My dream——Studying in Beijing, studying sports

I am an athlete who is good at basketball and karate. I adore sports very much. Whenever I feel stressed, getting sweaty from working out is a great relief.

Formerly, I planned to apply for Beijing Sport University (BSU) after graduating from high school. I first majored in Marketing at a university in Malaysia for some reason. However, I have never given up on my dream to study at Beijing Sport University. And so, I firmly applied for Beijing Sport University after graduating from the local university, looking forward to fulfilling the long-cherished dream.

I was primarily interested in medicine. When I was choosing a major, I saw an option of Exercise and Sports Physiotherapy Major. I was thinking: “Physiotherapy?” It must be the wounded or injured that needs physiotherapy. I was then reminded about the injuries that frequently happened when while doing sports. Injuries——experience and hardship which all athletes have to endure and overcome. I have heard that many excellent athletes chose to give up their sports careers because of their injuries, which is a pity. Since then, I have wanted to study Exercise and Sports Physiotherapy. Other than being my interest, it can also allow me to help others!

Before I got into sports physiotherapy, I thought it was the same with physical therapy. Yet, physical therapy’s coverage is more all-enduring, including elderly rehabilitation, women’s rehabilitation, children’s rehabilitation, cardiopulmonary, bone, nerve, etc. In comparison, sports physiotherapy is just one part of physical therapy. Sports rehabilitation is mainly based on chiropractic rehabilitation and its treatment is carried out in the form of sports. Therefore, people who have a sports base have superiority in learning sports physiotherapy.

Our training program includes Advanced Mathematics, English and more subjects, but they are for Chinese students only. I learned more theoretical knowledge in my freshman and second years in my undergraduate stage. Starting from the third year, the number of practical courses that need to be taken increases substantially. I have started to conduct online learning from the second semester of my second year, taking practical lessons by on-screen learning with no hands-on opportunities. 

I joined some physical therapy associations in Beijing and met some seniors there. By chance, I was fortunate enough to follow seniors to the Chinese National Team Rehabilitation Center to provide some help during a summer break. At that time, I noticed that those national team players did not know much about injuries or recovering. So I very much wanted to help them. After each treatment, they always thank me sincerely, expressing that they had felt better after treatment. I was always touched, getting a lot of inspiration from them. I am happy to be a “physiotherapist” and provide help to the athletes.

Back in Malaysia, I discovered a difference in sports physiotherapy in Beijing and Malaysia. For instance, Beijing Sport University considers exercise and sports physiotherapy as physical therapy. But, Malaysia makes a clear distinction between the two. Because of this, I am currently communicating with the Malaysian Physiotherapy Association to see if they can include sports physiotherapy as one of the associations.

The Exercise and Sports Physiotherapy profession is relatively unpopular. Once, someone asked me, what should I do if my parents do not agree? I think it depends on one’s passion and development in the future. Perhaps in the stereotype, people who study sports can only be athletes or coaches. In fact, the field is broad-ranging. Sports equipment, sports data, sports media, medical rehabilitation, etc., are all indispensable parts of the sports field. After determining what you want, work hard and strive for parents’ approval as parental support is always vital.

Suppose any juniors are interested in exercise and sports physiotherapy. In that case, I am willing to share the current society’s understanding of this major, the knowledge learned from BSU, the market’s demand for this major and more so that they can have the opportunity to gain a thorough understanding of the profession’s structure and future directions.

The Exercise and Sports Physiotherapy profession is emergent and lacks talents. I think that it may be a trend in the future. I have always aspired to become a “physiotherapist” and will stick to it, using theory and practice.