Giants Women appoint doctor Alicia 'Pips' Tomkinson

Huddersfield Giants Women have appointed Alicia Tomkinson as club doctor, who will provide the Giants with immediate medical care during game days and support in training.

More affectionately known as Pips, Tomkinson boasts a highly impressive background in sports’ biggest arenas such as the 2022 and 2014 Commonwealth Games.

She will work with both the Women’s and U19s teams and will operate alongside the club’s wider medical staff to offer support & help to one another.

In the background, she is there to support pre-season baseline SCAT5 testing and cardiac screening. 

This means that if a player sustains a concussion, Pips can help and give information to the team which will assist players throughout their return to play.

She has been on medical duties at a handful of games before, though has only been on cover and drop-ins.

This will be her first full-time role with a rugby league team, an opportunity she is relishing:

“I know it’s a challenge but that’s what I like. I can't wait to see what happens throughout the season. Hopefully, I become part of the team!”

Pips has also been a doctor on the British Antarctic Survey where she spent 7 months at sea. During that time, she noted the team environment onboard and her learnings from the experience.

“When you’re on board with that's your crew, that's your team. And that's why I think I’ve got a lot of skills as well as being an A&E doctor.”

Her main speciality is as an A&E doctor - or an emergency medicine doctor - but she has a subspecialty in muscular skeletal medicine and sports medicine which she has been involved with for over 10 years.

Pips’ appointment comes under the seismic shift of the Giants Women's ownership from Giants' Community Trust to the club. The move has seen the Women’s team equipped with full-time medical professionals such as Pips as well as physio Shannon Ainsworth.