Author’s Notes:
From the start, Full disclaimer:
I’m NOT in ANY WAY, diminishing Covid and its fatalities (estimated worldwide fatalities 18.1 – 33.5 million), its separation of families, cause of isolation, mental health problems, or any of it’s MANY inconveniences. it was an awful and testing time for so many, and this story is not to belittle those facts.
A brief history of Covid 19 (Coronavirus disease)
In November 2019, Covid (probably) arose in Wuhan, China. On a wet market, where it’s believed it originated from a human eating an infected bat.
By January 2020 it was declared as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), and on 11th March, 2020, the outbreak was assessed as a Pandemic, a world wide infection.
When it reached English shores, on March 23rd, 2020, Boris announced that it would become into legal effect that people should (in the most part), stay at home, especially those who were “Non essential workers ” (me included).
“A TIME and a PLACE, for everything”…
Whilst many may disagree with me, I’m one of the rare few who benefitted from the perfect timing of the Pandemic, even though I didn’t fully realise it, initially.
Covid created a quiet world, and a new world, which, oddly enough , over time, became comforting and familiar, despite the eeriness and un-ease that came with it. For me, on realisation, it became a night and day difference.
Before Covid – And a warning for any future students:
The first year of my 2 year M.Sc. (starting in September, 2019) had been a real culture shock and a hugely underestimated affair, on my behalf, and largely due to MY overall misjudgement of the gravity of the tasks in hand.
For one thing , it was the first time I’d entered Uni in 19 years, as an Alumni. My initial graduation (then for Sports Science) was in 2000, and in the same university, Chichester, and things had changed (I was now running a fully fledged business, at 47 years old)
“Old dog… New tricks”
In year one, I was ALWAYS, doing too much, and never able to fully concentrate, always on the go. I foolishly continued to run a full time business, alongside being a student, this my first mistake.
I was too busy to get the required study time in. It was rough, and I remember joking to others (there were only 6 others) in my cohort that I was fast becoming a “Straight- D” student.
Fast forward, back to Covid times. (still within) My First Year as a student…
The Pandemic struck when I was near the end of the first year of Uni. I remember this distinctly, because in 100 consecutive days I had to remain at home (as so many). Even though the course cost me (a significant amount of) money. I’d been sitting at home, working on various projects , several all lined up in no particular order. During this time there was no idle time in the day, only work.
On occasion, I’d visit the local corner shop. I would make dinner every night when my wife came home (she had to work in most part, throughout the entire time), I had became very strict within myself.
For my Masters, I realised I needed to be disciplined, and my life, fully structured.
But I wasn’t initially. Yet I really was busy as these were extraordinary times. Looking back, I can see the change in my attitude. By necessity, I’d started to set time aside to fit study into my day. Because, like many then, time was all I really had.
I finally realised I had plenty of time available, time to really THINK. I could get my head into being a REAL student, take it seriously and punch in the hours required. So far, I’d lacked the confidence in my own ability.
The first modules, Advanced Research Methods (statistics), looked almost impossible. I’d almost convinced myself I’d fail, as I couldn’t understand it. Yet, maybe if I committed myself, like I do with training, I could get through.
So I did. and also, along side it, I also used the time to include:
My Cardiac rehab exam, renew (every 3 years)
My NSCA CSCS, re-cert. (every 3 years)
Several Statistics assignments, one was a 2000 word essay about a statistical procedure. LOL, looking back, even the idea of this was very complicated.
And, a further 4000 word Sports Analysis project about tennis. This essay was a handful but far more relatable than the stats essay.
I even factored in:
Completing a tax return (oh wow, how all self employed people love this yearly ritual)
(and a long standing personal project)
The projects became an obsession. They drove me mad at times. BUT also, they saved me.
And, they would often put me in a really lonely place. A strange alchemy.
Also, during this time… my weight had hit 13 Stone (my fighting weight is 12 Stone) And I was Drinking a lot, and to be fair, I would probably have made a fairly good functioning alcoholic. My wife’s home made bread didn’t help either. All jokes aside, this wasn’t really me and it needed to change…
During the lock downs, you could not visit gyms. Strangely, I had ZERO motivation to train, even though my van outside IS a gym. I was involved with a different kind of goal now. Academia had completely engulfed me.
Oh my word. The HOURS spent crunching the data and looking through ready made presentations about statistics, back then, was mind blowing stuff. It took me well beyond my normal attention span. I don’t know how I did it, really. When I reflect, but I did. And although no expert, I was improving.
And, in line with this, my work, showed a real improvement in my grades, when the marked papers were (finally) returned it was refreshing, I had gone from a straight D student to upper B grades.
My 4000 word project received 69 %. Nearly a First, which starts at 70%.
There was this extensive table, which was only meant to take a few hours’… But It actually had taken me ten hours of work, overall. A day in the office .
