Sports Coaching (Top-Up)

Sports coaches support, inspire and motivate athletes to reimagine what's possible.

If you can see yourself helping people fulfil their sporting potential and coaching professional athletes, sports teams, school or community groups, this BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching top-up degree will help you achieve it.

You'll turn your Level 5 qualification – such as an HND or foundation degree in a subject related to sports or business – into a full Bachelor's degree, ready for a career in high performance coaching environments, multi-sport coaching, coach education or within your own sports coaching business.

• Use specialist gym and fitness testing equipment to explore training techniques and injury prevention and assessment, including portable EMG technology and infrared motion analysis

• Gain sports coaching skills in technology, strategic management, digital innovation and analytics, and sports entrepreneurship – giving you the tools and skills to set yourself up as an independent sports coach

• Enhance your CV and professional network, and share your sporting skill in the local community through our coaching, mentoring and volunteering scheme

• Have the chance to take part in research programmes run by institutions such as UEFA, the FA and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)

• Train and coach within our extensive sports facilities, including a 100-station gym, fitness studios, and a new sports centre featuring a ski simulator, climbing wall and 8-lane swimming pool

Careers and opportunities
On this BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching top-up degree, you'll explore contemporary, conceptual and theoretical research around the evolving nature of the modern sport coach practitioner and their role in the sports industry.

You'll learn strength and conditioning techniques, how to empower athletes to develop and retain new skills, and how to identify training needs and develop training programmes that optimise sporting performance.

Once you graduate, you'll be ready to enter the world of sports coaching in the community and at elite sport level.

What areas can you work in with a sports coaching top-up degree?
When you graduate, you'll be ready to enter a variety of commercial and non-commercial organisations such as:

• national governing bodies

• professional sports clubs

• the Armed Forces

• local authorities

• health and fitness centres

• charities and not-for-profit organisations

• schools

• community centres

• prisons

You could also go into areas outside of the sports coaching industry in roles such as sports journalism, finance or accounting.

What jobs can you do with a sports coaching top-up degree?
Roles you could take on include:

• community coach coordinator

• coach educator

• skills coach

• strength and conditioning advisor

• PE teacher

• sport development officer

• sports marketing executive

• sports agent

• stadium manager

Work experience and professional development
This sports coaching top-up course includes a core Professional Development module, providing the opportunity to work on your own career aims alongside industry experts. You'll complete a range of professional development activities, including work-based opportunities across a range of industry sectors related to sports coaching.

You'll be mentored by academic members of staff and take part in a masterclass series (workshops with academics and industry experts) focusing on the themes and challenges you'll encounter as a sports coach.

The masterclass series covers:

• Coaching contexts and methodologies for practice

• Coaching pedagogy

• Sports psychology

• Performance analysis

• Talent identification and development

• Governance and match officials

• Mental health awareness in sport

• Sports nutrition and coaching practice

• Sport for development (coaching focus)

• Current issues in sport coaching

Year 1:

Core modules in this year include:

• Advanced Sports Nutrition (20 credits)
• Advanced Strength and Conditioning (20 credits)
• Applications of Performance Analysis in Skill Acquisition (20 credits)
• Motor Learning and Development (20 credits)
• Project (40 credits)

There are no optional modules in this year.

Changes to course content
We use the best and most current research and professional practice alongside feedback from our students to make sure course content is relevant to your future career or further studies.

Therefore, course content is revised and regularly reviewed. This may result in changes being made in order to reflect developments in research, learning from practice and changes in policy at both national and local levels.

You'll be assessed through:

Practical assessments
Client reports
Video submissions
Blog submissions
Infographic submissions
Essays
Portfolios
Presentation slides

You’ll be able to test your skills and knowledge informally before you do assessments that count towards your final mark.

You can get feedback on all practice and formal assessments so you can improve in the future.