An Eastern professor was invited to take part in an upcoming series of conferences on areas of sports science in four different cities in Brazil.

Jeffrey Willardson, an associate professor of kinesiology and sports studies, will travel to Brazil to speak at sports science conferences for the fourth time.

Over Thanksgiving break he will visit four different cities in the span of eight days.

Willardson said the purpose of his trip is to form future collaborations with sports scientists in Brazil.

“It was essential that I find a way to support my research agenda and maintain the quality of my teaching via external sources of support,” Willadson said. “The collaboration with these Brazilian sponsors has been a tremendous blessing to this end.”

On November 20, Willardson will attend the International Meeting of Resistance Training in Recife, the International Congress of Strength Training and Sports Medicine in Rio de Janeiro and the International Meeting of Resistance Training in Sao Luis.

He will give a series of daily lectures at the Catholic University of Brasilia from November 23 to the 27.

Willardson attended similar conferences over the years in Belo Horizonte, Sao Paulo, Teresina and Fortaleza.

Willardson said he will discuss three central topics at each of the different venues. Among them are bodybuilding training from a scientific perspective, the basics of movements in terms of the upper and lower extremities and other core regions of the body, and focusing on the application of training to concentric failure within resistance exercise sets.

“I chose those three topics because they promote a lot of interest in the popular culture,” Willardson said. “Almost everyone is curious about how they can achieve a better body.”

Willardson is the only American sports scientist invited to attend these events.

“Due to my previous involvement in research with Brazilian sports scientist, I was the only American sports scientist selected to attend these particular conferences,” Willardson said. “However, there are also other American sports scientists that have attended other conferences hosted by this same group of sponsors.”

“There are sports science related conferences frequently going on in Brazil, just like in the United States,” Willardson said. “I have settled into a pattern of being sponsored in my attendance about twice per year, but would go more frequently if I could.”

Luis Martinez can be reached at 581-2812 or lpmartinez@eiu.edu