This year, surfing will be part of the Olympic Games for only the second time. University of South Wales (USW) graduate, Dr Joanna Parsonage, is the Research and Innovation Manager at Surfing Australia and her role is integral to the success of the Australian team as they prepare to compete.
Having studied for her postgraduate degree in Sports, Health and Exercise Science at USW (then known as the University of Glamorgan), Joanna later emigrated to Australia to embark on a PhD opportunity with Surfing Australia that would end up changing her life.
At USW, Joanna’s research centred on strength and conditioning coaching, which was the catalyst in what came next for her. She said: “During my studies, I was successful in getting a placement with Cardiff Blues academy rugby team. After completing the Masters degree, I kept my connections with Welsh Rugby and worked with Welsh Tennis too. However, during my undergraduate degree I had taken a year out in Australia, and I always knew that I wanted to go back there.
“A PhD opportunity came up with Surfing Australia, but it was not on my radar to do a PhD at all, I didn’t think I was clever enough.
“Alongside this, it’s expensive and complicated to apply for a PhD international scholarship. You need to gain a certain number of points to be considered. These are counted for your levels of study and things like published research (my masters thesis was published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning and Research).
“Fortunately, the UK Strength and Conditioning Association also confirmed that I had won the Young Researcher Award so I then had enough points to apply. I had an interview and five months later, I was on a plane.”
Joanna, originally from Swansea, completed the PhD in 2018. The following year, they heard that surfing was going to announced as an Olympic sport.
“My role transitioned from a Strength and Conditioning Coach for Surfing Australia then, with the Olympics announcement, my role evolved into 50% strength and conditioning and 50% research and innovation,” she said.
In the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (held in 2021 due to the Covic 19 pandemic), the Australian team picked up a bronze medal in the Men’s category. Joanna said: “Covid changed everything. Three of us were quarantined together conducting the performance analysis in a small room. But it was great for the sport to be part of that competition and to bring home a medal in our first ever Olympics.”
For this Olympic cycle, leading into Paris, Joanna’s role became full-time research and innovation. The surfing heats will be held in Tahiti, French Polynesia, but Joanna and, Lead Performance Analyst, Reuben Koorey will be working in Canberra at the Performance Analysis Hub in the Australian Institute of Sport.“Without giving too much away, we will be gathering data which will help inform the athletes and the coaches on strategies that they can implement in a heat. In the run up to the Olympics, we have also been conducting some really interesting research,” she said.
“My passion is female performance. Tahiti has some of the biggest and most dangerous waves in the world and 14 years ago, female surfers were banned from competing there. So, our female surfers have never surfed there, and we have only had three years to get them ready.
“We also came up with a three-year research project called ‘Paddle to Podium’ which is basically looking at how we can maximise paddling technique and sprint paddling. We have two PhD students looking at the characteristics that lead to better sprint paddling performance and what interventions we could implement with our high-performance female athletes to improve.”
Joanna has called Australia her home for 10 years. She currently lives in northern New South Wales, and is applying for citizenship, but she still has strong links with USW, and her masters supervisor Dr Morgan Williams.
“I am also affiliated with Griffith University here and always looking for opportunities to cross-collaborate on research projects,” she said,
“When I give talks to students who want to work in professional sport, I am realistic with them about how much effort it takes to get these jobs and to climb the ladder like I have. They must be passionate about the area and work hard, take up those internship opportunities and build key relationships, because you never know when they will come into play.”
