Sports Coach (High Performance)

Course Introduction

This specialist sports coaching qualification has 3 pathways.

HIGH PERFORMANCE SPORT COACHES: develop athletes and players in high-performance settings, including those on talent or development pathways, national or international programmes, professional or podium environments.  

COMMUNITY SPORT COACHES: motivate and engage people of all ages and abilities in community sports and physical activity settings. Community sport includes local authority, charity and national governing body of sport community initiatives or clubs.

SCHOOL SPORT COACHES: collaborate with teachers to develop pupils mastery of psychomotor skills by applying a whole child approach in their coaching. They work in all categories of school and registered childcare environments. 

What does the qualification cover?

HIGH PERFORMANCE SPORT COACHES design and deliver coaching programmes that focus on the acceleration of sustainable development and high performance of athletes/players to enhance the national and international positioning of the sport.

High performance sport coaches profile athlete/player bio-psycho-social attributes, as well as their sport-specific technical and tactical skills to set development and performance goals. These are then used to inform the creation of a high-level curriculum plan that considers practice and competition schedules.

Stakeholders in this context include athletes, players, parents, peers, managers, sponsors, professional organisations, national governing bodies and performance support staff such as sport scientists, sports medics and performance analysts.

COMMUNITY SPORT COACHES design and deliver coaching programmes that focus on sustainable engagement and enrichment of participants. They use targeted approaches to the deliver sport and physical activity through community initiatives or clubs, considering Sport England participation and wider government agendas.

Community sport coaches profile participants cognitive, social, emotional and physical development needs. They measure participant motives, behavioural norms, psychomotor, technical and tactical skills in specific sport and physical activity contexts to enable goals to be agreed. These results are used to create a high-level curriculum plan that considers the annual and sporting seasons. They apply a whole person/child‚ development approach and create targeted interventions to promote the accessibility of sessions for diverse groups of participants. In setting the plans they will consider the community support systems and gaps in current provision.  

Stakeholders in this environment include children, parents, assistant coaches, peers, managers and other community support safeguarding staff. Wider networks include facility managers, local authority staff, charitable workforces and national governing body regional teams. 

SCHOOL SPORT COACHES design and deliver coaching programmes that focus on the acceleration of sustainable mastery of children's psychomotor skills and wider physical education standards.

School sport coaches profile children's cognitive, social, emotional and physical development needs. They measure psychomotor, technical and tactical skills in a range of physical activity contexts drawn from the Department for Education's National Curriculum to enable physical education targets to be agreed. These results are used to create a high-level curriculum plan that considers school term schedules and a whole child development approach.

Stakeholders in this environment include children, parents, carers, peers, support staff, such as SENCO and safeguarding officers, teaching assistants, teachers, head teachers and school boards. Wider networks include local authority teams and social services.

Who is it suitable for?

This course is suitable for people working in the sport and physical activity sector in high-performance, community and school environments.

What are the entry requirements?

Employers will set their own entry requirements.

How is this qualification structured?

The qualification will be taught over 9 e-learning modules of work. There will be set topics of work within each module. These will cover all the key knowledge, skills and behaviours required to complete this course successfully.

How will I be taught?

Blended learning of e-learning and workshops: As a learner you will benefit from the tutoring of highly experienced education and sports specialists who will guide you through each element of the course. Scheduled guest workshops with access to your full course programme via the Competence App. All course units, all lesson tasks and assessments including a full suite of support materials will be available within your Competence Personal Profile.

You will require access to a home PC or Laptop + WIFI.

How is it assessed?

There will be 4 assessment methods required to be passed to complete the course:

• a 4500-word work-based project report
• a 20-minute presentation on your work based project followed by questions
• a practical observation with questions
• a professional interview, supported by a portfolio of evidence

Apprentices without Level 2 English and Maths will need to achieve this prior to taking the end point assessment. For those with an education, health and care plan, or a legacy statement, the apprenticeship's English and Maths minimum requirement is Entry Level 3. British Sign Language qualifications are an alternative to English qualifications for whom this is their primary language.

How long will it take to complete this qualification?

The Level 4 Sports Coach course should take between 12-18 months to be completed normally. Once completed this standard aligns with the following professional recognition:

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

What qualifications can I progress onto?

You can also look to move onto a Level 5 Coaching Professional Qualification.

Course FEE or Funding for this qualification

Course cost £9,000. You may be able to access full funding for this course.