Category Archives: Kinesiology

KIN Lab Crawl

Today I went on a kinesiology lab crawl!

“Wait,” you ask, “what’s that?”

A lab crawl is like the nerdy version of a club crawl, which basically when you bounce from nightclub to nightclub.  Though in this case, you go from lab to lab. When you get to each lab, the lab experts at each place tell you what their research is about.

It was pretty cool to see what type of research actually goes on in the field of kinesiology.  I mean, you don’t expect there to be much, right?  Although a lot of people don’t even know what kinesiology is, let alone have preconceptions of it…

But there’s actually an awesomely wide range of things being studied by kinesiologists! We saw a robot that mimics the way a person shifts their weight, and someone throwing darts whilst blindfolded.  The researchers, most of whom are actually teaching assistants in the School of Kinesiology, explained who they were (more often than not, Masters or Ph.D students) and what they did in their research.

Honestly, the stuff they talked about was way over my head sometimes. I was one of the few first years in attendance, so I guess the event must’ve been more geared towards older students.  But even though I didn’t understand all the content, we had a chance to mingle with the TAs and I got some useful information about getting involved in research, and becoming a Ph.D student! And oh boy, is it a lot of work.

All in all, I think it was a good experience! I’d definitely recommend (what, recommendations again?) doing a lab crawl at least once in your years at UBC.

Unless you’re an arts student, but I’m sure there’s probably an equivalent for it somewhere.

But anyways. If you can, do it!

PS. Bulletin! The director of UBC’s School of Kinesiology, Dr. Sparks, is retiring.  Le gasp.

Height disparities are awkward

So as you might already know, I’ve ended the gymnastics section of my KIN 115B course and started the dance section!  There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of technique involved.  It’s more like free movement and feelings and stuff. Grrrr, I don’t know if I like it or not.

Anyways, we started partner dancing yesterday! We switched around partners a couple of times, and I ended up with this really, really tall guy.  For every step he took, I had to make a giant leap.  Awkward was an understatement.

Is this rude?

Next week: Swing dance!

Course Review: KIN 115B Gymnastics

So last Wednesday, October 17th was my gymnastics midterm, which marked the end of the gymnastics unit in my KIN 115 course.  It makes me a little sad to think that we won’t be doing gymnastics anymore.  I’d never done any gymnastics before, so it was a totally new learning experience for me (as it was for most of my peers).

Instructor: Jennifer Dober.  She’s actually a gymnastics coach, so she knows her stuff.  She does awesome demonstrations (because it’s gymnastics) and you can’t really help but be amazed.  We called her by her first name, as is usual in an athlete/coach relationship.

Time and Place: This class was only on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 2:00pm-4:00pm.  It was good, because by that time I was awake enough to function properly. Our classes were in Gym B East in the Osbourne Centre.  The facility has all the proper gymnastics equipment for youths.  However, sometimes there were problems with using the equipment, because there were guys as tall as 6’4 in my class. They managed to get around it okay, though.

Prerequisites: None, although I’d say you’d have to be moderately athletic to complete the gymnastics section of the course.  I’m not particularly strong—especially in my upper body—but most of the time I could make up for my weakness with flexibility.  The same can be said in reverse for many of the guys in my class; although they were not flexible, they had enough strength and power to cover their inflexibility.  For sure, though, you absolutely cannot be injured to take part in the course.

Textbook: You wouldn’t think that a gymnastics course would have a textbook, but no.  We had to buy a gymnastic coach’s manual directly from Jenn, which was $45.  You needed it for the midterm, but unless you’re planning to be a gym coach, it’ll be useless in the future.  I’m hoping to sell mine to another student taking this course.

The Marking System: Apart from the midterm, all the tests were done in class.  Basically, we learned each skill set within one or two classes (examples: forward rolls, headstands, cartwheels) and then we would be tested on whether we could do them or not.  If you could do the skill with proper technique, you got the mark—anything else, you failed that particular test. The focus of this class was mainly on being able to teach developmental gymnastics, though, so our two big projects were more based on that. The written midterm was harder than I expected, but I feel like I did reasonably okay on it.  We will have to see!

I can’t actually recommend this course to anyone outside of the school of kinesiology, as it’s a faculty-only course.  But for those who are in kinesiology, I can say that if you can, take it!  It’s an elective course, but even now I feel like I wouldn’t have had as much fun this term without it.  Plus, I’ve gotten to know the people in my class pretty well already because it’s such a small group! For a university class, we’re pretty tight 😀

In any case, that’s a wrap for this part of the course!  I’ll be posting a review on the second half later this term, as well as reviews for my other classes (check my About page).

Dinners for Kinners!

Here in UBC KIN, we’re like a ginormous extended family!  It’s one of the perks of being a small school within the university.  Everyone’s pretty friendly, and it’s easy to get close with each other because we pretty much all go to the same classes at the same times.

Anyways, the Kinesiology Undergraduate Society (KUS) thrives on the enthusiasm of KIN students and puts on a lot of different social events throughout the year. Regrettably, a couple of them (such as the annual Halloween Boat Cruise) require you to be 19+ in order to go. Dinners for Kinners, however, is all ages! D4K is (in the words of the coordinators) “one of the marquee traditions for UBC kinesiology students“.  Everyone in the faculty is invited to go out to eat at a restaurant together, and have a good time! Can any other faculty boast that amount of inclusion?

This past Thursday was Round 1 of D4K! We went out to The Eatery, which is a Japanese food restaurant with some really funky sushi combos. I had a Green Hornet Roll (yep, like the superhero) and ohmygod it was delicious!  Definitely one of best sushi rolls I’ve ever had.

Huffah, my table group! They are cool people.

Even better than the food, though, was that I got to hang out with new friends—without the pressure of exams hanging over us.  The overall mood was great, despite the drizzly weather!  About 80-ish people went, and we took up practically the whole restaurant. There were a couple of games played, and prizes given out.  The combination of post-exam relief, sanctuary from bad weather, and great noshes made for some good times!  🙂

It was a great way to end what was a horrible week for me. I can’t wait for the next one!

PS. Anyone have any suggestions on where we could go? 🙂

First midterm tomorrow!

I’m scared. So, so scared.  Help meeeeee.

Panicky Courtney is panicky.

There’s so much stuff that has to be memorized for physiology! Yeah, KIN 190 actually one of those classes where you do some crazy massive memorizing.  A pack of flashcards are your best friend in this case.

Also, I find that drawing things out (hello, muscle contraction) on a giant whiteboard is really helpful, as is studying in groups.  Also, talking through ideas seems to work well.  But don’t whisper to yourself on the bus, as it causes people to give you funny looks (although if you like that sort of thing, I suggest rocking back and forth as well).

Anyways.  Back to cramming studying now!

Ughaughaughaugha.