'Providing coaches with a foundation to excel'
Strength and conditioning coaches, in collaboration with athletic trainers, physiotherapists, nutritionists, sport scientists, and other allied professions, are now commonly part of a team that provides support services to athletes. As a profession, strength and conditioning has seen unheralded growth in the past 40 years, as evidenced by the development of several large non-profit professional bodies.
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Here is a guide to the subjects studied on this course.
Courses are continually reviewed to take advantage of new teaching approaches and developments in research, industry and the professions. Please be aware that modules may change for your year of entry. The exact modules available and their order may vary depending on course updates, staff availability, timetabling and student demand. Please contact the course team for the most up to date module list.
Year one
Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism
Year: 1
This module will provide an introduction to the biochemical principles of exercise metabolism and will highlight the importance of nutrition in enhancing athletic performance.
Optimising Exercise and Load: Effective monitoring and management
Year: 1
In order to optimise the performance of an athlete, it is essential to understand the key scientific and practical concepts of biomechanics, athlete monitoring and load considerations to prevent injuries, or optimise rehabilitation of an athlete's return to play. This module will advance the students' ability to observe and collect athlete data, analyse, interpret, act upon and communicate with the athlete and within, or across, multidisciplinary settings. This module draws upon the student's previous knowledge and skills to ensure a multifaceted approach to the development of professional practice in sports and exercise medicine.
Applied Statistics
Year: 1
This module highlights some of the well documented concerns with the traditional approach to inferential statistics and provides the student with a more progressive alternative, namely: magnitude based inference (MBI). Students will get an opportunity to consider several applicable research designs within S&C and more importantly, will collect and analyse data in a manner that conducive to direct application within performance sport.
Programme Design
Year: 1
The module promotes that the strength and conditioning coach must complete a comprehensive needs analysis prior to designing a sport-specific programme. In addition, the training process can be considered a single-subject experiment that requires meticulous documentation and a flexible approach, that reflects the demands of modern sport.
Principles and Practice of Strength and Conditioning
Year: 1
This module will consider many contemporary issues within the ever evolving area of strength and conditioning. Students will get an opportunity to explore the evidence-base that can directly inform current practice. In addition, consideration will be be given to how practice based evidence that is developed, refined, and implemented first in a variety of real-world settings, can also be utilized.
Research Project in Sports and Performance
Year: 1
Carrying out an original, independent piece of research from the formulation of a research question through to reporting findings in accordance with the conventions of the academic area is an important part of the research training provided by Masters level study. This module provides students with an opportunity for students to carry out an original independent piece of research within the area of their own profession, or special interest in sports and performance, and present findings in the form of a journal manuscript and a conference presentation.
Motor Cognition and Performance
Year: 1
Through a series of lectures and tutor-led practical sessions, students will be able to critically reflect on the theoretical and practical importance of motor learning and performance. Students will also develop experience delivering a movement skills programme.
Employment opportunities for aspiring strength and conditioning coaches thus exist in government-funded organizations such as schools, colleges, universities, national/state institutes of sport, and privately funded professional organizations and individual athletes.
