Master of Arts in Sport Development and Management

at Leeds Beckett University - Headingley Campus United Kingdom

This degree is shaped by an established model of coaching adopted by the Football Association and other leading national and international governing bodies.

As part of your course, you’ll:

• Develop the skills and knowledge to become a confident sports coach
• Enhance your key coaching skills by understanding your participants and helping them to achieve their potential within their sport
• Learn how to plan, deliver and review both short and long-term training programmes
• Analyse sporting performance and develop your coaching techniques using specialist coaching equipment and software
• Apply ideas from the course during organised placements

Staff expertise:-
You’ll be taught by staff who have vast experience in sports coaching. Members of the teaching team currently deliver an array of support services to coaches and athletes at all levels and across an extensive range of sports.

Research centre:-
Our renowned Research Centre for Sport Coaching will also provide a high-quality, inclusive learning environment.

Hands-on experience:-
Invaluable placement opportunities will give you the chance to put your learning into practice. You could be coaching children from local schools or working on campus assisting our coaches, some of whom work with Olympic athletes.

You could also gain experience in the wider sports industry with professional clubs such as Leeds Rhinos and Leeds United, or with local authority and private fitness centres.

Designed to meet the competency requirements and professional standards set by the Sport & Exercise Nutrition Register (SENr), this course will prepare you to become a professional sport and exercise nutritionist.

You’ll help athletes prepare for their chosen sport by providing them with the specialist nutritional programmes that will aid their performance.

As part of your course, you’ll:

• Study the science of food, developing your understanding of how nutritional composition and diet can influence sport and exercise performance
• Work across the spectrum – from elite athletes to recreational performers – and learn how to conduct interviews, assess the dietary intake of individuals and design personalised nutritional interventions

Refining your understanding of the key disciplines of nutrition, physiology and psychology, your course will enable you to put your learning into practice through a placement in a setting of your choosing. This could include working within a professional sports environment.

Providing a pathway of practical activities across three years, this physical education course will offer a multidisciplinary experience to fit your individual career goals and learning needs.

As part of your course, you'll:

• Study all aspects of physical education, including best practice in teaching and learning, the scientific principles which underpin PE and the benefits of lifelong physical activity
• Gain hands-on experience in a variety of settings including teaching PE in schools or leading community groups
• Choose from a range of option modules to develop expertise in specialist areas to maximise your opportunities and enhance your employability prospects

With our excellent sport facilities on campus, you’ll take part in a range of physical activities.

As well as practical sessions which explore approaches to teaching and learning within the physical education discipline, you will also use our specialist sports science laboratories to study human movement. Your theoretical and practical experience will be enhanced by learning in the workplace, which can include local primary and secondary schools, community youth groups or professional sports clubs.

As part of this course, you'll:

• Study four key areas: sport performance, sport management, sport coaching and contemporary issues
• Develop academic and professional skills, applying these into your chosen sport
• Work with our industry partners including key employers, for example, Leeds Rhinos (rugby and netball), Leeds United and British Athletics
• Apply your learning around these areas of study to your chosen sport setting
• Gain breadth and depth of work experience from day one through modules, volunteering, coaching qualifications and paid employment
• Decide whether to focus on one discipline area, or maintain a breadth as you progress through your degree

As part of your course, you’ll:

• Create and deliver a diverse range of events from conception through to evaluation
• Learn to manage events staff and suppliers, as well as adhere to licensing requirements
• Study complex and challenging issues within events management – including the operation of event organisations and their management, and how to plan events in a sustainable way

Events have increasingly become important markers and influencers in our lives. Whether in sport, the arts, business or politics, not a day goes by without a major event taking place somewhere in the world.

Event managers are in demand by organisations that require specialists to deliver every facet of the event in a proactive and skilful manner.

Coming with some experience of events, whether through volunteering at a school prom or working directly in an events environment, this course will build a solid foundation for your continuing study.

