Written by Tijana Sharp, UTS Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science student
I grew up in the Sutherland Shire. I was an extremely active kid – I’ve been dancing since the age of 3 until now and I’ve been at my current studio for 10 years now.
Sport and exercise have always been very important to me. My family are the same: we all love and play various sports, so my passion for dance was supported by them. Even being at school didn’t stop me from loving dance; both my primary school and my high school were close to home, so I was able to maintain a crazy school schedule and still be able to make it on time for my afternoon dance classes!
However, being a dancer for this long has meant injuries… a lot of them!
Being apart of the recovery process, and seeing so many of my friends go through the same pain, made me realise that I wanted to be involved in sport and exercise somehow, specifically physiotherapy.
The body and its facilitation for movement – from walking to jumping to dancing – is always something that has intrigued me. But not just that: while I’ve always been fascinated by how things work, I’m also interested by why things hurt and how the body fixes these injuries.
How can we facilitate the body to fix itself through more exercise, rather than just medication and rest? That’s what I want to know, because I’ve experienced injury and the rehabilitation process myself.
That’s why studying a Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science was such a natural choice for me. Not only do I get to learn what I want to learn, I also have a direct pathway into the Masters of Physiotherapy, which is perfect for what I want to do in the future.
I also love teaching – currently, I’m teaching and assisting at my dance studio but who knows? Maybe in the future, I’ll open up my own practice or specialise as a physiotherapist specifically for dancers… Or both!
Inside | Out 