Sports Studies BSc (Hons)

About the course

The BSc(Hons) Sports Studies course focuses on three specific themes: sports coaching, sports management, and sports development, which build in breadth and depth as you progress through the programme of study. Additional subject disciplines which support these themes, such as sports science and sociology, are also drawn upon.

An additional key feature of the BSc(Hons) Sports Studies is the emphasis on academic and employability skills development. The course promotes your academic performance, enhances your job prospects and strengthens your vocational skills, qualifications, and experience.

First Year

In your first year you study a range of subjects, including sports coaching, sports management, sports development, research skills, science supporting sport, and social science of sport.

Second Year

in your second year you study in greater depth the principal themes of sports coaching, sports management, and sports development, with scientific and sociological influences being embedded within these themes. You also develop further your research skills and there is a work experience module.

Final Year

In your final year you are able to choose four from five available modules:

Advanced sports coaching

Advanced sports development

Advanced sports management

Final year project

Advanced work experience.

This choice enables you to tailor your studies more towards your personal interests and career aspirations. All modules offer the opportunity to further develop the application of theory to practice. Both the project and the work experience module at this level are completed under the guidance of an academic supervisor.

Why choose this course?

• This course gives you an understanding of sports management, development and coaching, and the areas of sport science, psychology and sociology that impact upon sports performance.
• Studying a variety of subjects gives you a broad base of knowledge, experience and employment opportunities.
• Students benefit from some of the best university-based sports and fitness facilities in the UK.
• Sports coaching and other work experience opportunities are integrated into the programme, significantly enhancing employability of our graduates.

Study routes

• Sandwich, 4 Years
• Full Time, 3 Years

Locations

• University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield

Careers

There are a variety of career opportunities in sports related employment for Sports Studies graduates including sports coaching, sports development, sports management, sports administration, sports media, sports promotion, health promotion, sports business, and sports instruction/teaching/lecturing/research.

Teaching methods

Modules are assessed by coursework or exam, or a combination of the two. There are fewer exams than in many degree courses. The type of coursework is varied, depending on the module and includes essays, reports, practical write-ups, posters and seminar presentations, as well as more innovative technology-based methods such as the use of wikis.

Work Placement

In the third year you have the opportunity to spend a year working in industry or studying at one of our partner universities in North America or Europe. However you do not have to undertake a placement year, there will still be ample opportunities for you to gain work experience within the main programme of study.

Professional Accreditations

The University of Hertfordshire, Division of Sport, Health and Exercise has recently been assessed for Laboratory Accreditation via the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES). This is a nationally-recognised achievement, whereby the standards of operation, physiological testing and laboratory management are assessed in relation to recognised clinical criteria and quality control. In successfully attaining such accreditation, the physiological testing team and laboratory staff have demonstrated high standards in operation.

Structure

Year 1

Core Modules

• Foundations of Sports Coaching

  This module involves an examination of the basic rationale behind the foundational principles of coaching, and the application of coaching practices, with reference to relevant supporting theory and literature. It aims to facilitate the development of practical coaching experience in context through the combination of undertaking a coach shadowing placement; gaining a vocational coaching award; and planning, delivery and evaluation of the student s own coaching. This module is designed to introduce the novice coach to a range of relevant topics that inform the coaching process in its early stages.

• Introduction to Sports Development

  This module will aim to unravel the ambiguous and complex nature of sports development. To provide students with an understanding of the growth and evolution of sports development, the myriad models of sports development, the varied organisational perspectives and priorities relating to sports development and the strategies and initiatives that have been developed in an attempt to sustain and grow participation in sport. Of key importance to this module is a philosophical debate about sports development and whether it is essentially about the development of sport or development through sport.

• Introduction to Sports Management

  This module introduces students to the subject of sport management in terms of explaining the principles of management and leadership in sporting organisations. The roles and responsibilities associated particularly with sport organisation management will be investigated with reference to the marketing and management of sport services and human resource management. How sport organisations are structured will be examined, looking particularly at the micro environments of sport organisations cross sector.

