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Teaching Excellence Framework 2023 - Gold Award

BSc (Hons) Sport Management and Coaching

This is one of our broadest ranging sports degrees. You can tailor you experience towards your career aspirations and keep your options open. You'll learn how you can lead, manage and coach sport to develop communities, inspire young people and fulfil potential, from grassroots up to elite athlete levels.

Sports development students organise and lead a sports event for local primary schools

Small class sizes

Apply now for this course

Full-time Part-time


Entry requirements

Three A-levels at grades CCC - BBC

Or BTEC triple grades MMM - DMM

Access to HE Diploma accepted with credits in line with UCAS tariff point range

T level P (C+)

GCSE Grade C or 4 English Language or an acceptable equivalent qualification.

Applicants with other qualifications and/or experience will be considered on an individual basis


UCAS points 96 - 112

UCAS code SDC2

UCAS institution code P63

Duration Three years full time or up to six years part time

Any questions?

Contact Tara Godber, our Applicant Support Coordinator, if you have any questions. Email: applicantsupport@marjon.ac.uk and Tara will get back to you.

Course Summary

The BSc (Hons) Sport Management and Coaching at Marjon prepares you for a dynamic career in sport by combining coaching excellence with industry-focused leadership and management training. Developed in collaboration with leading organisations such as Plymouth Argyle Community Trust and Devon FA, this degree gives you the skills, experiences, and connections to thrive in the sport sector.

In your first year, you’ll build a strong foundation in coaching, sport development, and management. You’ll explore the structure of sport in the UK, learn the fundamentals of marketing and communication, and begin to understand how to deliver inclusive coaching and physical activity sessions that have real impact.

In your second year, the focus shifts to applying what you’ve learned in real-world settings. You’ll take part in a work-based placement, develop your understanding of people and volunteer management, and gain experience delivering sport events. Optional modules allow you to tailor your learning – whether that’s through coaching children, supporting player care, or exploring performance analysis. This year is all about connecting theory to practice and growing your confidence as a sport professional.

The third year is designed to help you lead and influence. You’ll learn how to manage projects, lead inclusive coaching and education initiatives, and complete an applied research project focused on an area of your professional interest. You’ll also deepen your understanding of sport’s social and cultural impact, giving you the tools to design meaningful programmes that can change lives.

Students can choose to study this degree with a Professional Practice Year, taking place between second and third year. This gives you extended industry experience with a range of partner organisations, including the chance to coach in the USA with Challenger Sports, or work locally with Plymouth Argyle Community Trust, Devon FA, or other sport and community organisations across the UK. This additional year builds your confidence, enhances your CV, and expands your professional network before you graduate.

Endorsed by CIMSPA (Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity) and CMI (Chartered Management Institute), the programme equips you with recognised credentials at no extra cost, boosting your employability and supporting your transition into the sport workforce.

With small class sizes, supportive lecturers, and a strong focus on personal development, this course will empower you to make a real difference through sport.

Phil: We work really closely with all our students. We see our students on a daily basis, a weekly basis, so we get really good personal relationships with them. We can tailor then the offer, our advice to them on a personal basis. We've got all the facilities on site, so our students can train, play and study all on one campus. We've got brilliant links with local networks and regional networks and national networks in terms of sports organizations in schools, in coaching organizations. We can really help students to gain applied experience to develop the employability skills. They get out of the classroom. They work with real people, real institutions, and develop some excellent skills. So when it comes to them looking for a job, they've got a whole host of people they can call upon. It's not just about a lecturer's giving support. They've got a whole community of people that are trying to support them.

Luke: It was the course that really put my focus on Marjon, but then the fact that it is a sports-based university and I'm a really sporty person, it's definitely give me the nudge to pick Marjon over other unis that I had offers.

Ami: I feel you get a lot better experience in such a small environment, where you're a lot closer to your lecturer and they take the time to get to know you as a person and as a student, which goes really well then if ever you need any help. I think probably the most beneficial opportunity for me is the fact that you get a second year and third year placement. It's fantastic to be able to get the experience, the hands-on experience, as well as doing your degree. A lot of people would have to try and find time to do voluntary work outside of their studying, whereas the great thing with sports development is you get that opportunity set aside for you during your degree.

