Hello Everybody,

Hard to believe that this year is almost over and we are getting so much closer to 2020, which will also be the year that I plan to have my Masters at UBC completed.

Since my last post I have completed my literature review for KIN 530 and have also created an implementation plan for my research on tire pressure on racing wheelchairs. During the final stages of the literature review I definitely appreciated the guidance of my supervisor David Hill. His feedback and comments helped me greatly to focus on my review and make sure all the articles I reviewed related to what I wanted to achieve in my research. I can’t shake off the feeling though that I have not truly completed the review and everyday I come across new studies and themes I feel I could have included in my review…..however I’m happy that we did have a deadline for the review and feel if there was no deadline it probably would have become a never ending task.

After I submitted my lit-review i shared my findings and thoughts with my expert group of researchers and kinesiology experts. I got some great feedback that included being more precise in my terminology for example distinguishing between rolling friction (includes all the parts that contribute to friction, including bearings) and rolling resistance which is only the friction that is produced between the wheel and the ground surface. I also was happy to hear that i will not need an ethical approval for my research, which will make the research proposal approval a bit easier.

My next step is now to work on designing the actual research proposal over the next couple weeks. I have already contacted my supervisors Maria and Carol for the last part of this Masters. I have asked them to give me an example of previous students to get a better idea of the format etc.

As we are going into the final phase of this Masters I constantly see my self finishing up this chapter in my professional development and will for sure have a party once the final thesis is approved. Looking back a year ago one of the gaps that I identified during our Graduate Certificate was the knowledge of equipment and being confident in making coaching decisions regarding the right choice of equipment. The last years process has helped me to scientifically identify the factors that are important in wheelchair racing and I’m more confident that I can guide my athletes to make evidence based decisions when it comes to equipment factors. I’m hopeful that I will have some ground breaking evidence on ideal tire pressure that I will be able to share with my athletes and other national team coaches.

For now this will be my last entry for this course but I have a feeling I might come back after all is completed and do a final report.

Coach Ueli