Lorna Husband has been trying a new sport every week while studying at ENU
A new graduate says the Paris Olympics inspired her to embark on a game-changing career path with Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) – alongside a challenge of trying a new sport every week.
Lorna Husband set herself the goal of picking up 52 different activities this year as part of her MA in Sports Journalism at ENU, and her videos of each attempt have built a keen following on social media.
While a few weeks of her challenge remain, the 25-year-old from Dundee celebrated crossing the finish line of her degree, after graduating at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall.
Lorna said: “I was watching the Paris Olympics where all these amazing athletes were being interviewed on TV and thought ‘that would be really cool’.
“I looked up courses and saw that Edinburgh Napier had a specialist sports journalism degree. I got in touch and within days the programme leader, David Tanner, was showing me round the facilities at Merchiston.
“It has been so good to be doing something I’m passionate about.”
A few months into her studies, and building on the Olympics inspiration, Lorna set herself the goal of trying a new sport each week in 2025. She presented, filmed and posted the results online as part of her course.
The challenge has taken her to a wide variety of activities, from well-known sports to niche pursuits, including the likes of track cycling, weightlifting, cricket, diving, curling, jiu-jitsu, horse riding and padel.
All the while, Lorna has been honing her sports journalism craft – and has recently taken up a job as part of Scottish Rugby’s social media team.
“I’ve learned a lot by doing the challenge alongside the course,” she added. “It taught me how to present, edit and make the most of different social media platforms.
“The connections our lecturers have are incredible. We went to a Scotland rugby test match last year – which led me to work at this year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup - and I was able to do some of my coursework at the Lost Shore surf resort.
“The work has been really practical and helped prepare me for my job with the SRU.”
Although she has now graduated Lorna is still determined to complete her sporting challenge – and has plenty of ideas in store for the remaining weeks of this year.
Lorna said: “The reaction I’ve had to my videos has been amazing. It’s been so much fun trying out all these different sports.
“It can be hard to predict which videos will be popular. One week I did a duathlon with no preparation, and it did really well – maybe people just like watching me suffer!
“I have been doing the videos every single week, rather than preparing a few of them in advance, and I think the spontaneity of it all has helped capture what I set out to do.
“I hope it helps beginners feel like they can go along to things. It can be daunting but there is so much to choose from.”
Lorna graduated alongside students from the School of Arts & Creative Industries as part of ENU’s autumn graduation ceremonies, which are being held at the Usher Hall this week.