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Alexandra Atack

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Alexandra Atack is a British academic in biomechanics, whose work has focused on sports techniques, most particularly kicking and striking skills. She is an Associate Professor in Sport Biomechanics at St Mary’s University, Twickenham.[1]

Education

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Atack received a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Sports and Exercise Science from the University of Bath in 2010. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Surrey in 2016 with a dissertation entitled "The Biomechanics of Rugby Place Kicking".[2]

Career

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Atack is the Research Lead for the School of Sport, Exercise, and Applied Science at St Mary's University.[3] She previously served at the same university as the Applied Sport and Exercise Biomechanics MSc Course Lead and the Program Director for both the BSc Sport Science and MSc Aplied SPort and Exercise biomechanics programmes.[1]

Research contributions

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Atack's research uses 3D motion capture technology to analyse sports movements, with a particular focus on kicking and striking skills.[1] Her work includes studying the biomechanics of rugby place kicking[4][5][6][7][8], jump landings in ballet[9][10], and injuries in netball.[11][12]

Leadership and service

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Atack served on the Board of Directors of the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports (ISBS) from 2020 to 2022.[1] In this role she was involved with the evaluation of the ISBS's women's mentor circles, finding that the initiative was worthwhile and had a positive impact for women members of the society.[13]

Professional sports

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Leveraging her research background, Atack has worked in biomechanical support roles for both the Rugby Football Union in England and the Harlequins Academy.[1]

Honours and awards

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In 2022 the ISBS named her a Fellow of the ISBS, an award which recognises "substantial scholarly and service contributions to ISBS and Sports Biomechanics."[14][15]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Dr Alexandra Atack | St Mary's University". St Mary's University. Retrieved 27 July 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ Atack, Alexandra (June 2016). The Biomechanics of Rugby Place Kicking (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Surrey. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
  3. ^ "Alexandra ATACK | Senior Lecturer | Doctor of Philosophy | St Mary's University, Twickenham, Twickenham | Faculty of Sport, Health and Applied Science | Research profile". ResearchGate. Archived from the original on 2023-05-23. Retrieved 2025-07-27.
  4. ^ Nunome, Hiroyuki; Hennig, Ewald; Smith, Neal, eds. (2017-10-31). Football Biomechanics (1 ed.). Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315638553-4. ISBN 978-1-315-63855-3.
  5. ^ Atack, Alexandra C.; Trewartha, Grant; Bezodis, Neil E. (2019-04-18). "A joint kinetic analysis of rugby place kicking technique to understand why kickers achieve different performance outcomes". Journal of Biomechanics. 87: 114–119. doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2019.02.020. ISSN 0021-9290.
  6. ^ Atack, Alexandra; Trewartha, Grant; Bezodis, Neil E. (2019-09-03). "Assessing rugby place kick performance from initial ball flight kinematics: development, validation and application of a new measure". Sports Biomechanics. 18 (5): 457–469. doi:10.1080/14763141.2018.1433714. ISSN 1476-3141. PMID 29631497.
  7. ^ Atack, Alexandra C. and Bezodis, Neil (2023) "BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF ELITE FEMALE RUGBY PLACE KICKERS," ISBS Proceedings Archive: Vol. 41: Iss. 1, Article 7. Available at: https://commons.nmu.edu/isbs/vol41/iss1/7
  8. ^ Stuart McErlain-Naylor (24 April 2020). "Lecture 10: Rugby Biomechanics: Place Kicking" (Podcast). Sports Biomechanics Lecture Series. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
  9. ^ Mattiussi, Adam M.; Shaw, Joseph W.; Price, Phil; Brown, Derrick D.; Cohen, Daniel D.; Lineham, Jack; Pedlar, Charles R.; Tallent, Jamie; Atack, Alexandra C. (2023-07-01). "Reliability of ankle mechanics during jump landings in turned-out and parallel foot positions in professional ballet dancers". Journal of Biomechanics. 156: 111662. doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2023.111662. ISSN 0021-9290.
  10. ^ Mattiussi, Adam M.; Shaw, Joseph W.; Price, Phil; Brown, Derrick D.; Cohen, Daniel D.; Lineham, Jack; Pedlar, Charles R.; Tallent, Jamie; Atack, Alexandra (2024-05-01). "The association of range of motion, lower limb strength, and load during jump landings in professional ballet dancers". Journal of Biomechanics. 168: 112119. doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2024.112119. ISSN 0021-9290.
  11. ^ Mullally, Elaine M.; Atack, Alexandra C.; Glaister, Mark; Clark, Nicholas C. (2021-01-01). "Situations and mechanisms of non-contact knee injury in adult netball: A systematic review". Physical Therapy in Sport. 47: 193–200. doi:10.1016/j.ptsp.2020.12.004. ISSN 1466-853X.
  12. ^ Mullally, Elaine M.; Atack, Alexandra C.; Glaister, Mark; Clark, Nicholas C.; Brown, Nicola (2023-03-01). "A cross-sectional retrospective survey of injury situation and prevalence in female recreational netball players with a focus on knee injuries". Physical Therapy in Sport. 60: 70–74. doi:10.1016/j.ptsp.2023.01.003. ISSN 1466-853X.
  13. ^ Kean, Crystal O.; Burton, Sophie; Janssen, Ina; Brackley, Victoria; Atack, Alexandra C. "Empowering women in sports biomechanics: exploring the impact of mentor circles". Sports Biomechanics. 0 (0): 1–15. doi:10.1080/14763141.2024.2388586. ISSN 1476-3141. PMID 39212154.
  14. ^ "Fellow of ISBS - International Society of Biomechanics in Sports". International Society of Biomechanics in Sports. Retrieved 27 July 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ^ "Awards" (PDF). ISBS Newsletter. 38 (2): 8–11. November 2022.
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