SUPRA

Listen to this great episode as  Jack Ledger and Josh Griffiths who are the President and Vice presidents of the Student Union Physiotherapy and sports Rehabilitation Association (SUPRA) warmly welcome you all to the family! 

Tune in to hear what you can expect from being apart of the society, and all the amazing things it has to offer!

Transcript

UNKNOWN: 0:00

so

SPEAKER_01: 0:10

Welcome to It's Not Just Physio podcast with me, James Coghlan. I'm delighted today to be joined by the president and vice president of the SUPRA, which is the Society for Physiotherapy. But this is where hopefully for people listening will understand a little bit more today about what the society is about and how they can get involved. So without further ado, let's let the chiefs in charge explain. introduce themselves. So yeah hello

SPEAKER_02: 0:43

my name's Jack and I'm the super president this year and I'm in my third year I'll go into my third year of study on the physiotherapy course here at the University of Nottingham.

SPEAKER_00: 0:54

And my name's Josh and I'm Jack's right hand man I'm the vice president of super this year and as Travis said I'm going into the third year as well of physiotherapy at Nottingham.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05

Fantastic so Well, our listeners, you two, do you want to explain, first of all, what does SUPRA stand for? Because I know all for a bit of an acronym, but what does it mean? So

SPEAKER_02: 1:20

this has been a widely debated topic. I asked the previous president last year, Imogen, what it does mean, because I was unsure at the beginning of when taking over. But I think it's the Society for Sport Rehab and Physiotherapy. therapy association or something like that or something along those lines i'm not exactly sure um but but yeah but basically it's the the society here at the university of nottingham that that kind of gets sport rehab students and physio students all involved and and working together and socializing together and get people to know each other

SPEAKER_01: 1:58

and you've both been a part of supra haven't you since you well since you started didn't you is that is that right

SPEAKER_00: 2:05

yeah so um yeah first year uh everyone who joins the sports rehab or the physio courses are automatically a super members it's not like you have to select to join but it's just if you want to i guess turn up to the events and get involved so me and jack from the start got involved went to socials did like they do i'll do one this year as well i did like welcome event with like pizza and so it's just a good way of throwing yourself in there meeting people meeting people in other years um so i would yeah just jump straight in if you can

SPEAKER_01: 2:43

fantastic so as you say as for say a new student or even actually i guess you know a student who's doing the course at the moment they all automatically have the opportunity to be a member if they want to i guess this is a fee involved or is it or is it free of charge or how does that work um yeah

SPEAKER_02: 3:01

it's it's it's free of charge to join and get involved um there's there's fees for different different things that we do offer. So there's a netball and football team which have been running for the past few years now. We're also looking to get a hockey team on a Sunday afternoon up and running. But people are getting involved with and we'll put a poll out on the socials. And there was a lot of interest for that. So we're looking forward to get that up and running. But I think with the football teams and the netball team, I think there's a£5 fee. But it's relatively inexpensive to get involved So, yeah, it's nice and accessible for all new students wanting to get to know the people on their course and in and around the year groups.

SPEAKER_01: 3:44

Fantastic. So, as you say, easy to be a member of, easy to join. You mentioned there's some sporting aspects to being a part of Supra, which sound really fantastic. What other things do Supra do and organise? What other things have you been a part of since you've been members?

SPEAKER_00: 4:04

So we do everything, really, we do. socials which can be like it could just be going to somewhere for a night or it could be a boat party we've done we have summer balls winter balls each year and lecturers quite often come along so that's good that's sort of the social aspect we obviously have the sports where it's just great fun it's a laugh playing sport and then we also have like this sort of educational side of it so we get in guest speakers so So we have like a few contacts who we get in annually and they come in, they deliver a talk, whether it's online or in person, you can get like CPD certificates for that. So it could be about, we had one last year from Alistair, who's the learning disabilities physio. He did a good one and then quite a few members. So I just texted him after and was like, oh, I'd be interested in volunteering. So I did a bit of volunteering with him and quite a few other people did that. So they lead to opportunities really. And then we also set up courses so like extra extra courses so me and Jack have both done sports massage we've done our taping courses this year we're looking at trying to set up a S&C course if possible so yeah we cover quite a large variety of things really I don't know if you want to add anything to that Jack if I missed anything

