Region: STA South West

Hello, my name is Alex Moore and I am regional rep for the Sports Therapy Association down on the South Coast (Dorset). I have been a member of the STA since around 2014. I joined because the high regard this association is held amongst many of the industries leading figures, and I can see why. Since I have been a member the service they have provided (especially during the Coronavirus pandemic) has been superb. No one works harder and cares more, about this industry, than Gary Benson, and I am delighted to be a volunteer rep for my region to help this superb association grow and help as many members in this area as much as I can.

My journey so far..
Back in 2008, I was in my early 20s and was working inside an office block, data processing for a bank, searching for a career I wanted to do. It was when I started receiving physiotherapy treatment myself, from one of the regions leading physiotherapists and from this I know straight away I wanted to be involved in this industry.

As I didn’t have appropriate A-Levels or GCSE (I have a double A level in Business and I only got a single ‘e’ GCSE grade in Science), a year access course, followed by a 4-year degree, didn’t appeal to me. This led me to look down the personal training route specialising in rehab and injury. Initially I was reluctant, as I didn’t particularly enjoy the prospect of becoming ‘just another personal trainer’ working in a gym. Although I thought building experience as a fitness instructor would be a good move. So, I enrolled on a Level 2 Fitness course and this is where I first met Mike Grice. All of the course was online (with the exception of the exams), so I had to pretty much teach myself anatomy & physiology from scratch. As I was working through this course, I noticed Mike was involved in ‘biomechanics diploma’ up in Loughborough and having been inspired the amount of knowledge he had just from our first phone call, I signed up for the course straight away. What I probably should have done is finish my level 2 fitness instructor before I did the course, as I discovered when I was partnered up with expiernces Chiro’s and Physio’s on the course, my knowledge was a little less to say the least. Luckily I had great support from Mike and the rest of the team and now looking back I’m glad I did the course this way, as it has taught me to work methods out for myself and become a much better practitioner, rather than ‘just doing as was shown’.

I then went on (with Mike Grice and the team again) to do a Sports massage course which really improved my hands-on skill, as well as my growing anatomy learning. I have always wanted to learn more of the exercises to help rehab, rather than just rubbing people, so I then enrolled on a Pilates course for 6 months. To be honest, I was quite unimpressed as the majority of the course where somewhat lacking. They were great for giving the exercises (hundreds, roll overs etc) but we were never taught how to clinically think or reason, and when & when not to give these exercises to people. It was a ‘one fits all’ exercise approach, which isn’t appropriate for people with pain. This approach was fine for standard exercise class in gyms, but as I wanted to work with people in the clinically settings and also in the elite athlete setting it was obvious a standard 6 month Pilates course was not going to be good enough.

Through the STA, I met Bonnie Southgate (who very luckily was based just round the corner from me). After an afternoon spent with her, I know I wanted to learn everything she knew, as she was delivering the perfect Pilates format for me. Everything was uniquely based around the individual, and the Therapy was being implemented amazingly well (something I haven’t seen before). Luckily she was on the look out for teachers and wanted to train people in Pilates, Pilates Equipment, Therapy and linking it all together. So, I spent the next 4 years learning from her and when qualified I started working in her Parkstone studio and her new studio in Ferndown.

The learning wasn’t done yet, and I soon realised I wanted to learn more about the Therapy aspect. I had a desire to really keep up with the latest research, but wanted to understand how to read it and implement it, to keep my work really up to date. I then noticed Mike Grice was starting a new intake of people of his Movement Therapy Diploma, and it was everything I was looking for. I knew by doing this course, I would receive the highest amount of knowledge any Sports Therapy Diplomas (and even degrees, after speaking to many postgraduate students) would learn. It was no a brainer, so myself and Bonnie signed up instantly and have been working my way through and been getting the benefits ever since.

Contact Alex