MSc Sports Science (Advanced Sports Performance Track)

Courses Overview

MODULE 1 – ATHLETE PROFILING & ANALYSIS:

The profiling of athletes and regular assessment of the various systems which support their performance are crucial components of the physical development process. A systematic approach to performance analysis ensures that all aspects of preparation become highly specific to the needs of the individual athlete, increasing the effectiveness of training, and ensuring the efficiency of the process as a whole.

During this module students will learn:

• Principles of Performance Test Selection – Identifying and understanding the processes involved in selecting appropriate performance tests.
• Principles of Performance Test Application – Understanding the factors involved in correctly administering performance tests and identifying optimal testing procedures.
• Performance Testing Protocols – Understanding and being able to administer performance tests according to established protocols.
• Integration of Performance Test Data into Training – Understanding how performance test data translates into meaningful training interventions and identifying the systems and procedures to integrate data into the training process.
• Establishing the Functional State of the Athlete – Identifying effective methods of pre-training assessment and develop an understanding of athlete tolerance to prescribed training load and the probability of positive training adaptations.
• Monitoring Physical Outputs in Training & Competition – Identifying systems designed to accurately monitor specific physical performance parameters during training, how measuring training outputs ensures optimal training response, and how to develop a specific loading profile based on performance evaluation systems in the competitive environment.
• Monitoring Overtraining – Identify systems and procedures designed to identify athletes at risk of excessive fatigue, overreaching or overtraining and understand how to apply them to the screening and assessment process.

MODULE 2 – ON-FIELD TRAINING:

A variety of sports incorporate different levels of endurance, sprint, and multidirectional components in their physical demands. The ability of the athlete to produce high levels of speed, agility, and work capacity are valuable physical attributes that can often determine sporting success, and which can be modified through training. Exercise methods designed to enhance performance in these fitness qualities require a clear understanding of the purpose, structure, and content of training to prepare the athlete for the actions, movement patterns, and intensities that they will encounter during competition. Module 2 will address field-based training methods, including warm-up, speed, agility & change of direction, endurance, and rehabilitation from injury. During this module students will learn:

• Principles & Application of Pre-Training & Pre-Competition Warm-ups – Identifying the multiple stages in the process of increasing athlete readiness, and understanding the underlying concepts in the structuring of warm-ups. – Understanding the factors involved in warm-up delivery, and identifying modifications to warm-up procedures for different performance outcomes.
• Principles & Applied Methods of Speed Training – Understanding how mechanisms acting at various levels in the nervous system may be modified by training to optimize the development of speed and power, and identifying the different training regimes involved in the development of sprint ability. – Identifying specific drills and exercises designed to enhance different aspects of speed performance, including acceleration, maximum speed, or maintenance of maximum speed.
• Principles & Applied Methods of Agility & Change of Direction Training – Understanding how the various elements of agility may be modified by training and identifying different training regimes to improve multidirectional performance.
• Principles & Application of Endurance Training – Understanding the importance of energy system conditioning to physical performance and identifying effective training modalities designed to enhance various aspects of endurance in sport.
• Integrated Training for Team Sports – Understanding the contribution of various components of fitness to team sports and identifying training methods designed to enhance those components in a way that is transferable to the sport. – Understanding the relationship between tactical and technical aspects of team sports to physical outputs and identifying how to manipulate training drills to integrate physical objectives into team sports training.

MODULE 3: OFF-FIELD TRAINING:

Athletes must be competent in a number of strength related factors in order to cope with the specific physical demands of a sport. These factors may include differing levels of sport-specific endurance, speed, strength, power, agility, and flexibility, as well as optimal body composition. This highlights the need for a carefully planned, effective strength training process, designed to ensure the integrated development of all of these physical abilities. The underlying principle in designing the training program is to achieve the optimal balance between training stress and restoration. The training must stress the body sufficiently to cause adaptation without inducing excessive fatigue and potential overtraining and result in an overall increased level of performance. Module 3 will address gym-based training methods, including activation, injury prevention, strength, power, and core. During this module students will learn:

• Principles & Application of Pre-Training & Pre-Competition Activation – Understanding the key stages involved in raising the functional potential of the athlete-specific to the physical demands of the sport or event, and establishing the relationship between neural activities and those demands. – Identifying specific activation drills and exercises designed to enhance the functional potential of the athlete.
• Principles & Application of Injury Reduction Training – Identifying the mechanisms and risk factors associated with specific injuries, and understanding the key stages in the injury reduction process for athletes. – Identifying specific drills and exercises designed to reduce injury occurrence in the athlete.
• Athlete Rehabilitation & Return to Sport – Understanding the process of criteria based rehabilitation and functional recovery from injury, identifying the key stages involved in return to sport decisions.
• Principles & Application of Resistance Training – Understanding the process of increasing the ability of the athlete to generate force through strength exercise selection, prescription of training frequency, intensity and volume, and the assignment of appropriate training loads and thresholds, in accordance with the performance profile of the athlete and the needs of the sport. – Identifying specific lifts and strength training exercises designed to enhance force production in the athlete in a way that is transferable to sport performance.
• Applied Periodisation of Resistance Training – Examining the key principles relating to an applied approach to the periodization of resistance training, focusing on how to structure the strength training process in a logical, progressive manner designed to produce the desired physiological adaptations needed for improved sports performance.