SPEAKER_02: 5:31

no I think it's obviously important to talk about the social aspect but also kind of what the course offers in terms of going alongside the physio or the sport rehab course because obviously Josh was saying about the CPD and the talks with physios who kind of talk about their journey through their physiotherapy career or their sport rehab career it's fantastic that kind of goes hand in hand with your learning so it's fantastic in that regard to get involved but I think at the socials it's great to meet people from in years above you in second and third year when you're starting as a first year or a fresher I could then go and ask those people at the socials for different bits of advice in terms of where can I go to study my anatomy have you got any good apps that will help me out because that's what first year is all about it's kind of getting down the basics of the anatomy and the biology side of things and so it was great and in doing that they helped me out but I also made pals in the early years which have continued throughout the whole of first and second year so it's been absolutely fantastic for that sort of thing so for breaking the ice with the first and second years and if you are in second year breaking the ice with the first year as well it's absolutely brilliant to kind of create that kind of community feeling and get everyone involved and it's been fantastic for me personally and I think it's the same for other people I would hope

SPEAKER_01: 7:00

It sounds absolutely brilliant and absolutely ideal for anyone starting, wanting to be a part of the sort of like, it feels like a very family kind of oriented thing you've got going here. It sounds like you've got good relationships across all the years. And as you were saying, it gives people a chance to sort of tap into that experience of those who've kind of gone and done things that they would have, they're about to do by the sounds of it.

SPEAKER_00: 7:27

Yeah. And it's also that actors are a bridge between sort of students and the lecturers as well it's a lot easier for if we have a problem or an issue with something it's a lot easier for us as a society to come together and ask about that or speak to lecturers about that rather than just one person alone saying oh i'm not really happy with this so it's a good way it's a good support network as well

SPEAKER_01: 7:53

yeah absolutely and i think having that that support as you said comes in in many different forms um In some of the other episodes we've done, we talk a lot about student services, wellbeing services, academic support and those things. But this sounds very much, you've got the very personal touch, which sounds absolutely, absolutely fantastic. Roughly, I guess it's a bit difficult because obviously you've just moving into third year and the old third years have just graduated. So you might have to re-top your numbers up. I mean, you said everyone is technically a member. Do you have an idea of like sort of active membership like how many people are actively engaged in what you do or do you just classify everyone as as part of that

SPEAKER_02: 8:37

obviously everyone has the opportunity to get involved um but at these at these board parties and obviously you have the the end of year balls we get like upwards of like i think it's around 150 people involved um from all year groups so obviously it's not for everyone which is absolutely fine um it's it might maybe not your being might be your thing or the social side of it or you might just want to go down to that kind of that cbd route which is absolutely fine. That's what we're here for. But yeah, we get about 150 people at the big socials. And obviously those little ones throughout the year, where we may go to a few student bars, student clubs in the city, we get about, I'd say we'll get about 30, 40, 50 people on a Friday night. It all depends. But yeah, for those bigger events, we do get quite a few of the members of the physio and sport rehab courses. So it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01: 9:29

And on a Reflecting on your experiences of it so far, I'm all touching a moment, maybe some of the exciting things you've got planned for this coming year. Can you give us some examples of just some key things that you've taken from being a part of Supra so far? Any sort of key moments that have stood out for you? Any key moments of real enjoyment or anything that's so far been your highlights of being a part of Supra?

SPEAKER_00: 9:55

I think the first social of last year was really good that we had hosted it at our house and there wasn't much room there must have been 60 people plus in our house and we were not expecting it and it was just quite nice because you could just speak to everyone you speak to the freshers you can speak to the third years and it was like everyone in one place I quite I enjoyed that one

SPEAKER_02: 10:21

it was a bit of a hectic one by the end of it I think we'd assigned people the houses and I don't know how well that was abided by but it was a bit of a squeeze at ours but yeah I think the social is absolutely fantastic and we'll have that was the family social so where we get the first years dressed up as babies we get the second years dressed up as the parents and then the third years dressed up as grandparents and so on so it was that's a bit of fun it's a nice way to break the ice and that's usually the first social of the year where people are meeting for the first time but to name a couple of examples we've got with obviously with the football team I was captain of the football team last year I think we won the league on the last match day of the season so that was brilliant in a 3-3 draw so that was I was overjoyed and actually I think that was after the Supra boat party so we were a little bit worse for a few of the teams to say the least but that was probably a highlight for me and I think my first social of first year was the families and I I met a few of the second years and I think Steph who has been on the podcast previously as well as someone called Kieran in third year they've just graduated now they were my parents on the night and I've gone on to have a great friendship with them.

