The one-year Master of Science (MS) in Performance Coaching helps students to see the complexity of human performance. Students develop the skills and competencies to integrate the components required to attain high performance, from, technical and movement coaching, conditioning, and workload monitoring with its inputs from exercise physiology, biomechanics and psychology perspectives as well as nutrition and injury risk reduction practices challenge both staff and performer in their skills and specialisms.

One competence that is poorly served, however, is the advanced qualification and resultant skill set in managing and overseeing a broad technology approach to conditioning, monitoring and managing the performer. This is evidenced by the interest in recent years in this type of program at a post-graduate level. The demand and request for such a program has come directly from undergraduates of sports science, strength and conditioning, coaching and exercise-related undergraduate programs of study. Further, interest has come from a range of international sporting associations including player representative associations and teams, clubs, individual coaches and high-performance specialists who represent a growing cohort drawn to a performance-focused post-graduate pathway of study.

The program has been designed following extensive discussions with employers, sports technology companies and some of the foremost coaches in the world. It has been built around the skills and knowledge needed to thrive in the rapidly emerging field of performance coaching. It is based on the concept that the future specialist will have a breadth of practical skills but also a technologically based competence where monitoring the athlete and participant becomes integrated into all aspects and components of development and performance.

The program is comprised of six taught modules and a supervised major project.

Advanced conditioning and recovery methods (6 credits)
Coaching and monitoring technology (6 credits)
Human motion and movement analysis (6 credits)
Sport and exercise nutrition (6 credits)
Biomedical aspects and applied coaching (6 credits)
Data management and research methods (6 credits)
Applied professional project (9 credits)

Candidates who hold an undergraduate degree or higher may be admitted to the program, with preference given to applicants with related subjects such as, but not limited to:

Physiotherapists/ Physical Therapists
Strength & Conditioning Coaches
Athletic Trainers/ Athletic Therapists
Applied Sports Scientists
Sports Therapists
Biomechanists
Chiropractors
Performance Coaches
Kinesiologists/ Biokineticists

All other performance and rehabilitation professionals

….OR

An appropriate professional qualification and at least five years of relevant experience

….OR

Special Case Registrations: Recognised Prior Learning (RPL) entry will be available for those without a related degree. Individual assessment will apply and applicants will be subject to interview.

The program aims to ensure enhanced professional practice through the development of a more critically reflective practitioner informed through the consistent application of evidence-based practice.

The graduate is expected to develop in the course of study the skill sets required to understand and interpret the various factors associated with effective human performance and, as a result, develop the practical coaching skills to devise, implement, and oversee an increasingly complex range of performance-related programs.