Rohan Abel
- Course
- Sports Technology BEng
- Subject area
- Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering
Loughborough University is a special place for any sport lovers, there are so many people that you have an instant connection with through your love of sport. I loved my time studying here. I played a lot of competitive tennis as a junior, so Loughborough was the best place to continue playing high level sport whilst also getting a great education.
I studied Sports Technology at Loughborough University and graduated in 2017. I always wanted to study a sports related subject with the aim of getting into the sports equipment industry. I went to a Loughborough open day and I saw the Sports Technology course listed and after finding out a bit more about the course, I knew that’s what I wanted to study.
I loved the mix of sport science and engineering, some of the content was really niche and specific but also really broad at the same time.
During my studies I completed a placement at Hawkeye Innovations, installing and operating their Goal Line Technology system in football stadiums across the world. After graduating in 2017, I completed a Footwear development internship in the adidas tennis team. This then led to a full-time position in the same team, where I spent two years making high performance tennis shoes that were worn by the best players in the world. Notably one of my shoes was worn by the gold medal winner at Tokyo 2020!
I then moved into the football department to develop football boots, which are worn across the world by the top professionals. As a footwear developer, you are the engineers behind the footwear, and are responsible for performance, quality and cost. You also work with the design team to create prototypes of new concepts and innovations to be implemented into footwear for mass production.
I can honestly say that all of the content we learnt during the course has been really useful for my day-to-day role. The course allows you to generate a diverse set of knowledge that can help you understand a vast variety of topics in the professional setting.
Additionally, the Loughborough name carries a lot of weight in the sports industry, and you'll definitely bump into some Loughborough alumni throughout your career. The lecturers are also very knowledgeable; I still stay in contact with some of them to this day.