Luke: Obviously, the gym's really handy. Last year, when I was staying on campus, me and my friend would go to the gym every day. It's on your doorstep. And then obviously all the strength conditioning rooms for athletes. I mean, it's like a playground for any athlete.

Ami: I think it's great that you get the sports center, so you're not just constantly sat in a classroom being told things. You can actually get into the sports hall. You can do demonstrations and you can be taught it really hands-on.

Kes: Marjon's given me confidence, it's given me a really good skill set, and it's made me believe in myself that actually I am a good teacher and I'm doing a good job at professional tutor. I think that's from just really good support in the three years I was here, but also continued support since I've left. It's actually made me probably believe in myself a little bit more and realize that you're never too young to do something and that if you're the right person, then go for it.

Why this course at Marjon?

Real industry experience from day one You’ll work directly with organisations like Plymouth Argyle Community Trust, Devon FA, and local community partners to gain hands-on experience and build a professional portfolio while you study.

Optional Professional Practice Year, including international coaching Take your learning global with the opportunity to coach in the USA through our partnership with Challenger Sports, or gain extended experience with UK-based sport organisations to boost your CV.

Dual industry endorsement Stand out to employers with professional recognition from both CIMSPA and CMI, demonstrating your skills in both coaching and management at no additional cost.

Career-focused modules shaped by employers From managing events and leading volunteers to delivering inclusive coaching sessions, your learning is built around the skills employers told us they need right now.

Small class sizes and personalised support Learn in a close-knit environment where your lecturers know your name and are committed to your personal and professional growth.

Be part of something bigger Join a university with a strong reputation for inclusion, community engagement, and student support, where you’re encouraged to use sport to make a real difference.

Modules for this course

Course Snapshot

“This degree is all about giving you real experience and real connections. You’ll learn how to lead, coach, and manage in sport, with hands-on projects, supportive staff, and partners who open doors. If you want to make a real impact in sport, this is your platform.”
Lee Ballard - Programme Leader

1st Year

Starting Out in Sport Management
Explore the world of sport management while developing essential study skills, industry knowledge and career awareness through interactive tasks, guided reflection and real-world examples designed to support your personal and professional growth.
Digital Sport Marketing and Communication in Action
Explore how sport organisations connect with audiences through marketing and communication. Develop creative ideas, analyse market trends, and learn to present strategies that drive engagement in competitive sport environments.
Building Skilful Movers
Develop your understanding of movement, skill acquisition, and performance through practical coaching and analysis. Explore how to teach and assess fundamental movement skills across a range of participant groups.
Sport, Society and Social Change
Explore how sport creates social impact in communities across the world. Examine real-world initiatives, develop leadership and teamwork skills, and learn how sport promotes inclusion, sustainability, and positive change
Inside the Sport Industry: Systems, Power and Policy
Explore how sport is organised and delivered across sectors. Understand key policies, stakeholders and influences shaping the industry. Develop essential skills in communication, analysis and teamwork through applied learning activities.
Coaching and Teaching: Process and Practice
Develop your confidence and skills in coaching and teaching through practical delivery and theory. Learn how to plan, lead and evaluate sessions that engage participants and support their learning and development.

2nd Year

Sport Event Design and Delivery
Gain hands-on experience planning, managing and delivering live sport events. Develop key skills in leadership, communication and teamwork while exploring the wider impact of events on communities and organisations.
Data-Driven Player Development
Develop your skills in analysing individual performance using real-world data, video insights, and digital tools. Learn to apply performance analysis to enhance coaching decisions and support player development.
Sport and Education
Explore the dynamic relationship between physical education and school sport, examining curriculum, policy and practice while developing the skills to plan, deliver and evaluate inclusive educational sport experiences
Sport Coaching Theory & Practice
Explore the dynamic relationship between physical education and school sport, engaging with curriculum, policy and practice while developing skills to plan, deliver and evaluate inclusive and impactful sport experiences in education.
Professional Practice and Industry Experience
Gain real-world experience through a professional placement, applying your knowledge in a live setting while developing key industry skills, reflecting on practice, and building your confidence for future employment.
Building Your Professional Brand
Develop your professional identity by exploring branding, marketing, and digital presence. This module equips you with the skills to create a personal brand that stands out in the competitive sport industry.
Women in Sport: Coaching for Performance and Progression
Explore how to effectively coach and support female athletes by applying inclusive practice, understanding participation trends, and designing impactful sessions that promote progression, confidence, and success across sporting environments.
Athlete Welfare and Wellbeing in Practice
Explore how athlete wellbeing is shaped by social, cultural and ethical factors. Apply sociological theory to real-world challenges and develop inclusive strategies to support player care in sport environments

