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Sports Coaching BSc (Hons)

UCAS code: C610

Want to work in sports performance or community sports coaching? Our sports coaching degree will help you do exactly that. This practical course will teach you all you need to know to succeed and provide plenty of hands-on work experience.

Overview

Course length: 3 years full-time
Start dates: September 2024
September 2025
Location: Edge Hill University
Example offers: BCC-BBC (A Level) or DMM (BTEC) View full entry criteria
Subject(s): Sport and Physical Activity
Department: Sport and Physical Activity
Sports students in the gym, with notes on paper on the floor.

Are you interested in performance analysis, programming and strength and conditioning? Would you like to learn what it takes to be a local, national or international coach?

Our sports coaching degree is endorsed by the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA). This means you’ll be working to the highest professional standards. Your student membership with CIMSPA will give you access to resources, guest lectures, work placement opportunities and more.

For your assessments and research projects, you’ll be able to choose an area that interests you most. Specialise in areas such as sports coaching in education, coaching with children, young people and adults, and coaching community and performance sport. You’ll combine your academic studies with work experience, so you get plenty of hands-on expertise.

The Department of Sport and Physical Activity has brilliant facilities, with a number of specialist laboratories and a sports therapy clinic. We also have football, rugby and hockey pitches, tennis courts, athletics track and field, swimming pool, a fitness suite, as well as strength and conditioning within the laboratories. You also have use of the performance analysis laboratory and the indoor sports halls and gymnasiums to help you prepare for your chosen career.

CIMSPA Registered - Endorsed Professional Standards - Navy

Course features

  • International students can apply

  • Professional accreditation

  • Professional practice placements

  • Sandwich year option available

  • Studying abroad option available

What you'll study

In your first year, we’ll introduce you to a range of practices in sports coaching. You’ll get first hand experience of coaching groups and individuals through various sports in our state-of-the-art facilities. You’ll learn about the physiology and biomechanics of sporting performance and get a grounding in sports research skills. We’ll also look at the relationship between sport, physical activity and health, as well as policy and the management of sport.

Compulsory modules:

Expand all
Introduction to Coaching Practice
Introduction to Coaching Sports Performance
Introduction to Critical Thinking for Sports Research
Introduction to Organisation and Administration of Sport and Physical Activity
Introduction to Sport, Physical Activity and Healthy Lifestyles
Introduction to Sports Coaching

In Year 2, you’ll deepen your knowledge about contemporary issues in sports coaching, and get hands-on experience. You’ll develop expertise in coaching diverse populations and managing health behaviour changes. You’ll take a closer look at the key areas of sports coaching, which include coaching pedagogy, analysing performance, athlete learning in coaching, and the coaching process.

Compulsory modules:

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Facilitating Learning in Coaching
Managing Health Behaviour Change Through Sport and Physical Activity
Performance Analysis and Assessment in Coaching
Research Methods
The Coaching Process
Working with Diverse Populations

Your final year gives you the opportunity to get further work experience, understand the role of coach education, and you’ll also grow your expertise in performance analysis and programming. You’ll complete a portfolio of evidence to demonstrate that your skills and understanding match the professional standards of the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity. And you’ll do an independent research project, with support and guidance from your tutors.

Compulsory modules:

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Coach Learning and Education
Dissertation
Performance Analysis and Programming in Coaching
Professional Practice and Work Placement

One of:

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Managing Health-Based Programmes in Sport and Physical Activity
Managing Wellbeing in the Sports Workforce

Where your course includes optional modules, these are to provide an element of choice within the course curriculum. The availability of optional modules may vary from year to year and will be subject to minimum student numbers being achieved. This means that the availability of specific optional modules cannot be guaranteed. Optional module selection may also be affected by timetabling requirements. Some restrictions on optional module choice or combinations of optional modules may apply.

How you'll study

The programme is delivered through a combination of lectures, small group seminars, practical activities, tutorials, workshops and study skills sessions to help you manage the transition to university. In addition, there will be practical work, directed independent study, supervised individual research and ICT-based learning. For each module you will have a detailed handbook that tells you what sessions are about, what to read, how you will be assessed, offers coursework guidance, and explains how module content relates to your employment, both in and beyond sports settings.

You will gain valuable work-related experience and skills throughout the programme, including with partners and other employers off campus.

Timetables for your first week are normally available at the end of August prior to enrolment in September. You can expect to receive your timetable for the rest of the academic year during your first week. Please note that while we make every effort to ensure that timetables are as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week. Wednesday afternoons are normally reserved for sports and cultural activities.

How you'll be assessed

Assessments are both individual and team-based and enable you to develop your presentation skills through applied sports coaching tasks, including those undertaken in the real world and with industry partners. These tasks include the writing of essays and individual reports, coaching portfolios and practical assessments. There will be critical appraisals of learning strategies, evaluations of coaching practices, preparation of poster presentations, the planning and delivery of practical sessions, developing portfolios of evidence linked to professional standards, and undertaking a piece of original independent research.