SPEAKER_00: 11:45

There's also the sports massage course I really enjoyed that and then it opens a lot of other sort of opportunities for I've massaged people at home now in the summer I give people sports massage makes a little bit of extra money gives you experience and just sort of when you know that when you graduate then you've got a few connections and a few people that you've already sort of treated and helped so that they'll come back

SPEAKER_01: 12:11

i mean it honestly it's so so good for me to hear more about what what this is all about and even though i wouldn't be able to join what you do i think as someone starting their journey i wish um i wish i had something like this um you know and and i sort of we sort of had I got to know people in my year above and a year above them and there's some I've formed friendships with people that have lasted for years since and it's great but what I love the fact is you've got like a bit more structure about it so you've got this sort of family feel I love the fact you've got these sort of grandparents parents and looking after and I can see how those roles change throughout but it sounds absolutely great fun I'm glad you touched a little bit I mean don't get me wrong, the social side obviously I think is important, as I'm sure you would say, for university. I mean, you two, I know you two well, you study hard. There's no question about it on the course. But how would you say that works with the social side of things? How important do you think it is to have a social aspect within your study? Massively.

SPEAKER_02: 13:26

And when I first kind of applied to go on at the physiotherapy course not necessarily at Nottingham but across the country they were like there was this stereotype that physio students never get any time off or never get any time for play if you like it was all work and that hasn't been the case obviously I've still had to work very hard for exams and for different essays and I had to crack on

SPEAKER_00: 13:53

It's just about managing your time we know of people that did struggle and they felt like got better at it like first year you still have to work hard but there's not that much pressure and then the second year you see a bit of a step up so it took a few people or people time to adapt to that which is fine it's part of the programme but if you know that you've got something coming up in the week so say I don't know we wanted to go to the pub to watch a football game or then you just know that you have to work around that and plan that into what you're doing and do work around that so get somewhere done before that or have a day where you're staying in and working and then you know that you can go out the next day to watch football or whatever you want to do it's just about being sensible with your time really

SPEAKER_01: 14:40

and within that the other side of it as I can imagine some people might be listening going okay sounds like it's a really good social side of it but the great thing you've also mentioned is this very much professional side of it all these courses that you put on and speakers coming in and things like that how has that gone down within the group and for yourselves obviously going through this degree how how how how much have you enjoyed that how effective have you found those bits to be part of supra

SPEAKER_02: 15:10

um yeah massively um we've had a few different people come and come and talk to us now obviously josh mentioned before the the ld or the learning disability physio yeah came in and actually taught on within a lecture as well on one of our modules that was absolutely fantastic to see kind of just that the wide spectrum of where physio therapy that the profession can take you and different routes you can go down we've had I think it was Bradley Skains F1 physio Max Verstappen's physio of sports coach yeah it was it wasn't kind of like a personal one with the society but it was one where members of the society last year had picked out that one seen that one online or on LinkedIn or something and went oh yeah that would be fantastic for our society our members and advertised it and allowed people to join and get involved so it was just little things like that where where members of the previous committee have gone, oh yeah, that'll be me, that'll be classed that and have brought it over and allowed us to kind of get a view and kind of make a, get an idea of the different aspects of physiotherapy. And it's not just kind of the guest speakers and all that sort of thing. It's the society does lots of work with, loads of charity work. And I think they raised last year, I think it was, I think 7,000 pounds for charity overall was they've done skydives as a society like a certain amount Josh remind me how far it was

SPEAKER_00: 16:35

over 200 miles wasn't it

SPEAKER_02: 16:37

yeah yeah and so it was yeah the charity work and the charity side of things being fantastic as well so that's something even better to get involved with we worked closely with the healthcare workers foundation as a society that kind of helps people who work in healthcare in hospitals nurses whoever who may be struggling financially they help them out a little bit and provide different services for those and we've actually got them on not as a sponsor but we're repping them on our seven-a-side football team's kit this year so we've got that all sorted and obviously I had to go through and ask for permission so it was all done the right way and the charity was well up for it so that was excellent and obviously we offer a different type of thing so we have a large group of international students as well so it's quite a few of them and we have obviously the ADI officer and the welfare officer as well to try and make those those people and everyone in the society all of them feel included and so we've talked a lot about not so sober socials but we also offer sober socials as well where we've gone to do bowling and different things and offered kind of laser tag as well and different fun activities for getting people involved so yeah the society as a whole it's been fantastic and I think Imogen Palmer last year's president was it's going to be hard to live up to kind of the standard that she set because she was absolutely fantastic last year, but I think the society actually won an award at the Student Union Awards. It was the most beneficial collaboration. I think it was the collaboration with SignSoc and GP Soc where we got some people from the society to come over and learn some medical related or British Sign Language.