3rd Year

Managing Events: From Concepts to Delivery
Develop the skills to lead, plan and evaluate real sport and event projects. Gain hands-on experience managing volunteers, coordinating logistics and presenting outcomes to stakeholders in professional and applied settings.
Sport Marketing and Fan Engagement
Develop the skills to design impactful marketing strategies for sport organisations. Explore branding, digital campaigns, and audience engagement while applying data insights to real-world challenges in sport business.
Power, Identity and Coaching: A Sociological Lens
Explore how coaching is shaped by culture, identity and power. This module challenges you to think critically, develop inclusive practice and understand the social impact of coaching in real-world contexts.
Coaching for All: Inclusion, Adaptation, and Equity
Develop the skills to plan, deliver and reflect on inclusive coaching sessions for participants with a disability. Explore policy, practice and innovation to create equitable and participant-centred sport environments.
Innovating in Sport: Social Enterprise in Action
Explore how sport can drive social change by developing your own enterprise project. This module blends innovation, business strategy and real-world application to create impactful solutions in sport communities.
Insight to Impact: Applied Research in Sport
Design and deliver an applied research project that tackles real-world challenges in sport. Develop critical thinking, research skills and professional insight while creating meaningful impact in your chosen area.
Leading Others: Mentoring in Sport and Physical Education
Develop your leadership and mentoring skills by supporting others in real coaching and teaching environments. Explore how to influence development, apply theory to practice, and reflect critically on your impact
Building Sport Ventures: Enterprise and Strategy
Develop your entrepreneurial mindset by exploring innovation and enterprise in the sport industry. Design and pitch your own business venture using strategic, financial and creative tools for commercial success.

Current students say...


Chloe Whittle

"The course has supported me to develop academically and professionally as I have been introduced to a broad range of modules, such as event management, sport coaching and inclusion in sport, and given opportunities to put the learnt theory into practice. As a coach and practitioner as I have been able to receive part-time employment from these opportunities. A major highlight is working with organisations which are advocates for sport development, such as Argyle Community Trust."


Melissa Baverstock

“I enjoy the flexibility in what we learn via the specialist pathways we choose. My goal is to become a PE teacher so the PE pathway is guiding me. Personally, I have gained a lot of confidence from the course. The placement module in my second year gave me the opportunity to work in a school and get first-hand experience in the field which I choose to continue in. Academically, I feel I have have improved massively. It is very rewarding to watch myself and my grades grow.”


Tom Smith

"I enjoy the diversity of the course, for one lesson we could be having a debate in a classroom and the next we could have a practical lesson in the sports hall. Working with external companies and people that really need your help to ensure that projects are delivered successfully means that you get quality hands on experience. It is also rewarding working with projects around the local area that are really making a difference to people’s lives and seeing what a difference you are making."

