degrees and certifications
Pilates Teacher
I am qualified as a Pilates teacher in both apparatus and mat work, with my final assessment conducted by Alan Herdman of Alan Herdman Pilates London. My training qualifies me to teach Pilates for both rehabilitation and for exercise purposes. I completed my Alan Herdman affiliated training at The Physiotherapy and Pilates Rehabilitation Centre, Clevedon, UK.
Sports Yoga Teacher:
Teaching Yoga in Sport & to Athletes
I am a certified Sports Yoga teacher, having completed an 80 hour teacher training course, designed and taught in Chester, UK, by Sarah Ramsden. This vocational yoga training is accredited by Yoga Alliance Professionals.
PhD
In 2015 I was awarded my PhD from the Carnegie School for Sport, at Leeds Beckett University, UK. My doctoral research focused on motivation and consistency as factors in the participation of women over forty years old in exercise/physical activity and sports. After completing my MSc research under Professor Andrew C. Sparkes at Exeter University, I followed Andrew's move to Leeds in order to continue my PhD research under his supervision.
MSc (Distinction), Sport and Health Sciences
Research supervisor Professor Andrew C. Sparkes.
Exeter University, UK.
Advanced Gym Instructor
Comprising: Exercise & Fitness Knowledge
Advanced Resistance Programming
Advanced Cardiovascular Programming
Issued by YMCA, UK.
MSc (Distinction), Health Education and Health Promotion
Canterbury Christ Church University College & University of Kent at Canterbury, UK.
Standard Secondary Teaching Credential,
Anthropology & Physical Education with supplementary authorization in Biology
State of California, USA.
BA in Anthropology and Physical Education
University of California at Davis, USA.
I was born in 1950 in northern California, USA, and resided in the US until 1995 when I relocated to the UK. I acquired British citizenship in 2000. My varied background history consists of many years combined personal and professional involvement in sports, athletics and physical activities, including most recently in the fields of Pilates and Sports Yoga.
My captivation and passion with combinations of sport, exercise, fitness and health began in my early teens. I was a team player on every sport that my secondary school offered and by the age of 18 I was qualified and employed in California as a state lifeguard and water safety instructor. After graduating from university in Anthropology and Physical Education, I went on to complete my teaching certification in Physical Education and Anthropology, later adding certification in Biology and a school administrator credential. My main professional focus between 1973 and 1995 was as a high school teacher, sports coach, vice-principal at Hamilton Union High School, northern California, and science chair at Leuzinger High School, Los Angeles. I taught in various high schools throughout California, covering the subjects of physical education, sport, health, sex education, drug education and biology. During these same years I also coached gymnastics, swimming, field hockey, volleyball, basketball and softball.
In 1992, when I was responsible for designing and teaching sex education to high school students across my Los Angeles school district, I received the honour of being chosen by the Yale University School of Nursing to represent United States secondary education by joining an International Delegation on HIV Education to three eastern European countries. I later became my school district’s HIV Education Co-ordinator as well as being recruited as a volunteer HIV test counsellor at the local free health clinic in the Los Angeles area.
After relocating to England, in 1995 I left secondary education behind and became involved as a wider-ranging fitness and health professional through part-time university teaching and research at Canterbury Christ Church University College, work in the NHS as a health educator, and as a GUM clinic sexual health and HIV advisor at Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells for three years. At various periods of time during my residency in Kent I provided health and fitness consultative services to HM Prison Services in Kent, and Kent County Police Constabulary, amongst others. During this time I became fascinated by what makes some people motivated to exercise and play sport, and others simply to allow themselves to age and decay. This is reflected in me later having earned MSc degrees at distinction level in areas of Health Education and in Sport and Health Sciences, and my PhD from the Carnegie School for Sport.
In the early 2000s, in addition to studying for my higher degrees, I gained ITEC certification in Anatomy, Physiology and Body Massage, and completed my Advanced Gym Instructor certification. Even by the time that I'd completed my certification I realised that my deep interest lay in areas of functional and rehabilitative movement rather than basic fitness training. It was also during this period of my life that I first turned to Pilates to help me with my life-long postural problems. Pilates, combined with my personal yoga and Sports Yoga was a terrific help, and its powerful work continues to improve my posture. My main professional focus is now on teaching studio-based apparatus and mat Pilates (combined, where helpful, with other movement methodologies such as Sports Yoga) to help clients remediate problems in their movement and/or posture that may have neurological, illness, injury or life-style origins.
