Second year BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy students volunteered their massage and physiotherapy services at the annual Sandbanks Beach Volleyball Festival.

A team of four students, Milly Abduallah, Charlie Jones, Luke Lymbourides and Sam Coleman, gave sports massages and treatments to athletes competing in the national tournament. The event on 6 July, boasted 140 junior teams across 19 competitions.

Susanna Bentman, lecturer in physiotherapy, commented,

“It’s great for our students to be involved at the volleyball event, it really helps build their skill base by volunteering their services at sporting events throughout the South Coast and they really value and enjoy the experience.”

The national volleyball event is one of a number of opportunities for BU’s physiotherapy students to practice their skills in real life situations. They have also volunteered their services at other sporting events including Bournemouth Sevens Festival and Yeovil half marathon, where they also raised money for a special care baby unit.

Charlie Jones, one of the students involved, said,

“Opportunities like this allow us to recap our skills from our first year at uni, as on the day we did a lot of taping of ankles, shoulders, wrists and knees.

“As many of our placements are in hospitals or in a community setting, it is interesting to experience acute injuries; especially with under 16 (paediatrics) as the opportunity to have a paediatrics placement is rare. These opportunities will help when looking for jobs as we now all have experience working with paediatric patients.”

Geoff Allen, Wessex Volleyball chairman and one of the event organisers, said,

“I would like to thank our team of volunteers whose dedication in preparing everything ensured everybody had an enjoyable time.

“So many people came together to make it possible including free water donated by Asda and Fitness First, free sun cream donated by Boots and free physiotherapy and massage services provided by Bournemouth University.”

Poole Grammar School student, Harry Jones, 16, partnered 15-year-old Ryan Poole (Hertfordshire) to win the British under 18’s championship with a victory over Sam Allen and Nathan Fullerton from Bournemouth’s LeAF Academy.