Sports Science - useful degree for non sporty careers?

[legallady]

DD is hoping to do a sports science degree. This is partly because she can't think of anything else she's vaguely interested in, but also because she has an inkling that she might want to work with a professional sports team in the future (e.g. conditioning coach or something similar.) However, this is only a vague idea at the moment and certainly not something she absolutely has her heart set on.

I want to support her completely in her choices and we've got 2 or 3 uni open days booked in for later in the year to visit some likely sports science candidates. However, I can't help this nagging feeling that if she does a sports science degree and then decides to do something completely non related to sport that she might struggle to get on a "degree level" job more than someone, for example, who does another non-vocational degree such as English or biology.

Am I worrying unduly? I suppose it's just the perception of "sport" as a degree that I think some employers may frown upon.

DD is quite academic (9A* at gcse) and predicted As at AS level, so will probably apply to some of the better known sports science institutions - Loughborough, Birmingham, Bath etc. Will a sports degree from one of these (if she's fortunate enough to get the grades) give her the opportunities post graduation to move away from sport if she wishes to do so?

Any words of wisdom gratefully received.

[ChillySundays]

Can't comment on how respected a sport science degree will be outside of the sports world bit of she is academic had she consider physiotherapy?

Could she try and get some work experience in related fields to see whether this helps her make a decision prior to applying for university?

[Millymollymama]

Loughborough says their sports scientists do get jobs in other fields. They quote a few on their Sports Science degree website. However, I would imagine what type of non sport work she actually wanted. It is maybe not good preparation for investment banking, but good for health administration for example. Clearly Loughborough see this degree as being most suitable for sport jobs and list lots of these so it looks like it is a minority that do something different. However, sometimes doing what makes you happy is best and you will get a better idea after the open days. There might be joint honours degrees that are of interest.

[Needmoresleep]

Joint honours? Then teaching? Teachers able to offer sport as well as a subject are in demand. Certainly in the private sector, but also I assume in the state sector.

[ggirl]

I second the suggestion of a physiotherapy degree , opens up so many job opportunities

[Decorhate]

And some physiotherapy degrees are funded by the NHS so no tuition fees!

[bigTillyMint]

Definitely physiotherapy - they can't recruit enough to fill all the jobs! My friend is tearing her hair out because they have so many vacancies on her team. And a colleagues son is due to qualify this year and gets work for football/other sports teams, etc already.

Joint honours would be good for teaching or maybe getting into other areas linked with sports. She sounds very bright, so the sky's the limit!

[shockthemonkey]

Another one who would urge her to look at physio, but beware it is VERY difficult to get into and the work experience requirements are quite tricky (hospitals are so inundated with requests for work experience that some offer only half a day per supplicant!). So she would have to get her skates on sorting out enough work experience (the unis ask for lots of it).

[legallady]

Thanks all for responses. I've already suggested teaching and she's absolutely decided that isn't for her. I also suggested physiotherapy, particularly as she could do a masters in sports physio and that could really open doors to working with a professional team. Again she seems to have rejected that idea but without really giving any valid reasons and without having any experience.

I'm actually quite worried about it now. Think we might have to have some more discussions on this and quickly too!

[MrsBright]

Look also at combined subjects especially those with an obvious skill that might be relevant for other careers?

Loughborough and Portsmouth offer Sports Science with Management for instance, or Bangor do Sports Science with a variety of languages, and other Unis offer Sport with Psychology. And any study abroad (its often possible even if the degree isnt 'with year abroad' in the title), or any sort of placement is a definite plus in terms of future employment.

[titchy]

Sports psychology? Has she had a look here: www.bases.org.uk/Careers

[Essexmum69]

Sports science is poor for graduate employment unless you have links with professional sport prior to taking the course. Sports clubs often put their own ex-players through part time Bsc sport science rather than taking on new graduates. An ex employee with a sports science degree ended up taking an unpaid FT job for 6 months with a professional sports club to try to get sufficient experience to be considered for paid employment. Physio departments will sometimes offer gym technician/associate practitioner posts (NHS band 4) to people with sports science degrees but these are much harder to find than qualified physio jobs. Essex uni and others offer two year MSc physiotherapy courses to people with sports science or other science degrees who wish to convert and these are popular due to the poor pay of most gym work!

[jeanne16]

I don't want to add to your woes but be careful about assuming she could go into teaching. I teach in a secondary school and I know PE teachers struggle to get jobs. When there is a vacancy, schools get dozens of excellent candidates applying. The same is true of some other subjects too, btw

[ChillySundays]

It is difficult know what course to do which will give the best employment opportunities. All the uni want your bum on their seat so are perhaps over enthusiastic.

[ragged]

I Know of someone in the military (went to Sandhurst, now a Captain) who has a sports science degree; he's from a London council house background. His dad's a neighbour & shows me tabloid clippings about daring exploits his son has led.

[eatyourveg]

We're in the same situation exacerbated by the fact that ds can't stand the look of the courses at Loughborough Birmingham and Bath as being too theoretical and hardly any placement opportunities. He investigated a joint honours with a much more employable subject but the only place where they did the combination he wanted was Sunderland and he didn't want to focus solely on the second subject.

Dh told him there would always be teaching or the civil service fast stream if he suddenly wanted to join the diplomatic service or work for the foreign office

[Millymollymama]

Unfortunately the Civil Service fast stream is ultra competitive and The Foreign Office is also mega difficult to get into. Times have changed.

