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MSc

Sports Coaching and Performance

Our sports coaching masters offers an advanced insight into how psychology, physiology, strength and conditioning and movement analysis impact on performance.

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Key Course Details

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Pontypridd

  • Campus Code

    A

Fees

  • Home students

    £10,800*

  • International students

    £16,900*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Pontypridd

  • Campus Code

    A

Fees

  • Home students

    £1,200*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.
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The integration of theory and practice will enhance and develop your ability to reflect on current coaching practice, plan appropriate training programmes and critically analyse existing approaches to performance coaching.

DESIGNED FOR

Graduates wishing to progress onto studying Level 7 qualification. This course also attracts those already working in the industry who do not have any recognised qualification, for example, coaches, strength and conditioning coaches etc. 

Career Paths

  • Sports Coach
  • Performance/Specialist Coach
  • Teacher/Lecturer
  • Performance Analyst
  • Performance Director

Skills taught

  • Analytical 
  • Creativity 
  • Communication
  • Problem Solving
  • Reflective Practice

We make a difference in practice, not just on paper. Our courses are designed by people who offer jobs - and taught by people who have real work experience.

Group of football students discussing and planning game tactics in the sports park
A group of students practicing rugby tackles at the USW sports park
Sport students and lecturer analysing their football techniques using the Catapult software
A football coaching student talking to a group of children on a pitch at USW Sports Park

Course Highlights

Flexible Learning

The course will offer some modules that will be delivered via block delivery or with some weekly content, to make the course more accessible to those who are working full-time in the industry.

FAW Qualifications

We can deliver FAW licenced coach education courses

Industry Links

The course team invite industry professional into modules as guest lecturers and this gives student an opportunity to network and collaborate with partners. 

Cutting edge research

The course Is informed by cutting edge research and practice, specifically with research conducted by members of staff at USW and through the USW Sport Health and Exercise Research Group.

Module Overview

enhance and develop your ability to reflect on current coaching practice, plan appropriate training programmes and critically analyse existing approaches to performance coaching. You will complete the course across a 12 month period. During this time, you will study 4 specified modules to develop your core understanding of the subject area, alongside 4 optional modules allowing you to tailor the course to your specific interests.

Research Project
This project aims to enable students to demonstrate the skills necessary to produce a scholarly, in-depth, empirical research study, resource, or report.

Research Process
Recognise and critically interpret the strengths and limitations of the different quantitative and qualitative research designs used in sport and exercise research. 

Effective Coaching
You will develop an advanced understanding of critical self-reflective skills through the use of video analysis, which includes identifying key coaching styles, behaviours and feedback techniques required in advanced coaching situations.

Professional Work Based Development
This module provides an opportunity for students to observe and participate in work-based professional environments, including identifying a work problem for you to overcome, which will enhance your professional and vocational learning and inform your own everyday practice.

Mentoring in Sport
You’ll recognise and appreciate the need for mentoring within sport and management contexts, develop the skills necessary for mentoring and apply them in a diverse non-judgemental environment.

Movement Analysis
This module aims to develop your awareness of the analysis of sports performance, with particular emphasis on technique analysis and notation analysis.

Strength and Conditioning
This module aims to develop your ability to implement effective strength and conditioning programmes into a range of performance environments.

The Coaching Environment: Evidence Based Practice
The module will analyse a range of different approaches to developing the coaching environment and its relationship with coaching practice.

The High Performance Environment
The module will analyse how multiple stakeholders across the organisation assist and complement each other in producing a high performance environment.

Psychology for the Sports Coach / Practitioner
This module aims to provide students with an in-depth knowledge and critical understanding of how psychology may impact on the ability of key stakeholders in sport (e.g., athletes, coaches, sport and exercise science practitioners) to perform, thrive, and experience mental well-being in sport.

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

The course is delivered via lectures, practical, and small group workshops; some of which will be student-led. All teaching material is supported by the latest research, as well as national and local policy drivers. Interactive e-learning platforms are used to support your learning throughout the course. A wide variety of applied, academic and vocational assessments are used on this modern and innovative course. You will be assessed by oral presentations, reports, case studies, critical essays and work-based assessments.

Teaching Staff

  • Melanie Tuckwell, course leader
  • Alun Davies 
  • Jay Probert 
  • Nathan Evans 
  • Stuart Jarvis
  • Ioan Paval
  • Andy Thomas
  • Lee Baldock

Placements

The course requires you to complete a work placement as part of our professional work placement module. This ensures that you do not only have the opportunity to graduate with an internationally recognised qualification, but you also have industry-relevant experience, which is essential for the modern graduate. A few examples of placements that our students have recently undertaken include The Football Association of Wales, Wales Athletics, Cardiff City FC Academy, Schools and Colleges, as well as various Sports Clubs within local authorities.

Facilities

The Sport Park includes a specialist centre for strength and conditioning with 12 lifting platforms and sports hall.

Our full-size indoor 3G pitch is built to the Fifa Pro standard and World Rugby 22 standard. We are the only university in England and Wales to offer this facility. 

You'll also find a notational analysis suite and over 30 acres of playing fields, including five floodlit pitches. We have a sand-dressed 'astroturf' pitch, as well as a full-size FIFA approved 3G pitch. In addition to these all-weather pitches, there are six grass football pitches, three grass rugby pitches, and a large changing pavilion.

Careers and Employability

Graduate Careers

The need for relevant further education for sports professionals continues to increase given the highly competitive nature of the sport industry with hundreds applying for a handful of jobs.

Current professionals and new applicants are therefore keen to gain a competitive edge over others for promotion, with postgraduate qualifications providing one such advantage. 

The Sports Coaching masters is focused upon students acquiring the knowledge and employability skills needed within the sports sector with the aim of progressing into management roles. USW Sport has a strong track record of creating employable graduates within the sports industry and beyond. This emphasis on student employability remains the core focus for the Sport academic subject area.

Possible career paths

High Performance Coaches
Specialist Coaches
Sports Coaches 
Director of Academy
College Lecturer
Teachers
Police Officers
Performance Analysts
Strength and Conditioning Coaches
Performance Directors

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Typical qualification requirements:

Normally entrance to the course requires an Honours degree classification (at least a 2:2) in a relevant subject although relevant experience can also be taken into account.

This course is most suitable for those who hold a formal UKCC coaching qualification, preferably at Level 3, or those who have suitable coaching experience.

Additional requirements include:

Those working within a coaching environment such as, a NGB coach, Academy coach, High performance coach, Sports development officer, strength and conditioning coach or sport science support will be considered.

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 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing 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

UK Full-time Fee

£10,800

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£16,900

per year*
UK Part-time Fee

£1,200

per 20 credits*

Further Information

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy.  We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

 

Fees and Funding Scholarships and Busaries Alumni Discount

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.

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.

Studying at USW

Our courses are designed with industry leaders and provide the practical skills and experiences industry demands. Our flexible courses reflect the need for life-long learning. If you value education in practice, not just in theory, then USW is for you.

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Postgraduate fees and funding
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Pontypridd Campus, Glyntaff
A member of staff is smiling and chatting with an open evening visitor.
Postgraduate Open Events

How to apply

There is an online application process for this course. Please choose the application form for your preferred start date and mode of study (i.e. full-time or part-time).

International admissions

Please see our international admissions advice for further information about how to apply as a prospective international student.

Next Steps

How to Apply
Book an Open Evening
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