In today’s episode, James interviews Barry Squires, the Head of Sports at the University of Brighton and Chair of the English Universities Sport (EUS). Excelling at sport as a young man he became an EUS footballer himself before successfully trialling to represent Great Britain.Following that, he served as an assistant coach for the EUS women’s team for several years before eventually ascending to the position of Chairman of EUS.

EUS is the official association in England, responsible for overseeing representative student sports and competitions in higher education. They play a vital role in representing sport amongst some of the most dedicated student sportspeople in higher education. Alongside the other Nations Chairs, bringing the multi-sport Home Nations Championship back for Summer 2024 is their main goal.

A festival of elite professional sports, EUS represents 117 members in student sports. Their aim is to provide a pathway for student-athletes to represent their country in and eventually outside of the EUS as professional sportsmen and women.

Tune in as James and Barry speak about:

• Barry’s childhood sports and his journey into football coaching
• The coaching structure in England
• The kind of themes that are challenging their industry
• Brighton’s recruitment, engagement, and value addition sports courses and programs
• The criteria for eligibility for squad representations
• The diversity of a EUS team and the sports the representative teams offered
• The mantra Barry lives by, day-to-day
• The setup of their funding
• Physical outlets Barry employs to destress himself and stay at top performance

… and so much more!