team sports |
Partner Organisations:
Queensland University of Technology The Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Sports Commission Volleyball Australia |
Supervisors:
Assoc Prof Adam Gorman Assoc Prof Ian Renshaw Dr Michael Maloney |
Student Background (academic and personal):
I started my academic journey with a Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Canberra from 2019 to 2021. In my final year, I took part in a placement opportunity with Australian Athletics as a biomechanics student. After my placement, I was offered a job with Australian Athletics as a casual biomechanist. At the same time, I transitioned from my undergrad to a Bachelor of Health Science (Honours) with Basketball Australia, the AIS, and the University of Canberra, utilising skill acquisition to explore the effects a defender has on basketball shooting technique. Once I finished my Honours, I continued my academic career with an embedded PhD with the Australian Institute of Sports and the Queensland University of Technology. I am currently 1.5 years into my PhD, my honours paper has been published in the journal Psychology of Sport and Exercise, I am embedded within the Volleyball Australia daily training environment as a skill acquisition specialist, and remain working with athletics as a biomechanics and skill acquisition specialist. |
What made you interested in this PhD?
I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the skill acquisition field in my honours along with the process of scientific research and being embedded in a sport. It was that honours project and the support of my industry supervisor Dr Michael Maloney that gave me the desire to build a career in skill acquisition. |
What are your broad research interests?
Skill acquisition is the field I am most interested in. Within this field, I specialise in variability-based learning designs (i.e., practice variability, contextual interference, differential learning), although I have also tried to get a good grasp on the rest of the skill acquisition literature. I have also spent considerable time learning about qualitative research, single-case experimental designs, and case study designs. |
What is your favourite sporting moment?
St George Illawarra Dragons 2010 Premiership |
Fun fact about yourself:
Apart from sports, I love cooking – My beef ragu is elite |