There was a comment from a tutor about the said table I had included, he simply said. ‘good table.. could have been done better’…
Fair enough, but there was no time to worry anymore. The mark spanned two aspects of work. The written part received 50%… but this was 66% of the overall mark. The remaining 34% was for the practical component (interaction with the team). The practical part got 100% and swung the score.
Here on, as some kind of epiphany, the clouds parted to reveal the truth… I was as good as ANYONE and I could only get better here on. It was all about application. And, the Advanced Research Methods (statistics) modules were OVER.
Bring on…
Year Two…
“This office was to be my entire world, for a good while longer “
This (Year 2) would be where I would REALLY come into my own. My own Personal (Business) work had slowly picked up, but if you remember we still faced further lockdowns and rule changes. Almost on a weekly level.
Much of my work had to be conducted outside now, by law, with only the ‘vital few’. These clients effectively had saved my business. It really was an uncertain time for many. Covid had effectively sunk companies such as Debenhams, Topshop, Poundland, Army and Navy and Laura Ashley.
“The first rule of business is remaining in business”, Ok, I had only me to think about (sole trade), but I’M STILL HERE….
Whilst my own business was building more than before, Covid rules constantly changed. Lines were often blurred, to a point. One had to translate the law as best one could. By now my second year had started. Still, with the Pandemic in full swing, we students were not even allowed into university, most of the time.
On the occasions when the fickle rules allowed, I would wind up in the library. This was a nice part of the process. It gave me focus and purpose. Year Two required a real life subject upon who to apply my training methods.
I had decided on my subject. I was going to work for 8 months, through two major work placement projects (done through my existing business portfolio) with the same client.
He, Paul Comerford, a 64 year old runner.
Fantastic guy, client and friend .. We have (surprisingly when I reflect) now worked 20 years together on various goals. Upon reflection, I couldn’t have chosen anyone better to have asked to be my subject.
And so I started on the penultimate project. This was to become a beast and ultimately would be submitted a couple of weeks early and was ultimately around 90 pages long.
We worked together on readying Paul for his first 50k Ultra-Marathon. Things went really well from day one. Paul was easy to work with and was extremely reliable. He followed every part of what was required, to the letter. We put a lot into this project…Hours. Looking into EVERY detail. It was a great experience.
I had each spidergram set out on dry-wipe boards. I would tick off each completed step – each leg of the ‘spider’. It was a good way of achieving goals (and still is when I think.)
Paul ultimately ran the 50k at a faster pace than intended. He’d aimed at getting under 6-hours (under 11 minutes a mile), but on the day his wife and I watched him finish in 5 hours 18 minutes, 10 minutes 15 seconds a mile, whilst my client gained, I could also show my M.Sc methods actually worked.
I had written up this penultimate project at around 90 pages and handed it in well before time. But the FINAL project still awaited, and I was far from out of the academia woods. Personally at that point, I felt I had climbed a mountain. Yet a higher mountain was still awaiting me (does anyone else remember that scene in ALIVE, 1993. When Ethan Hawke’s character has climbed his first mountain, in the Andes, with two other survivors, and it’s MASSIVE.
But at the top, he sees a HIGHER one? (I’m showing my age here) Well, in an academic sense, that WAS ME.
I had finally reached the home straight and started writing up the spider gram for my LAST project. This was a moment. Clear the board, brand new spider gram, and set a countdown timer for 90 days. This was little device that kept me going, even if a little extreme. I knew that once the timer was down to 00:00:00 all my MSc work would be OVER and I could gain semblance of a more normal life.
The last project was a BEAST. It just became that (and not totally intentionally).
Page by page and day by day. It was a reflective journal of my working process. (SEP, Supervised (Work) Experience Port Folio)
But, This time, it wasn’t about getting Paul to run further . It was about getting him running FASTER over shorter distances. And Man… we both went to town.
Concurrently there was also a graded practical component to consider, which was teaching squats, Plyometrics and Olympic weightlifting. And while this was a module in its self, it was more fun than anything…
I also got Paul into the plyometrics too, and to great effect. We were bounding everywhere! Paul could achieve a 10 minute plank (we did this together, thanks Paul, I’ll never forget that), 2 minute side planks and Paul could squat 85 kg of free weight for 5 reps.
At 64 and relatively new to resistance weight training , for my client, this no small achievement. He had also lost body weight and gone down from 182 lbs to a super lean 166 lbs..
By the end of the project not only had he improved his speed, setting his best mile time in twenty years, (7 mins 25 seconds), he entered an official 5 km race and won his class! These results were just fantastic and we had the data to support it..
The result came back from the previous assessment, in at 70 % (A -grade).
This was when I knew I’d cracked it and was onto something good..