[Needmoresleep]

With respect MMM, I don't think times have changed. Fast stream Civil Service was always ultra competitive. In my day there were 1000 applicants for 20 Foreign Office places. That said, in this era of job-insecurity I would not expect things to have got easier.

OP, when posting on MN I try very hard not to be negative. I wince when people run down a school, say, or University on the basis of a anecdote-based opinion or local prejudice, and wonder what people who have content DC in those schools/Universities think.

However.....sports science...think carefully.

We know a surprising number of DC who are going on to study sport science or plan to continue with high level sport at University, and have met a number of people working in different parts of the industry. Most appear to be making the right choices. Types include:

Bright DC who are good RG candidates for other subjects but who are also high level athletes (National Talent schemes if not National representation). Most seem to go to the US on sports scholarships, but some will read sports science at Birmingham, Loughborough, Bath or similar, as a way of keeping up their sport. One example is Paula Radcliffe, who apparently turned down a place at Cambridge to go to Loughborough. These are the sort of people who might get jobs in sports adminstration, and many employers will recognise the value of discipine and other attributes that flow from sports achievement (Civil Service, pilot, law conversion, whatever). Loughborough offers a good range of joint degrees (maths/sports science etc,) though with surprisingly high entry requirements.

DC who live for sport. I can think of one DC who had a ball at his minor public school. He almost certainly underperformed academically but played every sport going, and ended up as Head Boy. He is now reading sports science. I can see him either returning to his old school, or somewhere similar where his engagement and people skills will be welcomed, or perhaps the army. Think Prince Harry with better A levels and without Las Vegas.

DC who like sport and who have don't have a particuarly strong academic profile. There seem to be an awful lot of Universities offering sports science. Ones I am aware of include Roehampton, Hertfordshire, Bournmouth, Southampton Solent, and South Bank. Here I think we start getting into "media studies" territory. Will a degree be worth the three years of loans.

The problem here, and in general I would have thought that sports science is a better choice than media studies as it involves a degree of scientific rigour, is that there are lots of other routes into jobs in sports etc. So community football schemes are often run by people who have gone through the academies of the sponsoring Premiership Club. A swimmer who had had a role as coach adminstrator, may be in a better position to get the next job up than someone straight out of University. Ditto a personal trainer who has been working in a gym or leisure centre, or a peripatetic coach who have been working regularly with a private school. That said some employers (GLL, who run many of London's leisure centres is one) certainly used to say they would only recruit graduates. However these are tough and often poorly paid jobs. The hours are rough, you need to be able to manage staff and keep the public happy and the interface between commercial firms and the public sector bodies owning the facilities can be very political.

I would also add, and this is after speaking to a newly retired games teacher, is that sport is an interest you can grow out of as you get older. She said she had been very lucky that she had continued to enjjoy being out on cold wet pitches right up until her very active retirement. Most of her colleagues had had enough much earlier, but at a point when it was difficult to make a switch.

I hope this is not too negative. My gut feel, based on the number of DC we know studing the subject, is that supply of graduates will be higher than demand. Individual sports can be cliquey and tend to employ their own. Your DD should think quite hard about the sort of job she might want, in which sport, and who she will be competiting against for that job. She should consider carefully other advice about either gaining a specific skill, eg physio, which can be used either in sport of more universally, or taking a combined honours which keeps other doors open.

[dapoxen]

Needmoresleep Paula Radcliffe went to Loughborough, but she did a modern European studies degree (studying French, German and economics) rather than Sports Science. And, FWIW, got a first.

[Bonsoir]

I know a girl who read sports science at Bath and worked as a sports instructor at a children's day camp every summer who then went on to do primary PGCE and become a teacher.

[Whatevertheweather]

I did sports science at Cardiff with a vague idea that I'd go on to do physio. That didn't happen but 10 years on I'm fairly high up in investment banking and whilst you degree hasn't provided any practical help in my career the fact that I have a degree has helped and it's certainly not held me back because it was sports science. In a strange way I get kudos in a male dominated environment for having a sports related degree!

[legallady]

Needmoresleep, thanks for such an in depth post (and everyone else for taking the time to respond.) My Dd is sports mad (just been made sports captain at her school) but is academic as well and I know that she would shrivel up and die in a pure office based job. However, I don't have a crystal ball to see what she'll be like in ten years time, so really is about keeping her options open.

Luckily two of the universities we've booked open days for sports science also do physiotherapy degrees so we can check those out too.

Also I know some universities do a flexible joint honours (well I know Exeter does and I'm presuming others do too) where it looks as if you can pretty much mix and match your degree to suit your preferences. Does anyone have experience of this type of degree and how they're perceived in the jobs market generally?

[Bonsoir]

legallady - the husband of a friend of mine did a sports science degree in Germany and has had (is still having) a very good international career in the management of international sporting events. In addition to being sports mad he has good management and - crucially - language skills.

[GasLIghtShining]

Sorry to hijack the thread

My DS is is doing BTEC Sports Coaching at the moment and is doing well with mainly distinctions. He is wants to go to uni but he won't be able to aplly to the RG unis.

He has mentioned changing to sports science but I think he will be ended wanting to go down the coaching side. Will that be even worse than doing a sports science degree?!

Anyone got any advice

[BlackandGold]

DD did BSc Sport and Exercise a few years ago but couldn't really find a suitable job in that field. She did the degree because she enjoyed the subject but it wasn't exactly taxing!

She's now an IT/Analyst and has a well paid job in London.