Shannon Byrne – Sports Therapy Course Graduate to Clinic Owner and Assistant Lecturer

Shannon Byrne finished her BSc (Hons) Sports Therapy degree at Portobello Institute in 2020 and started Rebound Injury Clinic in the same year.

Shannon did all of this at just 22 years old.

“Through the sport therapy course I actually ended up getting a job in a clinic in Ranelagh. One of the managers from the clinic had put out a post to say she was looking for a student to train and wanted to interview people from the second-year sports therapy course class. I applied for that and I got the job there.

“I stopped working there in August after I graduated and opened my own clinic. It was during the pandemic, just kind of on a whim. This was supposed to be a goal for like 10 years time,” she said.

Rebound Injury Clinic started out in a gym in Finglas run by a Dublin Intercounty Football player and it has gone from strength to strength, so much so that it is now based in a brand new, purpose-built Sports Therapy room in Coolock, Dublin.

Shannon’s quick start led to quick success and she has already hired a second employee, another Portobello Institute sports therapy graduate, Nicole Brindle.

Shannon is also receiving applications from current second and third-year sports therapy course students for work experience. On top of this success, Shannon has also taken up a role as an Assistant Lecturer on the sports therapy programme at Portobello Institute.

The opportunities are there and having found her own way through the course, she knows how to guide those applying. In her lecturing role, Shannon has first-hand experience with the course material and brings her enthusiastic energy and passion to every class.

Ahead of her Leaving Cert exams, Shannon had initially applied for CAO courses before deciding to do a PLC course. She wasn’t certain about committing four years to another degree that she wasn’t definitely interested in.

“I had an idea of what I wanted to do. I definitely wanted to work in a private practice rather than in a hospital so I had completely turned against the physio option and wanted to do something more like a physical therapy or a sports therapy to be working in private practice with sports people rather than being in hospital,” she said.

Taking the PLC course route meant that Shannon wasn’t tied to anything long-term. But it wasn’t a sports therapy course or degree so it limited her options afterwards. She couldn’t get accepted into other courses in Ireland from her PLC and only had offers for courses in the Netherlands.

After taking a year out of education, she eventually learned of Portobello Institute through another Colaiste Íde student.

Her research told her it was the perfect course for her.

Shannon spoke with Dr Susan Giblin of Portobello Institute’s sports department, who advised her that her success in Colaiste Íde would allow her to take advantage of Advanced Entry into Year 2 of the Sports Therapy course. This meant that Shannon could complete her level 8 Degree in less than two years.

“I was delighted with that.

“Not only are you saving on the fees for a year but you’re getting the degree a year earlier as well. And I’ve actually got a twin sister and she started her degree straight out of school and she was saying ‘Ah I’ll have my degree before you’ and we ended up getting it the same year so that was nice too,” she said.

As one of a pair of competitive twins, Shannon took pleasure in winning one over on her sister. But she was even happier with the course she had found. Not only was she delighted with the course but she was even happier to avoid having to do a four-year degree that would limit her options and waste much of her time.

“I found the course great. I absolutely loved all the lecturers.

“Because the classes were so small, it made it so much easier to have a chat with the lecturers if you were stuck on something. They were so much easier and accessible compared to my sister’s experience in University where the lecturers didn’t even know her name,” she said.

The two-year Sports Therapy course meant she could then apply to do Physiotherapy at a later point if she chooses.

Portobello Institute has a dynamic sports department with a range of top qualifications for the next step in your career.

• BSc (Hons) Sports Therapy
• BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Science
• BA (Hons) Physical Education
  
• Graduate Diploma in Physical Education
• MSc Physical Education
• MSc Sports Performance Analysis
• MSc Clinical Exercise Prescription
• MSc Physiotherapy

If you are interested in any of our sports courses or have any questions you can book a consultation call with our expert sports advisor Jason Lester, email [email protected] or call 01 892 0029.