Student Athlete Insight - Alex Dunn

Blog 3 - Professional Athlete Insight

The next few blogs will be a description of day to day life of professional athletes who are also studying at university.

The first athlete insight will look at Professional Badminton player and Strathclyde Student Alex Dunn, who recently won silver at the European Junior Championships for Mixed Doubles.



My name is Alex Dunn, I am a professional badminton player and 2nd year student at Strathclyde University. I train 2 times a day Monday to Friday ( 8am to 11am and 2:30pm to 5pm) and also have an additional session on a Saturday morning. This disciplined training schedule includes court time, weights and a strength and conditioning programme. Aside from being a professional athlete I have to juggle my studies, which can be difficult as I have days that I have training in the morning, a full day of University lectures and then additional training in the evening. As a professional athlete, this means that a lot of sacrifices have to be made in order for me to be successful. Seeing all my friends socialising without me does make me feel left out sometimes, however this is just something I have to deal with as an athlete. Even when I first began university, it was only until 3/4 of the way through the year that I actually started making good friends, because I never had the chance to socialise with them as I was always away participating at tournaments or at training. This can be hard sometimes, however I just have to keep reminding myself why I became an athlete, and that all the sacrifices with be worth it in the end.

                        Alex winning silver at the European Junior Championships for mixed doubles.