The practical grade for the other module came back with 60%, not so awesome, but a solid B pass… (I missed a few easy points when I look back..) And the timer continued its countdown… second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day…
As a personal incentive, I had ordered a portrait taken from a favourite film, by a fantastic New York based Italian artist. It was sitting across the way from me, all framed and gift wrapped. I had yet to see it (asides the picture online when I ordered it). It would not be opened until I’d finished ALL of this work..
By day 60 I had written over 100 pages.
By the time i had reached the last 14 days, my project had turned into a 160 page beast of a project, with 100 references, 35,000 words long (of which 9000 was counted towards, the max word count).
Note;
[My proof reader , the number 1 rule in academia, Have a proof-reader, was tremendous and worked tirelessly . I can’t have done it without her.]
For a final touch, I consulted a GREAT and academic friend, Steve, (already an M.Sc) for last minute advice, two weeks out. He spent an entire weekend going through the project with me, and He made some first class adjustments.
The final project was SO close to submission but NOT QUITE. There were over 30 figures and diagrams throughout and also ton of statistics to include.
Steve has a real eye for details. He advised that it be done 100% properly and to hold fire for a week before submission. He would help me make any last minute adjustments. So, my wife Di and I went away for a week for a camping holiday.
Once home I was only one week out from submission. I read the changes Steve had advised upon and was delighted by his input.
My own personal and final proofreading went on most of the Saturday, until I was entirely satisfied. (they call this a dry run)
Finally, it was all sent in two emails. The main part and the Appendices in separate files were too big for one, by far.
It was DONE…
Celebrations ensued, major relief… Everything polished and complete, I unwrapped my portrait.
Awaiting the grade was like pulling teeth. I’d experienced delays and difficulties, set back upon set back, due the Covid lockdowns and strict rules. Yet, somehow I’d gotten through this whole thing by sheer doggedness.
Finally, a promising email revealed that everyone In our year had passed the assignments, and therefore, passed their degrees! This was great news in itself.
That final piece of work was worth three times as much as a normal module (60 credits), the previous assignment was worth double the points of a normal module (40 credits). A lot was riding on it.
On the official grade receiving day, by 10.30 p.m., everyone else had received their grades… except me! The next morning I checked the ‘Moodle’ (Learning Management System) again. It was 4.45 a.m. AND THERE IT WAS!
The grade and details down loaded as a large file, along with the tutor’s notes on the file itself in red writing, with comments made along the way…
It simply said-
77 %… THIS IS AN OUTSTANDING WORK PORTFOLIO …
And, along with the Practical Component, 85% (Worth 25% of overall score)
OVERALL SCORE = 81%
I had managed, bullheadedly to go from straight D’s to a straight A’ Student
My average was 65% overall, a 2:1 (only one percentage point below a first, and only two people in our year got a first/distinction). Nobody in the second year (10 people) had got the first.
Reflections and Rewards
In the beginning, when we started the degree my tutor Paul said the only thing that’ll make a difference would be ‘hard work’. I was lost and confused as to how to be a GOOD student.
We were given some ‘examples’ of previous years projects (but with no indication of the scores.) We had to figure a good one from a bad one. I had looked at what I thought was a good example by a girl called Freddie. It struck me as a solid essay and I borrowed her structure.
I had backed a winner and found that it had gone into folklore as one of the best pieces they had ever marked. This was somewhere in the 80%+ region.
The good thing is, next year’s students will be given my work and be left to ascertain if it’s a ‘good’ example.
The hard work now done. My cohort caught up on Graduation Day at Chichester Cathedral and ‘fobbed the hats’ when we received our MSc Diplomas. Covid was still with us, but still… Fantastic fun.. that day. The victory.
(Oddly, it appeared many of the second year either didn’t attend or didn’t complete it..)
We had a meal after and Paul, my subject, and his partner (Now wife) treated us..(my wife and myself)
Fantastic day it was.
2 out of 7 of those in the first year had attained the top grade A (70% + average). Marked with an asterisk (*) on the program.
I don’t think any of them could quite believe how much I’d turned things around. If they even knew, to be honest.. I’d love to know if they ALL got a 2:1..Merit equivalent . (I will never know but actually doubt it.)
I bumped into the main Professor down town, the next day…(they were still graduating the backlog of people.)
It was great to see him and go full circle. After all, this man had given me the opportunity. He said ‘well done’ and explained that the highest score they had ever marked a dissertation was 90%.
He said when a piece is good its never a matter of what’s Good about it, but more what is WRONG with it, and mainly you’ll lose marks on minor points.
I said thanks for the opportunity and shook hands. Later, down town, I was delighted to see we had (us graduates) had made the local news paper!
It was all over and I had (indisputably) slayed my academic dragon.
For anyone fully interested………….
My zombie portrait (dawn of the dead. 1978). Perhaps my favourite film.
Was my own personal reward for completing my M.Sc. degree.
OK, he’s ugly. But watch the film, before you judge.
