Aaron’s path to a sports & rehabilitation career

The placement experience at Melbourne Victory Football Club has exposed me to several aspects of high performance sport and injury management.

Aaron Liedke
Master of Health Science (Osteopathy), Bachelor of Science (Osteopathy), Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science (Sport Practice)

Studying osteopathy at VU has helped kickstart Aaron Liedke’s career in high performance sport and rehabilitation. He shares how a placement at Melbourne Victory Football Club is giving him valuable real-world experience.

“I started out wanting to do trade, so my first experience with VU was through VU Polytechnic for an electrical pre-apprenticeship.

“I then did a personal training course and enrolled in the Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science (Sport Practice), which I completed while working as a personal trainer.

I chose VU because of the facilities that were provided at the Footscray Park campus. The sports and exercise science facilities exceeded my expectations for the content that I wished to learn about and that I was interested in.

“I learned a lot about physiology and anatomy, and through the support of staff within the campus I found that I wanted to do more in the area of sports performance and rehabilitation.

“This led me to another course that the university provided – the Bachelor of Science (Osteopathy) and then the Master of Health Science (Osteopathy).”

Supporting young players at Melbourne Victory

“I am currently participating in a placement at Melbourne Victory Football Club.

“The experience has been broad and exposed me to several aspects of high performance sport and injury management. This includes several day-to-day operating aspects of the youth academy, with an emphasis on rehabilitation for a high performance athlete to allow for development of young players.

“Exposure to strength and conditioning concepts with other VU alumni has been a great experience to allow not only for the development of young athletes, but improving performance while injury rehabilitation is occurring.”

Looking towards a future in sport

“VU alumni and staff have been crucial in my development. I place the peers as the most important aspect of VU, as well as the access to the facilities and programs that VU has to offer within the university.

“They have allowed me opportunities that I don’t think would have been provided to me by other universities.

“I am now working in private practice as an osteopath, and seeking future employment opportunities in high performance sport and rehabilitation.”