Dr Anna Fitzpatrick

BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, FHEA, ISPAS

Pronouns: She/her
  • Lecturer

Research groups and centres

Publications
ORCiD
Anna Fitzpatrick

Please call the press office on 01509 223491 to arrange an interview with Dr Anna Fitzpatrick. Bookings can also be made online at globelynx.com.

Following an 8-year career as a professional tennis player, Anna completed her BSc, MSc and PhD at Sheffield Hallam University. Prior to joining Loughborough, Anna was a Lecturer in Sport Coaching and Elite Performance at Manchester Metropolitan University for 2 years. She led the undergraduate performance analysis pathway and helped to develop the student pastoral support programme.

Anna joined Loughborough University in June 2023, to contribute to the delivery of the new and innovative MSc Applied Sport Performance Analysis degree, support the integration of performance analysis into the undergraduate degree programmes, and supervise undergraduate and postgraduate students conducting applied research within elite sport.

Anna’s research interests are performance analysis and its effective application within elite sport environments, and skill acquisition in sports coaching, in particular Newell’s (1986) constraints-led approach. She recently led a successful proof-of-concept study with Southampton Football Club, assessing the impact of an ecological dynamics approach to coaching on the training and match-play behaviours of U15 Academy footballers. Anna’s PhD, exploring important performance characteristics in elite grass court tennis and associated implications for practice, was funded by the Lawn Tennis Association and Sheffield Hallam University’s world-renowned Centre for Sports Engineering Research.

Anna has peer-reviewed journal articles for Journal of Sports Sciences, International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, and the ITF Coaching and Sport Science Review.

Alongside her role as a Lecturer in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Anna is a Senior Athlete Mentor for children’s charity, the Youth Sport Trust. As part of a team of former professional athletes, she supports young people to develop their life and employability skills, such as resilience, confidence, teamwork and communication skills.

Anna also leads UPLIFTING, a mental health and wellbeing project with Air Athletics, a community cheerleading and dance group.

Featured publications

Peer reviewed publications

  • Fitzpatrick, A., Stone, J. A., Choppin, S., & Kelley, J. (2021). Investigating the most important aspect of elite grass court tennis: short points. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching. DOI: 10.1177/1747954121999593
  • Fitzpatrick, A. (2020). Practitioners as designers: tennis coaching case study. In: Button, C. et al., (Eds.), Dynamics of Skill Acquisition: An Ecological Dynamics Approach. 2nd ed. Champaign: Human Kinetics (pp. 207-221).
  • Fitzpatrick, A., Stone, J. A., Choppin, S., & Kelley, J. (2019). Important performance characteristics in elite clay and grass court tennis match-play. International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, 19(6), 942-952. DOI: 10.1080/24748668.2019.1685804
  • Fitzpatrick, A., Stone, J. A., Choppin, S., & Kelley, J. (2018). A simple new method for identifying performance characteristics associated with success in elite tennis. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 14, 43-50. DOI: 10.1177/1747954118809089
  • Fitzpatrick, A., Davids, K., & Stone, J. A. (2018). Effects of scaling task constraints on emergent behaviours in children’s racket sports. Human Movement Science, 58, 80-87. DOI: 10.1016/j.humov.2018.01.007
  • Fitzpatrick, A., Davids, K., & Stone, J. A. (2016). Effects of Lawn Tennis Association mini tennis as task constraints on children’s match-play characteristics. Journal of Sports Sciences, 35(22), 2204-2210. DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2016.1261179

Invited publications