Biography
This section provides information regarding SportsPlus staff.
Dennis Whitby, PhD - Director
Dennis Whitby began his career teaching at the school and college level in the UK, and served as a team coach with the British junior and senior track and field teams in 1974 and 1975 while coaching swimming professionally at the club, county and Midland levels. During this period, he qualified as a Senior Coach with the British Amateur Athletic Board and as an Advanced Swimming Teacher and Club Coach with the Amateur Swimming Association.
Between 1976 and 1990, he coached track and field full-time at the University of Oregon and University of California (Berkeley), with the Hong Kong national team and, from 1984-86, with the Chinese national team in Beijing. Dennis also coached Indonesian and Korean national track and field athletes for Nike on short-term contracts. Between 1980 and 1992, he coached athletes to three Olympic Games and three world championships.
Dennis served as Director of Coach Development with the Hong Kong Sports Development Board (1991-93), and as Technical Director (1993-94) and Director (1994-98) of the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI). During his tenure as Director of the HKSI, Hong Kong athletes won their first gold medals at the Olympic Games and All-China National Games. From 1991-98, Dennis also served as Director of the Hong Kong Coaching Committee and developed the Hong Kong Coach Education Programme and Hong Kong Bank Foundation Coaching Awards. He was a founder-member of the International Council for Coach Education in 1995.
In 1998, Dennis was offered the position of Technical Director with the new UK Sports Institute but, instead, joined The University of Hong Kong where he served as Director of the Centre for Physical Education and Sport and, later, as Assistant Director of the Institute of Human Performance where he co-directed the MSc in Sports Science programme. In 2001, he was appointed as a World Class Advisor to Sport England and UK Sport. In July 2004, Dennis left HKU to join Sportsperformance Ltd as Performance Director. He left SP to establish SportPlus Ltd and HealthFit Ltd nine months later. A third company, Kids in Motion Ltd, was established in September 2007 to assess movement proficiency levels of children. In view of the rapid development of SportPlus, HealthFit was deregistered in 2009.
From 2002-07, Dennis was co-Director of the University of Bath’s PGD/MSc programme in Sport and Exercise Medicine for medical doctors that was organised by HKU-SPACE. He is an Honorary Professional Consultant with the Department of Sports Science and Physical Education at The Chinese University of Hong Kong where he teaches courses in performance-related areas, and sports development and management on the MA programme in Sports Studies. Dennis also teaches modules in Northumbria University's BSc (Hons) in Sports Management, offered in Hong Kong through HKU-SPACE.
He holds a bachelor's degree in physical education from the University of Alberta, a diploma in educational studies from the University of Leicester, two master's degrees (in cognitive psychology and physical education) and a PhD in Exercise and Movement Science from the University of Oregon. He has written more than 60 articles and chapters in performance-related areas and presented papers at numerous international conferences, including the 1984 US Olympic Trials and 2001 World Athletic Championships.
Chloe Chan, BSc - Programme and Marketing Executive, SportPlus
Chloe joined SportPlus and HealthFit in July 2007 to assist in all aspects of our programmes. She is currently responsible for conducting VO2 tests and one-on-one conditioning programmes, and for monitoring the progress of athletes during their programmes.
Chloe completed a two-year Diploma in Travel and Tourism at the Institute of Vocational Education (IVE) before working for Cathay Pacific as a flight attendant for three years and completing an Advanced Diploma programme in Fitness and Exercise offered by HKU-SPACE. Since joining SportPlus, Chloe has completed a BSc degree in Fitness and Exercise from Middlesex University (UK). She is also a qualified personal trainer and pilates instructor. Chloe brings excellent organizational and communication skills to her position and is fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.
Pauline Tse (shown top right) has recently joined SportPlus to provide support to our running coaching programme. Information will be added here shortly.