Strength and Conditioning
Train to become a strength and conditioning coach with guidance from industry experts. Our degree is accredited by the National Strength & Conditioning Association and International Universities Strength and Conditioning Association. You’ll gain hands-on experience at USW Sport Park and earn Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity qualifications to help you step confidently into elite sport coaching.
How to apply Apply through UCAS Book an Open Day Chat to Us/prod01/channel_2/media/university-of-south-wales/site-assets/images/03-courses/sport/bsc-strength-and-conditioning.png)
Key Course Details
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UCAS Code
C630
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Start Date
September
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Location
Pontypridd
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Campus Code
A
Fees
Home students
£9,790*
International students
£17,200*
- Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.
-
Start Date
September
-
Location
Pontypridd
-
Campus Code
A
Fees
Home students
£804*
- Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.
Study Strength and Conditioning and learn how to help people move better, perform confidently, and stay healthy. Develop practical coaching skills and open career pathways across sport, fitness, health and wellness, and performance environments.
DESIGNED FOR
Designed for aspiring strength and conditioning coaches, this BSc combines sport science, practical training, and expert guidance to build real experience, confidence, and a clear pathway into careers in sport, health, wellness, and performance.
Partnerships and Recognitions
- Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA)
- National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA)
- International University Strength and Conditioning Association (IUSCA)
Career paths
- Strength and Conditioning
- Rehabilitation and Personal Training
- Blue Light and Corporate Wellness
- Teaching and Coaching
- Entrepreneurship in the Fitness Sector
Skills taught
- Critical thinking
- Communication
- Creative problem solving
- Proficiency with statistics and data
- Research
Course Highlights
Module Overview
Your first year builds the foundations of coaching. You’ll explore human science, develop practical skills, and gain the confidence to design safe, effective, and inclusive training that helps people progress.
Foundations of Coaching in Strength and Conditioning
Develop the coaching, communication, and leadership skills needed to plan and deliver inclusive, engaging strength and conditioning sessions. Reflect on your practice, apply evidence-informed approaches, and build confidence for a career in sport.
Inside the Body: From Muscles to Mind
Explore how the body and mind work together to shape movement, performance, and wellbeing. You’ll study anatomy, biomechanics, and sport psychology to support future roles in health, fitness, and sport.
Health and Fitness Foundations
Gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence to plan, deliver, and evaluate safe, effective exercise programmes, understand fitness, nutrition, and psychology, and take your first step toward a career in health and performance.
Fundamentals of Strength and Conditioning
Learn the foundations of performance training, including programming, movement screening, and developing strength, speed, and endurance. Build hands‑on coaching experience and use data tools to train safely and effectively.
In your second year, you’ll put coaching and performance science principles into action. You’ll refine technical skills, work with real athletes, and grow the confidence, judgment, and creativity needed to support safe, effective, meaningful training.
Applied Coaching in Strength and Conditioning
Learn how to coach effectively, motivate athletes, and plan inclusive, progressive training sessions. Build technical knowledge, reflect on your practice, and develop leadership, critical thinking, and professional skills for sport success.
Sport Rehabilitation
Learn to design, deliver, and evaluate safe, evidence-based rehabilitation programmes for musculoskeletal injuries. Understand tissue healing, movement mechanics, and recovery strategies while developing practical skills and applied research for real-world practice.
Physical Profiling and Data Reporting
Learn to design and run sport‑specific tests, collect high‑quality data, and interpret results using tools like Excel and AI. Build skills in profiling, reporting, and evidence‑based performance analysis.
Strength and Power Training
Develop your ability to improve strength, speed, and power using science‑based training methods. You’ll coach key movements, analyse performance, and apply data to create safe, effective training programmes.
In your final year, you’ll apply advanced coaching, rehabilitation, and performance monitoring in real environments. You’ll lead programmes, use data and technology to guide decisions, and develop the professionalism and adaptability for your future career. grams, use data and technology, and build leadership, teamwork, and professional confidence.
Advanced Coaching in Strength and Conditioning
Build advanced strength and conditioning skills by designing inclusive, evidence-based programs. Apply science to real-world athletes, reflect on your coaching, and develop leadership, teamwork, and professional confidence for diverse performance environments.
Advanced Sports Rehabilitation
Learn to design, deliver, and evaluate sport-specific rehabilitation and injury prevention programmes. Apply evidence-based strategies, monitor progress, and make informed decisions to support safe return to play, performance, and long-term athlete health.
Applied Science & Athlete Monitoring
Learn how to use advanced sport science tools to monitor performance, interpret data, and create meaningful reports. You’ll develop digital fluency and turn insights into informed decisions that support training, recovery, and long‑term athlete health.
Advanced Strength and Conditioning Training Methods
Master advanced S&C methods by designing and evaluating athlete‑centred programmes. You’ll use performance data, wearable tech, and evidence‑based strategies while developing leadership, adaptability, and professional confidence through working in a multi-disciplinary team.
Course Highlights
How you’ll learn
You’ll learn through hands‑on workshops, coaching practice, and seminars that apply sport science to real training and performance challenges. Learning is active, collaborative, and supported by tutors, mentors, and industry experts. You’ll design programmes, analyse data, use digital tools, and gain real experience through guest lectures and work placements. You’ll graduate ready to coach, lead, and innovate.
