We caught up with Physical Education, Sport and Youth Development student, Maisie Davidson, to chat about her time at St Mary’s.
Alongside her studies Maisie plays for the English Universities Sport (EUS) Women’s Hockey Squad. EUS is the official Higher Education sporting institution in England.
We wanted to find out how Maisie has found St Mary’s, as well as how she’s balanced hockey with her academic work.
What made you choose Physical Education, Sport and Youth Development at St Mary’s?
Originally I was looking at doing sport psychology, but then I picked up a job at my local hockey club and found I really liked coaching and working with kids. I’d also been on a couple of open days at St Mary’s and knew I wanted to come here even before I’d submitted my UCAS application.
I started looking at the Physical Education degree and spoke to one of the lecturers who encouraged me to go for it. I knew it was an area that I was really interested in but that also it would actually help with my work outside of university too.
What are you enjoying most about your degree so far?
I've really enjoyed the teamwork element of the course, especially when we have practical lessons in the sports hall. It’s been really nice getting to know my course mates throughout my degree, as three years goes by quite quickly actually.
The lecturers are also great and always ask about my sport outside of the classroom. I had to miss all my weekly lectures recently as I had an English Universities hockey tournament, but the course staff were really understanding and gave me the chance to catch-up afterwards.
This year my personal teacher isn’t one of my lecturers which has actually been useful as I have an even wider pool of academic staff to get advice from!
How have you found life at St Mary’s in general?
Before I went to college I was really unsure whether I wanted to go to university, but I've really enjoyed every single bit of it. My family lives 20 minutes away from St Mary’s which was a big reason for me choosing to go here, as I wanted to be able to regularly go home. However, in first year I lived on campus which was just so much fun and one of the best years of my life.
My favourite day of the week is definitely Wednesday as that’s when the St Mary’s sport societies meet. I absolutely love it and I've joined hockey and rugby. It's so much fun getting to watch all the other teams, as well as making friends through sport.
I was worried when I decided to live at home that I would feel separated from campus life, but it's nice to know that there are areas on campus like the DV Café that I can study and socialise in whenever I want. I still come in for the gym and to see people on days that I don’t have lectures.
What’s it like balancing your studies with your sport?
Honestly, it has been quite challenging. I’ve had to really think about setting priorities and asking for advice on how to manage important games with big deadlines. That being said, I’ve found the resources and support from St Mary’s has been great. Living in halls actually really helped because we were catered for, so I didn’t have to worry about meals.
My biggest piece of advice would be to figure out what works best for you, and to write down your priorities and goals for each semester. It’s also important to ask for help as soon as possible if you don’t understand something or need support on an assignment. I’ve made the mistake in the past of leaving things until the due date which was a bad decision.
What’s next for you once you graduate?
I’m looking at maybe working in a school as a coach, as I’ve enjoyed the coaching side of my degree more than the teaching side.
I’m still working out what it is that I really want to do and whether that is working with children, but I know I definitely want to do something in sport.