Snow Spotlight: Ella Merefield

The College would like to extend its congratulations to Ella Merefield, our JCR Sports Officer and 2nd Year BSc Sports and Exercise Sciences student, on being awarded a 12-week funded internship in Canada, during the summer of 2023.

Ella will be supporting Professor Melanie Gregg's research on Mental Imagery and Success in Sport at the University of Winnipeg.

Ella had this to say regarding her internship:

I applied for this opportunity, as I am keen to travel as much as possible and would love to have a hands-on experience with our subject. To have a chance to spend 3 months in Canada whilst completing sport-based research seemed like a no-brainer. I also had a few friends in the year above who completed the program last year and couldn’t recommend it enough, so I applied and hoped for the best.

I hope to return with a great amount of field-based research experience under my belt and countless amounts of memories from a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Working within the area of qualitative and sports psychology research will be new for me and one I cannot wait to begin. So having this experience to take into my dissertation and future research will be priceless. It will also be an incredible time to travel and explore a new place and see what other parts of the world have to offer.

I am based in Winnipeg for 3 months, which is very central and close to the USA border. I plan to take a trip to the mountains which are nearby and explore the beautiful natural sights of Canada. I also hope to fly to Vancouver or Montreal to experience bigger Canadian cities and really make the most of my experience. A trip to North Dakota may also be on the cards.

Long-term, I want to become a performance coach in Formula One. This is obviously a very niche area and one that requires a lot of knowledge but also experiences, meaning trips like Canada can only help me on my journey. After I graduate, I plan to undertake a Master’s in exercise physiology and gain a range of qualifications around strength and conditioning and physiotherapy, to assist me in becoming a performance coach in the world of motorsport, and potentially the world of rugby too.

I encourage my fellow students to take any opportunity handed to you. Whilst it might seem scary or like a long-shot, you don’t know until you try. I would also say you should always try to push yourself to find new experiences and new memories to take with you.