This course is perfect if you’re curious about

How to manage people, projects, and events in a fast-paced sport environment

What makes a coaching session genuinely impactful, and how to measure it

How sport organisations can tackle inequality and drive social change

Whether it’s better to lead with strategy or with passion in community sport

How to support and develop volunteers to sustain grassroots sport

What it takes to run sport programmes that change lives, not just fill timetables

This is a mature, confident and high quality programme with some innovative modules…and clear content and structure that goes beyond the expectations of the industry and academia... Learning outcomes are clearly met, teaching and assessment is of high quality and I am confident that standards are thorough and rigorous. Of 11 programmes I have examined… this is one of the very best. It is a credit to the teaching team and students that co-produce work as peers.
Dr Chris Mackintosh, External Examiner - Manchester Metropolitan University and Chair of the UK Sport Development Network

See where our graduates are now


Tom Rudd

Currently I am the Competition Team Coach of 25 athletes aged from 14-17 in Dubai (UAE). My role includes creating macro & meso plans throughout a swimming season, delivering nine training sessions a week and the individual goals of each athlete in the squad. The positive environment Marjon University provided allowed me to channel my passion for sport and coaching into career in this profession that I can continuously develop my delivery and overall performance as a coach.

Tom Rudd is Competition Team Swimming Coach for Speedo Swim Squads


Rian Carrington

Studying at Marjon was great! Over the three years, the modules allowed me to explore different avenues in the sport development sector and equipped me with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed after graduation. Throughout my time at university, I had the opportunity to network with various organisations, which ultimately led to me being hired as a data and impact officer at Argyle Community Trust

Data and Impact Officer at Plymouth Argyle Community Trust


Alex Lyons

The support I received from the staff has been invaluable. They not only assisted me with my academic studies but also provided guidance beyond the modules, serving as mentors to help shape my career—even after graduating!

Community Sport and Physical Activity Development Officer at Somerset Activity and Sports Partnership

What might you become?

Graduates of this course are equipped to take on a wide range of roles across the sport sector, in the UK and internationally. You might lead community sport programmes, manage events, develop coaching pathways, or drive inclusion initiatives.

Career destinations include:

  • Sport Development Officer
  • Participation or Community Manager
  • Sport Programme Coordinator
  • Club Development Manager
  • Volunteer Manager
  • Events and Operations Lead
  • Coaching Lead or Coach Educator
  • Sport Business and Marketing Executive

You’ll be ready to work with national governing bodies, schools, professional clubs, community trusts, charities, and commercial sport providers. Graduates can also progress to postgraduate study in coaching, sport management, or education.

Ben: So, I finished my university degree here at Marjon in 2016. In my time, they would work with like a lot of external partners. I did a lot of volunteering with a local council I'm still working at, as well as Active Devon, so that kind of prepared me for working with local partners, where they can kind of network in general. It gave me a lot of confidence.

Jenna: I did a foundation degree at Exeter College for two years. I then came to Marjon and did a top up degree in sports development and coaching. Having that extra year here at Marjon really helped me to get the practical skills that I needed and hands-on skills to help me go to a job on the outside world.

Josh: So, after I graduated from Marjon's, there was a school games organizer role with the Plymouth School Sports Partnership. I went for that. With my degree and my coaching experience from working for lots of coaching companies whilst at university meant I got that role, which was for full time, working for the Plymouth School Sports Partnership.

Alice: While I was at uni in my third year, I took six months at the end of the year to go and approach Active Devon and I volunteered with them. So, I did school games for six months and worked with all of the other employees as well there, just to give myself more practical experience.

Ben: Now I get to come back and I get to do guest lectures, I get to interview former students and help out with course content and course programs that they're doing at the moment, which is always really enjoyable. So, I've got a really good working relationship with Marjon going on, and I really enjoy coming back and doing work here at Marjon, as well as what I do in my day-to-day role. I've thoroughly enjoyed my time and really looking forward to carry on working with them.

Endorsed by:

CIMSPA Education Partner logo 2024

Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA)

CIMSPA certify that this course meets the professional standards set by employers in the physical activity and fitness sector. CIMSPA's Coaching Assistant and Coach awards are included.


How you’ll be taught and assessed?

How will you be taught?

You’ll learn through a mix of interactive lectures, practical workshops, seminars, fieldwork, and work-based learning. Real-world experience is central, whether you’re planning a community event, coaching on placement, or analysing performance data.

You’ll collaborate in small groups, engage in live projects with partners like Plymouth Argyle Community Trust and Devon FA, and receive personalised support from lecturers who know you by name.

How will you be assessed?