Who will be teaching you

You will be taught by highly enthusiastic and committed staff who have a wealth of experience working with a variety of sport and non-sport organisations. They draw upon these links to ensure you gain valuable vital practical experiences to prepare you for the world of work. Teaching staff are also involved in national and international research projects which influence the way sport is coached, developed and managed, ensuring you are given the most up-to-date knowledge relevant to your future employment.

Entry criteria

Entry requirements

Typical offer of 104-112 UCAS Tariff points, preferably to include Physical Education, Sports Coaching, Sports Performance or a Science subject.

If you accept a formal offer from Edge Hill University you will be required to apply for a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Enhanced Disclosure indicating that you meet the mandatory criteria of ‘Clearance to Work with Children and/or Vulnerable Adults’. Further information will be sent to you after you have firmly accepted an offer.

Example offers

Qualification Requirement
A Level BCC-BBC.
BTEC Extended Diploma (or combination of BTEC QCF qualifications) Distinction, Merit, Merit (DMM).
T Level Overall grade of Merit.
International Baccalaureate (IB) We are happy to accept IB qualifications which achieve the required number of UCAS Tariff points. Subject-specific requirements at Higher Level (HL) Grade 5 may apply.
Access to Higher Education Diploma 45 credits at Level 3, for example 9 credits at Distinction and 36 credits at Merit or 15 credits at Distinction and 30 credits at Merit. The required total can be attained from various credit combinations.

Please note, the above examples may differ from actual offers made. A combination of A Level and BTEC awards may also be accepted.

If you have a minimum of two A Levels (or equivalent), there is no maximum number of qualifications that we will accept UCAS points from. This includes additional qualifications such as Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), AS Levels that haven't been continued to A Level, and General Studies AS or A Level awards.

English language requirements

International students require IELTS 6.0, with a score no lower than 5.5 in each individual component, or an equivalent English language qualification.

If your current level of English is half a band, one band, or one-and-a-half bands lower, either overall or in one or two elements, you may want to consider our Pre-Sessional English course.

How to apply

Apply full-time

Apply online through UCAS

Read our guide to applying through UCAS to find out more about the application process.

International

Apply as an international student

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

Closed to international applications for September 2023.

Should you accept an offer of a place to study with us and formally enrol as a student, you will be subject to the provisions of the regulations, rules, codes, conditions and policies which apply to our students. These are available at www.edgehill.ac.uk/studentterms.

Did you know?

If you join a full time undergraduate degree at Edge Hill University, we will guarantee you the offer of a room in our halls of residence for the first year of your course.

Discover our accommodation

Facilities

Wilson CentreBased in the Wilson Centre, the Department of Sport and Physical Activity places a strong emphasis on practical work underpinned by outstanding facilities. There are dedicated laboratories in performance analysis, biomechanics, physiology, psychology, musculoskeletal, biochemistry, vision analysis, sleep, exercise and performance, and functional rehabilitation, as well as a sports therapy clinic.

Extensive use is also made of the on-campus leisure facilities which include top-of-the-range 3G football and rugby pitches, hockey pitches, tennis courts, competition-standard athletics track and an athletics field. Our sports centre boasts a 25-metre swimming pool, double sports hall for badminton, basketball, netball and squash, a 100-station fitness suite, aerobics studio and a health suite with sauna and steam rooms.

Where you'll study

Wilson Centre

Sports Centre

Learning resources

The performance analysis laboratory provides access to industry-standard software and audio-visual equipment for the analysis of athletic and coaching performance.

Finance

Tuition fees

UK Full-Time

£9,250

a year

International

£16,500

a year

The University may administer a small inflationary rise in tuition fees, in line with Government policy, in subsequent academic years as you progress through the course.

EU/EEA and Swiss students who have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, as well as Irish nationals, may be eligible for the UK tuition fee rate.

Financial support

Subject to eligibility, UK students joining this course can apply for a Tuition Fee Loan from the Government to cover the full cost of tuition fees. UK students enrolling on the course may also be eligible to apply for additional funding to help with living costs.

Please view the relevant Money Matters guide for comprehensive information about the financial support available to eligible UK students.

EU/EEA and Swiss students who have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme may be eligible to apply for financial support. Irish nationals can ordinarily apply to Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI). If you are an EU student who does not have settled or pre-settled status, or are an international student from a non-EU country, please see our international student finance pages.

Your future career

By the time you finish your sports coaching degree, you’ll have a wide range of transferrable skills that will equip you for a graduate role or further study. Your skillset will come in handy whether you want to work in the coaching field or another area of sport.

Our graduates go on to have exciting careers in the community or performance sport, or in related fields such as wellness and health and wellbeing. A number of graduates have gone on to work for football clubs, sports groups and partnerships and community groups. Here are just some of the job roles they get:

  • Elite Performance Coach
  • Community Coach
  • Sports Coach in Education
  • Performance Analyst
  • Strength and Conditioning Coach
  • Sports Development Officer
  • Community Engagement Coordinator

Other students continue on to postgraduate study, such as our MSc Sport, Physical Activity and Mental Health. Or they train to become teachers with a PGCE in primary, secondary in physical education, or within further education.

Discover Uni: Full-Time Study

Download our course leaflet