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

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.

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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

Associate Lecturer

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Dr Phil Brown

Associate Dean (Student Success)

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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

Lecturer

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Dr Ian Stonebridge

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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