I've always loved being a Simmarian, it's shaped my life in every way possible!
Not least the fact that once I crossed the Irish Sea and arrived in Twickenham in 1995 it was 25 years before I returned to my hometown in Sligo. Following my undergraduate in sport science and sport rehabilitation (1995-1998) I was employed by Prof Richard Fisher as a postgraduate for the Sport Science team, I completed my Masters and made life-long friends in the sport science department including my husband Ken van Someren. We both cherish our memories from our time at St Mary's, sport science practicals on the old upside-down track, Summer balls and Lenny burgers, days watching cricket at Lensbury and nights socialising in the Red Lion. Long after we departed St Mary’s our link continued as the chaplain Fr Gerry Devlin married us (in Ireland) and both of our children were christened in the college chapel.
Myself and Ken are passionate about sport - he was an international kayaker, spending every spare moment at Royal Canoe Club Teddington. While as a tennis fanatic I was lucky enough to complete my PhD on women tennis players and spent many years researching at the AELTC Wimbledon - happy days! And now we find ourselves re-connecting with St Mary's once again with our workplace wellbeing company, The Wellbeing Advantage!
As it continues to grow, we'd love to connect with Simmarians looking to enhance their current wellbeing offering or connect with us as wellbeing experts themselves? We're already thrilled to have Dr Bernadette Dancy nee Woods (1998-2001) as our lead stress management consultant.
Our company is 100% St Mary’s, and we couldn't be prouder to connect with you as we continue our mission to bring insights from high performance sport to make the best better! Get in touch jvscoaching@yahoo.com.