Jet lag and travel fatigue in elite athletes.

University of Canberra Research Institute for Sport and Exercise.

Dr Brad Clark, Prof Kate Pumpa, Dr Peta Maloney, Dr Dean Miller

I was born in Durban (South Africa) and completed school in Pretoria. I played cricket from the age of 6 and continued through the cricketing ranks until I made my international debut for South Africa (Proteas) at 17. I then moved to Cape Town for cricket and studies. I completed my undergraduate, honours and master’s degrees in sports science at the University of the Western Cape and Stellenbosch University. My master’s degree looked at Grip strength and kinematic parameters for ball carry distance among high-level female cricket batters. During this 8-year period I continued to play professional cricket for the Proteas and the Western Province Women’s teams. After completing my master’s, I decided to take a gap year to focus on cricket. Halfway through the gap year I decided to pursue a PhD and was lucky enough to receive a 50/50 Women in sport scholarship opportunity in Canberra. I moved over to pursue my PhD in January 2024.

I was a professional cricketer competing at the national level for 10 years. We often had to travel across the globe to compete in bilateral series or World Cups. We would often land and be expected to perform 2 or 3 days after arriving in a new country which was unrealistic. The opportunity to aid any athlete in jet lag, travel fatigue, or long-distance travel felt like something I would like to be a part of as I have experience regarding the physical and mental toll it has on you as an athlete.

My biggest passion will always be cricket or something relating to cricket. In that sense my master’s and PhD topics are directly linked to this passion be it from biomechanics or a physiological perspective. Additionally, any research surrounding high-performance sport regardless of the specific sport will always be of great interest to me.

Being from South Africa we’ve been lucky enough to win a few rugby world cups. My favourite one was the 2023 rugby world cup. Supporting the team amongst family, friends, and fellow South Africans throughout the world cup was my favourite as the whole country stood together.

From an athlete perspective my favourite moment was when I scored my first hundred for the Proteas in 2017.

I enjoy, camping, hiking, being outdoors, any form of ball sports, music, playing xbox, and travel (probably also helps with the PhD).