Whether you’re into your free weights, love a good swim, or you’re happiest on the football pitch, you might have considered a career in the sports industry.
There are a number of different degree subjects that fall under the broader category of Sports and Leisure including:
Effectively all of these degrees look at how physical activity and sports impacts on our body and mental health. As well as learning about the human body, some courses also look at how to run a business in the sports industry – for example, as a self-employed personal trainer or as the manager of a leisure centre.
Generally these degrees start off giving you a broad overview of the industry and the issues within the industry, before allowing you to narrow down your field of study in the final year of your degree.
Graduates often go into career directly linked to the sports industry – such as coaching, teaching, or sports therapy – but others use their knowledge of the industry and the transferrable skills they’ve gained to go into non-sports related careers such as marketing and sales.
Many graduates also choose to go on to postgraduate study to gain qualifications in a specialism that really interested them during their degree, such as nutrition or sports psychology.
When you’re looking for degree courses in the Sports and Leisure category it’s important to research each course carefully to ensure that you’re going to be studying something you’re really interested in.
One of the best ways to research a university and their courses is to attend an open day. This gives you the opportunity to have a look around the campus and facilities, as well as talk to academic staff and current students.
Some universities split their open days into two different events – one day is a general open day for all applicants and one day is a departmental visit for applicants who have been made an offer.
Other universities have just one open day where you’ll spend part of the day on tours and talks around the campus and the rest of the day on tours and talks specific to your department.
This is your opportunity to find out things that aren’t in the prospectus, so make the most the day and ask plenty of questions.