You’ll be assessed through a variety of practical and applied tasks that reflect the real-world demands of the sport industry. These include coaching sessions, event planning projects, marketing campaigns, reflective journals, presentations, and research reports.

There are no formal written exams. Instead, your assessments are designed to help you demonstrate what you can do, from leading a coaching session to pitching a sport development idea or analysing performance data. This approach builds your confidence and prepares you for professional roles in coaching, management, and development.

Lee Ballard staff profile image

Lee Ballard

Course leader

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Lee is as a Senior Lecturer and experienced Coach Developer. He has a wealth of experience in coach education, delivering on the FA Introduction to Coaching Football, UEFA C, UEFA B and National GK Coaching Courses, and supporting high-performance coaches with UK Coaching. Lee has coached in a variety of grassroots and performance settings, including at Bristol City FC Academy, with the FA Women's Talent Programme, and in Disability Talent Hubs. Lee has also been a Non-Executive Director in Regional Governing Bodies and therefore has an excellent understanding of the UK sport sector.


Fees and funding

Fees UK students: £9,535 per annum


Fees for International students: £14,600 per annum


This fee covers your tuition and access to course-specific equipment and facilities, as well associated services including access to the library, study skills support, IT support, student support and wellbeing services and membership of the Student Union. There may be additional costs by course.

Additional costs:

  • A DBS check
  • Marjon sports kit
  • Some students opt to fund additional external coach education.

Funding available for this course

Our Student Funding Advisors offer confidential and impartial advice about your funding options.

Learn more

Lecturers

Lee Ballard

Senior Lecturer

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Lee is an experienced Sports Coaching lecturer who has worked in Higher and Further Education. Lee also works for the FA as a coach developer across their coach education programmes and a coach at the Women's High Performance Centre. Lee is a Director at the Somerset FA and the Chairperson of their Inclusion Advisory Group. Lee is a Talent Reporter for the FA's England Girls programme and an Associate Coach Developer for UK Coaching. Lee is also undertaking a Doctorate programme through Loughborough University aiming to reposition the role of Coach Developer towards Learning Designer.

Mark Blackwell

Lecturer

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Dr Phil Brown

Associate Dean (Student Success) & Associate Professor

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Aaron Cusack

Senior Lecturer in Sport Coaching and Physical Education

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Aaron is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Coaching & Physical Education and is also the Programme Leader for BA (Hons) Sport Coaching. He teaches predominately across the Sport Coaching & Physical Education degree programmes focusing specifically on practice design, skill acquisition, performance analysis, participation coaching and performance coaching.

Kelvin Kirk

Senior Lecturer

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Kelvin Kirk is a qualified PE teacher who now teaches sports coaching at Marjon. He has risen through the coaching ranks of volleyball to enable him to award coaching qualifications; he has also more recently coached junior football for several years. His research interests are in primary PE and the increasing use of modern technology in enhancing PE.

Benjamin Moreland

Senior Lecturer

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Dr Ian Stonebridge

Senior Lecturer

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Ian is a Lecturer in Sport Coaching and PE, teaching across a range of topics including coach behaviour, coaching philosophy and the coaching process. With experience as an Academy football coach, he holds the UEFA 'B' Licence and FA Youth Award qualifications. Ian's research interests relate to coach identity, learning and behaviours. He completed his PhD, 'Who is a coach? Understanding coach subjectivities in professional youth football', under the supervision of Professor Christopher Cushion at Loughborough University. Ian previously enjoyed a successful career as a professional footballer, making over 250 first team appearances and representing England at Under 18 level.

Ryan Thomas

Senior Lecturer

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Frequently asked questions

Q1   How many students are on the course?

BSc (Hons) Sport Management and Coaching is a popular course with on average 20-30 students studying per year group. This ensures dynamic class sizes for lectures and smaller seminar groupings for practical sessions.

Q2   What qualifications are included?

In addition to the degree you also gain CIMSPA and CMI awards. You can also gain additional qualifications to enhance your CV through this programme, including the Level 2 Multi Skills and Safeguarding and Child Protection qualifications.

Apply now for this course

Find out more about studying BSc (Hons) Sport Management and Coaching at Marjon

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