Our applied management course is dedicated to getting you into the events industry, and our experienced lecturers will help you find your way. All modules on the course are contextualised into the events industry - everything you learn will have a practical application when you begin your career.

You’ll study behavioural, physical and life sciences on this practice-based course. A passion for understanding the science behind sport performance, health, and physical activity will drive your career helping people of all physical abilities.

Develop in-demand skills

You’ll develop skills which are increasingly in-demand as the importance of health and physical activity becomes more prominent in the UK and beyond. You could find yourself working with elite athletes on their sporting performance, working in rehabilitation, or helping people suffering from long-term illnesses.

As part of this course, you’ll:

• Gain an evidence-based appreciation of biomechanics, nutrition, physiology and psychology and their use within sport and exercise environments
• Take part in practical sessions examining oxygen consumption, blood lactate and glucose concentration, body composition and dietary analysis, ECG, power output, human motion analysis and exercise cognition
• Use scientific processes to question and problem solve. You could explore why athletes might not respond to training as expected, plan dietary strategies for the general population, or use movement analysis to understand why athletes might get injured

Deepen your understanding of the key issues and challenges facing professionals in contemporary sport development settings in the UK and around the world.

As part of your course, you’ll:

• Critically examine aspects of sport development, including strategic management, leadership, governance, diversity and inclusion, and sport for development
• Develop a specialism in an area of interest and vocational relevance during your independent project
• Enhance your problem solving, creativity, decision-making and leadership skills
• Have the opportunity to undertake a professional project in partnership with a sport development organisation

As part of this course, you’ll:

• Develop your identity as an emerging practitioner
• Work with children and young people across the 3-18-year age range within mainstream and specialist settings
• Begin to develop ideas to promote inclusion for all learners
• Use a psychological perspective to explore how children learn
• Identify how to support children’s needs through best practice and overcoming barriers to participation
• Learn how to create inclusive and enabling environments
• Investigate the importance of whole-school approaches when working with displaced children who have experienced trauma
• Work with stakeholders including families, education, health, and care services in educational settings to understand the policy and practice behind their collaboration
• Explore key issues in safeguarding to understand best practice

Become an expert in cyber security and learn how to apply your knowledge to protect organisations from illegal attacks.

As part of this course, you’ll:  

• Develop a broad knowledge of computing as well as specific cyber security expertise and how to put it into practice
• Learn to use your knowledge of computer systems and networks to protect businesses and users from malicious
• attacks in computer security modules
• Study key topics including malware and vulnerabilities, secure coding, sandboxing, virtualisation, and ethical hacking and penetration testing techniques
• Learn practical investigative and 'hacking' techniques
• Learn through practical applications on our bespoke Hacktivity system that replicates real-world business systems and potential attacks.

You’ll gain experience of preparing and presenting work for use by courts of law and industry customers. Attending conferences will give you the opportunity to network with professionals and enhance your career prospects. You may also have the option to work with local employers as clients for your final year project.

As part of our Cybercrime and Security Innovation Centre, teaching staff on your course work with West Yorkshire Police to develop new ways of fighting cybercrime. This partnership will give you access to cutting-edge research and industry contacts, and an invaluable insight into the real-world applications of computer security. 

As part of your course, you’ll:

• Gain the knowledge and skills to think critically, be reflective and have the potential to transform and drive forward hospitality businesses through successful marketing practices
• Put hospitality, business and marketing theory into practice with visits to local industry and the chance to work on live projects, such as creating branded social experiences, communication plans for hospitality businesses and by developing exceptional guest experiences

You’ll have the opportunity to make insightful decisions based on market trends within and beyond the hospitality sector.  All of which means your project management skills will develop by creating exciting solutions that benefit consumers and the hospitality industry in an ever-changing marketing environment.

You’ll also have the option to tailor assessments to specific areas of interest including food trends, sustainability and technology.

A series of field trips will allow you to witness the hospitality industry first-hand, while guest lectures and research seminars will enable you to network with and learn from professionals.