• Science Supporting Sport

  This module aims to provide an opportunity for students to explore the sub disciplines of physiology, psychology, and movement analysis, which support human sporting performance. Students will be introduced to foundational knowledge, and key principles and theories. The conceptual link between theory and practice in sports specific human performance settings will be emphasised.

• Social Science of Sport

  This module introduces sports sociology concepts, theories and research. Content includes an examination of the development and growth of sport, including the role of processes such as commercialisation and globalisation. Topics including socialisation, identity, and cultural values are used to explain the role of sport as a social institution which influences and is influenced by wider society. The interrelatedness of sport and other social institutions (e.g. education, politics, law, and the mass media) is also explored. The themes of reflection, reinforcement and resistance are considered through an introduction to some of the issues identifiable in the study of sport in society. Such issues include discrimination and inequalities related to social characteristics (e.g. gender, race, ethnicity, and disability), social exclusion, environmental impacts, and deviance. Additionally, students are encouraged to identify ways in which sociological awareness may be applied within sports studies disciplines such as coaching, development and management.

• Study Skills and Employability

  This module is focussed on introducing and developing skills required to study in a Higher Education environment and also consider professional skills needed in the work place. With regards to academic skills this module primarily provides an introduction to the academic, IT and communication skills that students will require to become effective autonomous learners in Higher Education. Employability skills will be analysed and investigated to start to prepare students for the areas they need to develop. Also possible opportunities that are available for a graduate from the field of sport will be considered and embryonic career plans developed.

Optional

Year 2

Core Modules

• Applied Sports Coaching

  This module is focussed on the analysis of personal and professional coaching practice in an applied performance environment. The module will seek to facilitate practical coaching skills, gaining of further vocational coaching awards and develop experience in the coaching environment. There will be further investigation of how the wider sport and exercise science sub disciplines are integrated into interdisciplinary performance enhancement. The module will involve practical and theoretical sessions to enhance learning and development.

• Research Skills

  This module is directed toward preparing students for their level 6 dissertation. Students are introduced to research traditions and philosophies within the context of sports studies. The concept of research design is explored, with an emphasis on the role of literature in informing decisions about what to investigate and how to do so. The topic of research ethics is also introduced. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis are examined. Overall, the core aim of the module is to enable students to develop the skills required in order to progress to a final year research project within a relevant sports studies discipline.

• Sports Development

  This module will explore the factors that impact on sports development such as sociological perspectives and situational circumstances that affect participation. The influence and relationship between sports development and associated themes such as physical activity, active recreation and leisure will be considered in the context of continuity and change in contemporary sport. The array of different stakeholders such as sport in educational settings, National Governing Bodies (NGB's), local authorities and sports clubs will be considered for their different responsibilities and motivations. This module will involve students in debates focusing on the role of sports volunteers in club environments and in an appreciation of creating, developing and sustaining performance pathways. Of key importance to this module is an appreciation of the array of different stakeholders to sports development and their varying priorities.

• Sports Management

  This module develops the subject of sport management in terms of further understanding the variety of sport business structures and moves on from understanding simple micro environments cross sector to understanding the legal and financial implications of being self employed, partnerships and public limited companies. How these structures behave and how culture is evidenced will be examined along with the theoretical concepts of change management and conflict resolution. This module will then begin to examine less permanent sport organisational structures through sports events and understanding purpose and variety of sports events and associated structures. Finally students will be able to examine an operational management strategy for delivery of a sport event through either having observed or managed an event of choice.

• Work Experience

  This module aims to provide opportunities for the student to transfer academic and vocational learning into a work-related setting, and vice versa to bring work-place skills and issues into the academic and vocational learning environment. Thus, the module should help to develop good evidence based working practices, and enhance associated knowledge and skills, with a view to improving both student employability and critical reflective practice. This module will also offer an array of potential opportunities for continuing development of their personal transferable skills.