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How you'll be assessed
Assessment is practical, applied, and focused on developing real coaching and performance skills. You’ll complete tasks such as designing training programmes, analysing performance data, and delivering evidence‑based interventions. In Year 1, assessments build core scientific and coaching foundations through written work, quizzes, and structured practicals. In Years 2 and 3, you’ll take on more complex, challenge‑based projects, case studies, and reflective portfolios. Ongoing formative feedback from tutors, peers, and coaching simulations helps you grow with confidence. By graduation, you’ll have the professional skills, critical thinking, and ethical awareness needed for strength and conditioning practice.
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Placements
Work placements are a key part of building your professional expertise in strength and conditioning. The course embeds practical experiences, including internships and opportunities to work with real-world performance data. These placements let you apply your learning, develop in-demand skills, and gain the experience that teams and employers in the industry are looking for, preparing you to step confidently into your career.
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Facilities
You’ll learn in professional‑level facilities designed to support high‑quality coaching and performance development. USW Sport Park is your base, with a dedicated strength and conditioning centre, an indoor FIFA Pro‑standard 3G pitch, outdoor training areas, and specialist performance labs. You’ll use industry‑standard technology including VALD force diagnostics, Catapult GPS, and digital learning tools to analyse and improve performance. Alongside expert staff, personal tutors, careers support, and work placements, these facilities create an environment where you can practise, experiment, and build the skills and confidence needed for a career in sport and performance.
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Sam Thomas
Strength and Conditioning graduate
Gregorio Estevez Marchesini
Sport and Exercise Science student
Cameron Bailey
Sport and Exercise Therapy student
Denise Cuer
Sport and Exercise Science student
Max Roberts
Sports Coaching and Development graduate
Billy Liptrot
Sports Coaching and Development graduate
Shubham Trivedi
Football student
Steph Walker
Sports Coaching student
Accreditations and Partnerships
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96.4% of USW Sport graduates are in Employment and/or Further Study 15 months after graduation (Graduate Outcomes Survey 2022/23)
Sport Science is rated top in Wales for Teaching Quality and Student Experience (Times Good University Guide 2024).
Top in Wales
Sport Science at USW is top in Wales for Teaching Quality.
(Guardian University Guide 2025)96.4% of USW Sport graduates are in Employment and/or Further Study 15 months after graduation (Graduate Outcomes Survey 2022/23)
Sport Science is rated top in Wales for Teaching Quality and Student Experience (Times Good University Guide 2024).
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ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
UCAS Points: 112 (or above)
Typical qualification requirements:
- A Level: BBC to include a Science subject or PE and to exclude General Studies
- BTEC: Extended Diploma Distinction Merit Merit in a relevant subject
- Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate: C in the Skills Challenge Certificate and BB to include a Science subject or PE and to exclude General Studies
- Access to HE: Pass the Access to HE Diploma in Sport/Science with a minimum of 112 UCAS tariff points.
- T Level: Pass (C and above)
Additional requirements include:
The University normally requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics/Numeracy and English at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent, but consideration is given to individual circumstances.
An Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check on the Child Workforce and Child Barring List and subscription to the DBS Update Service is required. (Overseas equivalent required for non-uk applicants).
International applications welcomed:
We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.
English language requirements
International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 4 overall and a minimum of 4 in each component or equivalent.
Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.
If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.
If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.
Contextual offers
We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.
USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.
We're here to help
Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.
Fees and Funding
£9,790
per year*£17,200
per year*£804
per 20 credits*Additional Costs
As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.
*Obligatory
This fee includes £40 for the enhanced DBS certificate, the Post Office Administration fee and the online administration fee.
Cost: £55.42
Subscription required for each year of the course for a yearly fee of £13. Please note the service has to be joined within 30 days of receipt of your enhanced DBS certificate.
Cost: £13
In Year 2 and 3 students will need to fund their travel and subsistence costs when on placement. Cost is dependent on placement location.
University Quality Assurance
At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.
If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.
Life at USW
Halls are a big part of your student experience and there’s accommodation at all three of our locations. If you don’t want to live near the campus, there are great transport links to keep you connected.
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How to apply
All applications for full-time undergraduate courses or foundation degrees should be made via UCAS. Take the next step: Apply through UCAS. You can apply to us directly for all part-time undergraduate courses, if you’re seeking advanced entry or you’re an international student. To apply directly, please choose the application form below for your preferred start date and mode of study (full-time or part-time).
Advanced entry
If you already have a relevant qualification or experience related to the course you're applying for, you may be eligible to start at a later stage of the course. For example, students from partner colleges can ‘top up’ their qualifications to a degree by joining us in Year Two or Year Three of a course. This process is known as ‘advanced entry’, you can apply directly to the University for 'advanced entry' using the application forms provided above.
Applicants accepted through advanced entry may study a different combination of modules to those advertised, as they will be joining a course already in progress. You will be contacted and advised about these modules once your application has been processed and an offer made.
International admissions
International applicants can apply to us directly. If the University has an in-country team in your region, your application will be assigned to them for assistance.
