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Sports Therapy graduate wins award

Personal trainer and sports therapist Matt Mills has received the Alan Patrick Memorial Prize at his graduation ceremony at the University of Gloucestershire today (Friday 4 November).

Originally from Portsmouth, Matt has lived in Gloucester and Cheltenham most of his life and was already working as a personal trainer and massage therapist in Cheltenham. Inspired by his work to be able to diagnose, treat and fully rehabilitate sports injuries, he decided to study a BSc (Hons) in Sports Therapy.

As well as running his own practice in Cheltenham for the last 10 years, he is now working as a sports therapist as part of the professional team at Five Valleys Physiotherapy in Stroud, and also as an assessor of student personal trainers for PT Academy.

The prize is awarded in memory of Alan Patrick, whose relatives established a fund to recognise students achieving excellence in sport. It is awarded to the graduate who achieves the best academic performance within the School of Sport and Exercise.
Matt, who received his award at the ceremony at Gloucester Cathedral, said: “I decided to study as I knew there were huge gaps in my knowledge and I wanted to fill them. I was recommended to enrol on the course by a physiotherapist I worked with and trusted.

“I’ve enjoyed learning from expert staff about different injuries and how to identify them, and subsequently how best to treat and rehabilitate these injuries. I can now offer a much greater range of services to my clients and patients and have a lot more success with getting people better. I now feel I can call myself a ‘professional’ and this has increased my confidence and self-esteem no end!”

Find out more about graduation at the University of Gloucestershire.