Optional

Year 3

Core Modules

Optional

• Sandwich Placement - Sport

  The sandwich placement will provide students with the opportunity to expand, develop and apply the knowledge, understanding and skills learnt in the taught years of the degree in a work-based situation. The establishment will appoint a work-place supervisor, and the student will also have a University supervisor. During the placement the student will return to the University to a one day Symposium which all placement students attend. During this day they present a poster about their placement and attend talks on future employment.

• Year Abroad - SPS

  Learning and teaching methods may include taught courses, a research project, field studies or a mixture of these components. The Year Abroad will be for two academic semesters or their equivalent. The students will therefore follow a programme negotiated by the Associate Head of School or nominee and an equivalent representative of the host institution. Prior to commencement of the Year Abroad, the student, the programme officers from the University of Hertfordshire and from the host institution will agree a learning agreement and mode of attendance.

Year 4

Core Modules

Optional

• Advanced Sports Coaching

  This module is based on the critical appraisal of advanced coaching related theory and research, and a range of current issues, and industry developments. personal development, as applied to the students own coaching background. The module promotes the refinement of sophisticated practical coaching skills, the gaining of a further vocational coaching award, and the employment of critical reflective depth in relation to personal and professional development.

• Advanced Sports Development

  Sports development as a post-war phenomenon can be seen as a policy domain, process for social change and an area of activity/practice (Girginov, 2008). This module has been designed to explore sports development in greater critical depth developing upon previous study at levels 4/5. The module features three themes that are prominent throughout the module: the first covers the practice of sports development through the project planning lifecycle and includes evidenced based practice, applying for funding, performance management and considering sports development through the perspective of the customer/participant. The second focuses on sports development as a policy domain with awareness of the health and wellbeing, children and young people broader context. The third aspect is the utility of socio-political theory and concepts that are highly relevant to sports development such as social class, race and equality, gender, partnership, power and habitus.

• Advanced Sports Management

  This module aims to provide an understanding of the concept of strategic management and its application to sport organisations. It will enable the student to appraise the influences of the macro and micro environment within which such sport organisations exist and operate. Students will implement advanced strategic marketing processes to facilitate effective operation of the organisation and understand unique marketing constraints and opportunities which are characteristic of service and product organisations involved in the sport industry. Students will design and implement a suitable service and product marketing strategy for a specific sport organisation.

• Advanced Work Experience - Sports Studies

  This advanced work experience module embraces the philosophy of empowerment in that it offers L6 students the opportunity to continue their vocational experience and specialisation in a theme of BSc Sports Studies which is of particular interest. The module develops upon the 15 credit work experience module at L5 while having a greater focus upon the opportunity for immersion in a community of practice while appreciating the value of professional debate of contemporary issues. The module is an academic and vocational hybrid which relies upon the application of advanced academic theory and qualities developed during BSc Sports Studies to professional practice in the chosen work experience settings. The reflective nature of the assessment will appraise the concept of learning and the prominence of significant milestones to enhance future employability and to inform future career destinations.

• Final Year Project - Sports Studies

  This module is intended to offer students the widest possible scope, within controlled parameters, to research a topic beyond the constraints of usual coursework assignments and examinations. Guidance on the design, planning, execution and presentation of projects will have been given to all students during level 5 in the Research Skills module. All students will also be allocated a supervisor with whom they should maintain regular contact throughout the research process. A project handbook is provided which details the responsibilities and expectations of students, and the role of supervisors. Additionally, the handbook contains guidelines for the expected content and format of the dissertation and poster. A series of workshops on specific aspects of the research process is provided, as well as tutorial support from supervisors.

Fees & funding

Fees 2013

UK/EU Students

Full time: £8,000 for the 2013 academic year

International Students

Discounts are available for International students if payment is made in full at registration

View detailed information about tuition fees

Additional course costs

EVS handsets are required for this course at a cost of £35

Scholarships

• National Scholarship Programme

Find out more about scholarships for UK/EU and international students

Other financial support

Find out more about other financial support available to UK and EU students

Living costs / accommodation

The University of Hertfordshire offers a great choice of student accommodation, on campus or nearby in the local area, to suit every student budget.

View detailed information about our accommodation

How to apply