Sport Science
Title of the qualification achieved at the end of the course
Cambridge National Sport Science Level 1/2 Certificate
What will you learn/How will you be taught?
You will learn about the body’s response to physical activity and how technology informs this, the principles of training and injuries in sport.
The unit on injuries will be assessed with an examination that you will sit at the end of Year 11 and the other two units are all self-produced coursework. The vast majority of lessons are classroom-based as you will either be being taught the content to learn or having time to research and produce your coursework as independently as possible. There is no assessment of your own sporting ability. There is a very heavy emphasis on the use of ICT to produce coursework and your evidence must be produced in school time under teacher supervision.
There are some practical elements to the course: for example, you will set up and measure a range of fitness tests and measure the short and long-term effects of exercise on the body. You will learn about causes and symptoms of injuries and how they can be prevented. You will use your knowledge of the components of fitness and the principles of training to write a six-week fitness training programme to follow and evaluate.
The broad range in content of the units will improve your knowledge and the production of coursework will significantly help you to develop your research, time management, organisational and independent work skills.
Why study this subject?
The three units give you an insight into the areas a Sports Scientist may well focus on to improve an athlete’s overall sporting performance and prepares you for further study in the area of sports coaching and injury rehabilitation.
This course offers excellent progression on to the Level 3 course, which can be studied at STS, and several past students have benefitted in their Sixth Form studies because of prior knowledge gained from this Sport Science course. Some units are very similar between the Level 2 and 3 courses and often are just assessed in a different way. For example, some content in the ‘Body’s Response to Physical Activity’ unit on the Level 2 course is then assessed with an examination in Year 12 on the Level 3 course. Some of these past students have gone on to study some form of sport degree at universities all over the country.
As well as this, you will learn a large amount of content that will be useful to you in everyday life in the future in terms of your own health and lifestyle choices. Understanding how to exercise and train safely without causing injury, but making it effective is becoming increasingly important to all. Learning how your body works and how it responds to exercise are crucial to living a long and healthy life.
Most importantly, you should study this course if you are interested in or follow any sport, as you are so much more likely to do well in a subject that you have some existing knowledge and understanding of and have a passion for.