MODULE 4 – RECOVERY & REGENERATION:

The physical demands of training and competition result in a large amount of physical stress which, if not addressed and managed correctly, can result in athletes becoming excessively fatigued. Incomplete recovery can result in underperformance and injury, therefore effective recovery strategies are required to alleviate fatigue, regain performance levels, promote adaptation, and reduce the risk of injury or burnout. During this module students will learn:

• Principles of Athlete Stress & Fatigue – Understanding the varied nature of physical stress responses in athletes, the cause of these stress responses, and the effect they have on physical performance. – Identifying models of the stress response – GAS, Fitness-Fatigue
• Benchmarking Recovery – Identify the mechanisms of fatigue present in sport. – Introduce the tools and systems used to benchmark athlete regeneration using identified markers of recovery.
• Principles & Application of Post-Competition Recovery – Understanding the timeframe associated with the post-competition recovery and identifying regeneration protocols designed to minimize the stress response and enhance the recovery process.
• Principles & Application of Post-Training Recovery – Identifying recovery modalities designed to maximize specific training-induced adaptations in the athlete and identifying any modalities which may inhibit the adaptation response.
• Sleep & Performance – Understanding the role sleep plays in recovery and the impact sleep deprivation has on physical performance, identifying the cycles of sleep and strategies the athlete may adopt to improve sleep.

MODULE 5 – NUTRITION FOR PERFORMANCE:

High-quality nutrition underpins the entire physical performance process and supports the athlete in all aspects of training, competition, and recovery. By optimizing nutritional intake, the athlete will ensure that the energy demands of the sport or competition are met. Nutrition is crucial to a positive outcome in the recovery and regeneration process encompassing both competition and training and ensures that the athlete maintains a body composition suitable for the sport. In addition, diet can affect the mood, concentration and mental drive of the athlete therefore is fundamental to physical performance. During this module students will learn:

• Principles of Performance Nutrition – Understanding the fundamental principles underpinning nutrition and how they relate to athletic performance. – Identifying the various energy demands in sport and understanding how they are affected by nutritional strategies. – Identifying specific nutritional strategies to optimize physical performance.
• Principles of Recovery Nutrition – Understanding the role nutrition plays in the regeneration of the athlete and identifying specific nutritional strategies at key stages of the recovery process.
• Role of Body Composition in Performance – Understanding the importance of optimal body composition to physical performance in fundamentally differing sports and identifying specific dietary interventions to adjust body composition whilst maintaining physical output.
• Optimized Hormonal & Neurotransmitter Profile of the Athlete – Identifying the hormones and neurotransmitters fundamental to athletic performance and how they relate to nutrition, understanding how modifications in diet and supplementation can optimize the hormonal profile of the athlete and enhance training.
• Utilization of Nutritional Supplements – Understanding the role of supplementation in sport, and identifying which supplements are necessary to support performance.

MODULE 6 – LIFE DEMANDS & PSYCHOLOGY:

The athlete normally spends significantly more time away from the sporting environment than they do engage in training or competition. The choices athletes make in their personal lives can have a major impact on their ability to train optimally, which will have obvious consequences for performance in competition. An understanding of life demands facing an athlete can allow behaviors to be modified in order to minimize the negative effects these demands could potentially have. During this module students will learn:

• Influence of the Non-Sporting Environment on Performance – Identifying factors in the personal lives of athletes which can have a positive or a negative effect on performance
• Power of Culture & Performance – Understanding and managing the impact cultural factors can have on athletic performance
• Impact of Negative Behaviours & Performance – Identifying negative behavior choices which may influence athletic performance
• Impact of Motivation, Drive & Focus – Identifying the mental skills necessary to support athletic performance and understanding the techniques required to maximize cognitive function
• Mental Health Awareness & The Athlete – Understanding the impact of stress in the sporting environment and identifying strategies to enhance mental health and wellbeing

Outcomes:

The course is relevant to those interested and involved in the sport and leisure industry eg. coaches, athletes, strength & conditioning professionals, physiotherapists, P.E. teachers, personal trainers, etc. The course may also be of interest to business leaders and managers in terms of understanding what drives performance, staff motivation, leadership, and team cohesion. The course will examine a broad range of topical issues with the sport and exercise psychology profession through the application of theory and research.

• To provide students with a sound understanding of key theoretical issues within the field of sport and exercise psychology.
• To enable students to develop an in-depth understanding of the application of theory and research to sport and exercise settings.
• To provide an opportunity for students to gain insight and practical skills that will enhance their work with individuals and groups in a sport and exercise context.
• To facilitate students in acquiring critical and self-reflective awareness of the individual differences and ethical concerns and implications of applying psychology in sport and exercise settings.