SPEAKER_01: 18:19

I mean, it's absolutely fantastic. I'm really excited for what you are planning to do for next year. And I think anyone listening to this, I can imagine will be excited to join. So tell me a little bit about this. So let's just say I've got someone who's just starting. You say everyone can be a member straight away. How would they know how to contact you? Do you send an email out? Is it a team? How do they go around going, right, I want to be a part of this from the get-go?

SPEAKER_00: 18:50

What we'll do is we'll go into lectures in the first week and we'll advertise what Super is and how to join it was a QR code which puts you on all the socials and then you're in the socials so you're in the group chats and then from there you'll find out all the information of what's going on and then we'll advertise the meet and greet with the pizza and things like that so we'll come into the lectures first in the first week and advertise what we do we'll come in with a few more members of the committee so we'll We all know who's who and who you can go to if you need any help or if you need any guidance. And from there, yeah, join the socials and all the information's on there, really. So if you haven't got Facebook, I would recommend getting Facebook because that's the main group on there.

SPEAKER_02: 19:43

Absolutely, yeah. I think that was a case and a lot of first years didn't have it, but that's where we do most of our contact with the society, as well as the Instagram as well. So for any first years wanting to get involved, I'd say... follow the socials to begin with, but I wouldn't worry too much because within that first week, we've already started to prepare that introduction slideshow and PowerPoint to get it all ready for that introduction lecture where we'll, as Josh said, you'll see a few of the society members there ready to say hello and see if you want to get involved. So yeah, you've got nothing to worry about. You will find out about it. You will. And you'll be able to get involved.

SPEAKER_01: 20:24

And I guess lastly, I mean, so many things I could imagine that you know you can be doing as part of society but have you got any particular big plans for this year any sort of ideas you both have or is that a secret is that a bit of a yeah

SPEAKER_02: 20:40

exactly i don't want to make any any promises that i don't um act upon uh this coming yeah but but yeah as i say it will run pretty similar to to last year obviously we're going to put our own spin on things and and throw a few ideas that we had that we want to implement next year so different activities will we me and josh and know have a couple of connections through different experiences so for getting people in to have a talk with society and telling the society about their career and how they started out and what they did and which route they went down we've got a couple of guys that will potentially come and get involved as I say we'll have a ball at Christmas we'll have a ball at in the summer where we'll do loads of awards and for all the sports teams and have a bit of a laugh and it's nothing completely serious but yeah getting the captain of the team involved they give out a few awards that's that's always great fun and getting there even some of the lecturers involved um i had uh i had a few lectures there last year at the summer one but but yeah as i say it'll run um alongside the course and it'll be i think it'll be pretty similar to last year with with mine and josh and nat and everyone else in the committee's own own spin on things so so yeah

SPEAKER_00: 21:48

and that's one of the main aims we've got this year is to just through the guest speakers show that how many different pathways and routes you can take

SPEAKER_01: 21:56

i think um i think that's excellent um And I think you both have a really good idea of all these things you've talked about, passion, care, it's evident how much you care about each other and your friends and your family on the course. I think it's excellent. So from how I'm hearing it, it's a no-brainer to be part of Supra in terms of improving your professional and your education and your continuing your professional development, as we call it, your CPD, gives you a chance to make really good friends, friends for life, gives you support, gives you fun. It sounds absolutely amazing. And from what I would say from this, yes, absolutely, need to have a real sort of thank you to Imogen Palmer, obviously Steph Anderson as well, Olivia Plack too. I'm sure there's apologies, I'm sure there's others who have certainly been passionate part of it but I'll like from my point certainly having you two being so involved next year I couldn't think of two better people doing this so I think it'll be really exciting and really fun and maybe we'll do another pod throughout the year where we can have an update on how things are going and give people a chance to hear more about what you've got in the pipeline is there any last things you want to say any last rounding moments here before we sign off guys

SPEAKER_02: 23:29

based on my experience over the last couple of years on the physio course I'd say just be a yes man and what I mean by that is just say yes to the opportunities so as many opportunities as you can because even though you may not if it's outside your comfort zone or you may not feel comfortable doing it you don't know who you're going to meet which connections you're going to make what you're going to learn and the worst thing that can happen is I know it's quite cliche is that you'll find out that you don't like it and you'll move on

SPEAKER_00: 23:57

yeah just be excited to go to university really

SPEAKER_02: 24:00

yeah

SPEAKER_00: 24:01

one of the best times of your life just look forward to it you will be nervous but it's natural so

SPEAKER_01: 24:06

love it Jack, Josh it's been an absolute pleasure and I look forward to hearing more about this as the years have gone thank you for your time