Science and sport go hand in hand to provide best lesson for success - resilience

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This was published 8 years ago

Science and sport go hand in hand to provide best lesson for success - resilience

By Tristan Clemons

When you think of a typical sportsman, you probably don't think of a scientist.

In Australia we tend to think of science and sport as polar opposites. Sometimes we even pit them against each other.

Tristan Clemons plays for the Australian Kookaburras hockey team.

Tristan Clemons plays for the Australian Kookaburras hockey team.Credit: Dan Carson/DCImages

I've played field hockey at the elite level since my debut in 2011, playing for the Australian Kookaburras and, earlier, for the West Australian Thundersticks in the Australian Hockey League.

In my case, the stereotype of a simple-minded sportsman is probably reasonable; I mean who in their right mind would stand in front of a hard plastic ball that's going 120km/h?

Dr Tristan Clemons in the lab.

Dr Tristan Clemons in the lab.

But for my day job, I'm a scientist. My research at the University of Western Australia, which is supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Fiona Wood Foundation, looks into the development of nanoparticles for drug delivery.

I combine chemistry and sophisticated engineering to synthesise tiny particles, about a thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair and use these to deliver drugs for a range of diseases including cancer, heart disease and injuries such as wound healing and scarring.

It's work I love. But it means I work full-time as a researcher combined with up to 10 sessions a week of hockey training. I often get asked how I fit it all in.

Part of the answer lies in how the two spheres, sport and science, complement each other. (I also have a number of people who support me, particularly my fiancée, who make it all possible.)

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But the truth is I wouldn't be the scientist I am without my sport and I wouldn't be the hockey player I am without my research.

Both are the perfect training grounds for dealing with setbacks, whether it's a bad training session or getting stuck on a problem in the lab. Working on both my sport and my science have meant I can never dwell on disappointments for long.

They also both present valuable lessons about leadership and team work and there's no doubt that my sport and my research make me work for success.

In science, we often hear about the successful research and the big breakthroughs that win Nobel prizes.

I wouldn't be the scientist I am without my sport and I wouldn't be the hockey player I am without my research

Tristan Clemons

But behind each success story, there are thousands of experiments that failed, theories that didn't hold and struggling teams dealing with delays and complications.

In science and in hockey, I know that I need to be resilient, to pick myself up after failure and try again. You have to be willing to risk the failure if you want the success.

But that's what many Australians don't understand. The reasons we love our elite sports players – for their tenacity, grit and perseverance – are exactly the qualities we should be admiring in our elite scientists.

I am one of 13 Australian scientists selected to represent Australia at the Lindau Nobel Laureates meeting in Germany. I hope that my efforts would be recognised in the same way as when I'm called on to play for my country on the hockey field.

We need scientists and sportsmen alike to break the mould. And let's hope that as more people see scientists and sports players smashing stereotypes, the more we'll celebrate them.

Dr Tristan Clemons is in Lindau, Germany where he is taking part in the 65th Lindau Meeting of the Nobel Laureates, a meeting which brings together more than 60 of the world's Nobel Prize winners from Chemistry, Physics and Medicine combined with more than 600 of the best emerging research scientists from across the world.

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