Sports Coaching and Physical Education with Foundation Year

Sports coaches instruct, train and direct athletes or teams, managing skills development in order to achieve a specific goal. Our innovative degree combines a scientific approach to coaching with hands-on experience, with a foundation year that will build your scientific knowledge.

Your course will have a new home in Compass House, which will extend our campus along East Road. You’ll have the latest technology at your fingertips and be able to collaborate with other students on innovative projects to hone your skills.

Our extended course is for those who don’t have a background in science but have a passion for sports coaching, so your first year will teach you the essential subjects you need to know.

There's a focus on the most important aspects of sports coaching and physical education, such as human movement, applied coaching pedagogy (how people teach and learn), long-term athlete development, physiology and psychology. You’ll learn how to apply your knowledge to make coaching more effective.

Our modules cover theoretical and practical approaches to coaching and physical education. You’ll learn how to operate ethically and safely, and to be confident whether you’re working independently or as a team member.

You’ll have access to our facilities - including the Human Energetics and Performance Centre - and specialist equipment like notational analysis software and heart-rate monitors, breath-by-breath oxygen-analysis systems and accelerometers in our strength and conditioning suite.

While on the course, you’ll have the opportunity to gain nationally recognised coaching qualifications, do work placements in local schools and sports clubs and apply for our internship programme to spend time working with professional sports teams. You’ll develop experimental and analytical skills, as well as transferable skills such as communication, teamwork, problem solving, creative thinking and independent working.

Our sport and exercise sciences courses were ranked joint 1st for teaching excellence by the 2013 Sunday Times University Guide. We offer scholarships and bursaries to promising athletes.