BA, Sport Coaching

This sport coaching degree will prepare you for a career in the sports industry and equip you to work in a wide range of settings at regional, national and European standard. Learning about the role of the professional coach, you will explore the qualities needed to coach effectively in different contexts, and to work with people at a range of levels - from beginners to elite athletes - and with different groups, covering for example ethnicity, young children, adolescents, gender, older people and those with long-term illnesses or disabilities. You will learn about coaching styles and be encouraged to develop your own style. You’ll study pedagogy, practice and employability, and learn to communicate effectively with performers, and support them inside and outside the sport, to get the very best from them. You will also learn about the scientific aspects of coaching, such as anatomy, physiology and movement analysis; explore a range of health and fitness techniques; and learn ways to analyse human movement. All students are offered opportunities to engage in coaching opportunities in the university, local authorities, clubs and schools. Previous students have completed placements at Fulham FC, Enable Sports Development, Chelsea Foundation and Hercules Wimbledon Athletics Club. Roehampton is also the Official Higher Education Partner of Crystal Palace FC, and the lead education partner of the Palace for Life Foundation. With plenty of opportunities to put into practice the skills and knowledge you develop, you will leave well equipped to work in coaching and teaching, in whichever area of the profession you choose to pursue. The government and sporting community are working to transform coaching into a graduate profession and to make the UK into the leader in coaching and coach education. This course is part of making that a reality. Schedule by year of study Year one Develop the skills and knowledge that will enable you to create your own coaching programmes. Learn about the current structure of the sports industry in the UK, as well as the government's policy towards sport and how this impacts the sports environment. Look at how children learn and how their sporting skills develop as they get older. Understand physiological systems, and learn to monitor, analyse, diagnose and prescribe action that enhances learning through physical activity. Explore different coaching environments to help identify an area of coaching you want to pursue. Year two Move onto exploring the core approaches to research and scientific enquiry, and how this can be reflected in your own coaching practice. Learn to support participants inside and outside of sport, recognising that they need life skills, as well as sport-specific skills, to succeed. Apply your knowledge to a range of different sporting contexts and develop an understanding of different models and systems for coaching. Learn about qualitative and quantitative analysis of human movement and take modules in active health promotion or physical education. Year three Investigate and plan your career development through self-analysis of the skills and qualities required for your first career after university. Take the theoretical and practical knowledge you have developed and apply it to your own 'work-based' context. Study an entrepreneurship module to learn how to establish your self-employed status within sport coaching. Learn about theoretical and practical considerations in psychology and the social psychology of sport. Study the coaching process, concepts, principles and approaches to coaching different activities and different groups of performers from a range of sporting areas. Build on the knowledge and abilities acquired through your studies by working on your own research as part of your dissertation, under the guidance of an expert supervisor.